John Joseph Montgomery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Montgomery

John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American aviation pioneer, inventor, and professor at Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, California.

Chronology

In 1884 Montgomery, a native of Yuba City, CA, is said to have made the first manned, controlled, heavier-than-air flights in the United States, using a glider in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, California (after European pioneers such as those of George Cayley's coachman in 1853 and Jean-Marie Le Bris in 1856).

In 1893 Montgomery visited the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where he met Octave Chanute, who was chairing a conference on "Aerial Navigation". Montgomery participated in the discussion and his comments were included in the conference proceedings, Discussions on the Various Papers on Soaring Flight Following this meeting, Chanute included Montgomery's account of his earlier experiments in Progress in Flying Machines.

On March 16th, 17th and 20th 1905, Montgomery's pilot Daniel Maloney made several successful flights at Leonard's ranch (now known as Seascape) Aptos, California and on April 29th 1905 Santa Clara, California using a tandem wing Montgomery glider launched from a hot air balloon, but was killed on July 18, 1905 when the aircraft suffered a structural failure. John Montgomery filed for patent on April 26, 1905 (issued U.S. Patent #831,173 on September 18, 1906) for his invention of an aeroplane. He was a member of the Aero Club of Illinois (1910) and member of the research committee of the Technical Board of the Aeronautical Society of New York (1911).

Montgomery died in the crash of his glider "The Evergreen" on October 31, 1911 near Evergreen, California just east of San Jose, California and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California on November 3, 1911.

In 1946, John J. Montgomery's life was portrayed in the movie Gallant Journey starring Glenn Ford and Janet Blair, and directed by William Wellman. The chief pilot for the movie was Paul Mantz. The movie debuted in San Diego, California.

Recognition and Honors

Two California Historical Landmarks (#711: Montgomery Memorial, Otay Mesa(32.577449 -117.052631); #813: Montgomery Hill, San Jose)(37.302289 -121.758084) near Evergreen Valley College have been named in his honor as has one section of the Interstate 5 freeway (John J. Montgomery Freeway) in San Diego, California and a recreation center near the location of his first claimed glide (Montgomery-Waller Recreation Center, San Diego, California). The Montgomery Memorial in San Diego features a silver static test wing panel for the B-32 Dominator mounted upright that is visible for miles. California schools that have been named in his honor:

Chula Vista Elementary School District:

John J. Montgomery Elementary School, Chula Vista, California

Evergreen Elementary School District:

John J. Montgomery Elementary School, San Jose, California

San Diego Unified School District:

Montgomery Middle School, San Diego, California

Sweetwater Union High School District:

Montgomery High School, San Diego, California

Montgomery Middle School, San Diego, California
and one Civil Air Patrol Squadron (John J. Montgomery Memorial Cadet Squadron 36). Chapter 338 of the Experimental Aircraft Association in San Jose is named in Montgomery's honor.

San Diego's Montgomery Field (MYF), one of the busiest airports for small planes in the United States, is named for him as well.

John J. Montgomery was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1964 (http://nationalaviation.org/montgomery-john/) and the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame in 2002.

In 1996, Montgomery's 1883 glider was recognized as an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. On March 19, 2005, John J. Montgomery was the focus of a Centennial Celebration of Soaring Flight, held in Aptos, California at the location of some of his early glider experiments. At this celebration, a marker was placed in Aptos in honor of the first high altitude flights by man.

On March 15, 2008, a sculpture was unveiled at San Felipe and Yerba Buena roads in San Jose, California as a tribute to the pioneering aviation accomplishments of John Montgomery. The 30-foot-tall steel structure of a glider wing was placed on a 32-foot-diameter plaza designed by San Francisco artist Kent Roberts.

On April 5, 2008, a celebration of the 125th anniversary of John Montgomery's first glide took place at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.

In October, 2012, the University of Oklahoma Press released a biography of John J. Montgomery co-authored by Craig S. Harwood and Gary B. Fogel.