John Joseph Montgomery

John Joseph Montgomery
Born(1858-02-15)February 15, 1858
Yuba City, California
DiedOctober 31, 1911(1911-10-31) (aged 53)
Evergreen, San Jose, California
Cause of deathGliding accident
Resting placeColma, California
37°40′16″N 122°26′43″W / 37.671155°N 122.445191°W / 37.671155; -122.445191
NationalityAmerican
EducationSt. Ignatius College (BA, MS)
Occupation(s)aviation pioneer, inventor, professor of physics, physicist
SpouseRegina Cleary (m. 1910)
Signature

John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American inventor, physicist, engineer, and professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, who is best known for his invention of controlled heavier-than-air flying machines.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

In the 1880s Montgomery, a native of Yuba City, California, made manned flight experiments in a series of gliders in the United States in Otay Mesa in San Diego, California.[8][9][7][10][11][12] Although not publicized in the 1880s, these early flights were first described by Montgomery as part of a lecture delivered at the International Conference on Aerial Navigation at Chicago, 1893.[13][14] These independent advances came after gliding flights by European pioneers such as George Cayley's coachman in England (1853) and Jean-Marie Le Bris in France (1856).[15] Although Montgomery never claimed firsts, his gliding experiments of the 1880s are considered by some historians and organizations to have been the first controlled flights of a heavier-than-air flying machine in America[16][14][17] or in the Western Hemisphere,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] depending on the source.

Montgomery devised different control methods for his gliders, including weight shifting for roll and an elevator for pitch (1884). Subsequent designs used hinged, pilot-operated trailing edge flaps on the wings (1885–1886) for roll control,[26][27][28][29][9][30] and later, full wing warping systems for roll (1903–1905)[31][32] and for both pitch and roll (1911).[33]

  1. ^ Tandy, Edward T. (1910). An Epitome of the Work of the Aeronautic Society from July, 1908 to December, 1909. New York, NY: Aeronautic Society of New York.
  2. ^ Peyrey, François (1909). Les Oiseaux Artificiels. Paris, France: Derlis Fréres.
  3. ^ "An American Pioneer of Soaring Flight: John J. Montgomery". Aviation. 4 (1): 302–303. 1918.
  4. ^ Walker, Thomas (1910). The Art of Flying. London, England: King, Sell & Olding.
  5. ^ Turner, Charles C. (1910). Aerial Navigation of To-day: A Popular Account of the Evolution of Aeronautics. London, England: Seeley & Co.
  6. ^ Colwell, J.H. (1920). "The Origin and Development of Aeronautics". Journal of the Patent Office Society. 3: 12.
  7. ^ a b Hunt, Rockwell D. (1932). "John J. Montgomery". California and Californians. 3 (126): 27.
  8. ^ The Montgomery Evergreen Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
  9. ^ a b Montgomery, John J. (April 21, 1910). The Origin of Wing Warping (Speech). Aeronautic Society of New York.(Aeronautics 1910)
  10. ^ Harwood, Craig; Fogel, Gary (2012). Quest for Flight: John J. Montgomery and the Dawn of Aviation in the West. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806142647.
  11. ^ Berriman, Algernon E. Aviation. An Introduction to the Elements of Flight, Methuen & Co., London, 1912. pp. 213-214.
  12. ^ "Montgomery's Gliding Experiments", in Hayward, Charles B. Practical Aeronautics: An Understandable Presentation of Interesting and Essential Facts in Aeronautical Science. Chicago: American School of Correspondence, 1912.
  13. ^ Zahm, Albert F. (1923) "Catholic Contributions in the Field of Aeronautics" in Benson, William Shepherd, James J. Walsh, Edward J. Hanna, and Constantine E. McGuire. Catholic Builders of the Nation: A Symposium on the Catholic Contribution to the Civilization of the United States. Boston: Continental Press.
  14. ^ a b Pritchard, John Lawrence (1929). The Book of The Aeroplane. The University of Michigan: Longmans Green & Company. p. 17.
  15. ^ The Journal of San Diego History, July 1968, Vol. 14, No. 3.
  16. ^ National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, & Defenders of the Republic, etc..., Edited by Distinguished Biographers, James T. White & Co. Volume XVI, 1916.
  17. ^ Mark D. Ardema and Joseph Mach, Santa Clara University School of Engineering, and William J. Adams, Jr., "John Joseph Montgomery, 1883 Glider: An International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, Designated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, May 11, 1996, at Hiller Aircraft Museum and Santa Clara University" (brochure, 11 pp.)
  18. ^ "Montgomery First to Conquer the Air: Austrian Officials after Inquiry Give Palm to California Inventor," San Francisco Examiner, May 16, 1909. See also "Conquering the Air," San Francisco Monitor, June 12, 1909.
  19. ^ Jacobs, James W. "John Joseph Montgomery." In James W. Jacobs, Enshrinee Album: The First Twenty-One Years, 134⟨n⟩35. Dayton, Ohio: National Aviation Hall of Fame, 1984.
  20. ^ McCormick, Barnes (2004). Aerospace Engineering Education During the First Century of Flight. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ISBN 9781563477102.
  21. ^ L'Écho Des Ailes: Revue Indépendante pour la Défense des Intérêts Aéronautiques, Vol. 17, No. 2, January 23, 1948. By Fédération des Clubs Belges d'Aviation de Tourisme, Brussels, Belgium.
  22. ^ "Flug-Revue" ("Flight Review"), 1968, Vereinigte Motor-Verlage, p. 155.
  23. ^ Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, United States Congress. House Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1972.
  24. ^ Histoire de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, 2001.
  25. ^ Davy, Maurice J.B. (1935) Aeronautics, Science Museum.
  26. ^ "Professor Montgomery's Experiments". Aeronautics (London). 3 (6): 73, 111. 1910.
  27. ^ "Machine with Wings Upsets Theories," "Years of Research Applied to Solving the Problem," San Jose Mercury Evening News, March 31, 1905.
  28. ^ "Third Tests Are All Successful," San Francisco Bulletin, March 26, 1905.
  29. ^ Montgomery, John J. (1909). "Some Early Gliding Experiments In America". Aeronautics (New York). 4 (1).
  30. ^ Hayward, Charles B. (ed.) (1912) Practical Aeronautics, American School of Correspondence, Chicago.(Introduction written by Orville Wright)
  31. ^ "The Origin of Warping: Professor Montgomery's Experiments". Aeronautics. 3 (6). London: 63–64.
  32. ^ Chanute, Octave. (1907) "Montgomery." In: Pocket-Book of Aeronautics, edited by Hermann. W. L. Moedebeck, translated by W. Mansergh Varley, Vol. 309, No. 10. London: Whittaker and Co.
  33. ^ Campi, Richard B. (1961) "Description and Analysis of the 1911 Montgomery Controllable Man Carrying Glider." Working paper, December 29, 1961.