Born February 15, 1858, in Yuba City, California to Zachary Montgomery, a well known lawyer, and his wife Ellen. John was fascinated by the prospect of flight, building kites as a boy and observing Frederick Marriott demonstrate his steam powered airship only increased his enthusiasm. In 1879, he graduated from Saint Ignatius College with a degree in physics and would add a master’s degree two years later. His family moved to the San Diego area in 1881 where John built a laboratory on their Otay ranch. After experimenting, with no tangible results, on man-powered ornithopters, he directed his energies to fixed “curved” wing designs. In 1884, he successfully piloted his first glider more than 600 feet, achieving the first heavier than air flights in America. Although he lectured whenever he could on the theories of flight, his accomplishments were largely ignored by the scientific community. Abandoning experiments in flight for a decade, Montgomery joined the faculty at Santa Clara University, where in 1905 he designed and built the first of his successful tandem-wing gliders, christened “Santa Clara.” Then, with pilot Daniel Maloney, he began public demonstrations using a hot-air balloon that lifted the craft to as much as 4000 feet above the earth before releasing it to spiral downward. Tragically, Maloney was killed demonstrating the glider only three months after its first flight. Equally tragic, it would be only five years later that Montgomery would succumb to injuries suffered during the final flight of his last design known as “Evergreen.” Montgomery died on October 31, 1911.
Inducted in 2017.
Portrait Location: Near R-44 and B-5 Brougham
2001 Pan American Plaza, San Diego, CA
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