John Joseph Montgomery
American inventor, engineer and professor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
John Joseph Montgomery | |
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Born | (1858-02-15)February 15, 1858 |
Died | October 31, 1911(1911-10-31) (aged 53) |
Cause of death | Gliding accident |
Resting place | Colma, California 37.671155°N 122.445191°W / 37.671155; -122.445191 |
Nationality | American |
Education | St. Ignatius College (BA, MS) |
Occupation(s) | aviation pioneer, inventor, professor of physics, physicist |
Spouse | Regina Cleary (m. 1910) |
Signature | |
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 near 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]