JOHN J. MON'l'GO?l.t.ERY . California Aviation Pioneer to the Space Age 1858 - 1911

A tribute to John J. Montgomery, native son of California. He made mankind's first successful flight with controlled and safe landing in a heavier-than-air craft at Otay Mesa, County, California, August 28, 1883.

CALIFORNIA DAY August 19, 1975

Revision and supplement to 1963 compilation prepared by Arthur Dunning Spearman, S.J. from Documentary Materials Archives, University of Santa Clara A TRIBUTE TO JOHN J. MONTGOMERY 1858 - 1911

DEDICATED

"To the pioneer, to whose rare vision and splendid genius it was given, more than to any other, to wrest from the inscrutable mysteries of force and matter the greatest marvel of engineering perfection and practical significances, which ever has loomed upon the horizon of human endea\.'"!' -

To Professor John James Montgomery, whose lifelong devotion and final martyrdom to the tremendous problems of aerial navigation will be a never-forgotten inspiration to those who were honored with his steadfast friendship, and will remain an unfailing example to the few in each generation who ignore the discouragements of doubt and dare . the summits of human achievement." 1

Victor Lougheed

1 Dedication of Victor Lougheed, Aeroplane Desi~ for Amateurs (Chicagos The Reilly & Britton eo.-;-1912). Victor Lougheed was older half-brother of Allan H. Lockheed (born Allan Loughead), founder of Lockheed Aircraft Companies. JOHN J. MON'ffiOMERY - CALIFORNIA AVIATION PIONEER

The possibility of flight to the moon started with the conquest of air in John Joseph Montgomery's gullwinged at Otay Mesa, 1883. This reality was the focus of Rear Admiral Leslie E. Gehres, .USN (ret).2 during his address made at the foot of the Montgomery monument on Otay Mesa rim where Montgomery made his first fli ght in 1883. Rear Admiral Gehres gave the principal address at the annual commemo ra tive program sponsored by the San Ysidro Business and Professional Women's Club, held on the site of the flight of the Mon tgomery gullwinged glider, August 22, 1971. John J. Montgomery ma de the fir_st controlled vehicle for flight. The flight to the moon was of a more r efined technology but without Montgomery• s beginning, there would have been no flight. Montgomery's development of a gullwinged glider with cambered wing made leaving the ground possible. The moon flight of course, had many new refinements to make f l i'ght possible to the moon.

2Rear Admiral Leslie E. Gehres, USN (ret). Navy's First Aviation Commodore, Commander u.s. Naval Air Sta tion, North Island, 1945-1948. In "Peace for the Skyways, 11 Annual John Joseph Montgomery Memorial service sponsored by the San Ysidro Business and Professional Women's Club, August 22, 1971.

1. ------CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN J. MONTGOMERY ACHIEVEMENTS ·-·-

Among the pioneers of the air, John J. Montgomery was one whose work in certain details was fundamental and whose life was one of color and controversy. John was a Californian born at Yuba City, on February 15, 1858. He lived in Santa Clara, 1897 - 1911. From childhood he was interes ted in flying. In boyhood he began studying bird flight, and experimented sailing flat pieces of sheet iron.

EARLY SnJDY OF BIRD FLIGHT

~ WINGS. He projected them five fee t large on his workshop screen to study structure pattern by means of his homemade sunlight "solar microscope" in 1875.

GULL t,.lINGS. He watched the sea gulls f.rom the ferryboats, Oakland to San Francisco, and wonde red how they could hover overhead, riding the wind, or flap their wings and rise.

CHICKEN HI NGS . As a child he l ay down on his back to watch the wing movement while his sis ter Jane chased his mother's chickens (and geese) over the fence.

GEESE WI NGS. He wondered why wild geese flew better than tame geese. FLYI NG TOPS. Still a boy, he wondered why flying tope with rotor blades w~uld rise from the ground. He changed the blade pitch to make them rise faster or higher. CLOUDS. As a small boy he asked how they could float in the air with all that heavy water in th~~ .

A FLIGHT OF GEESE. His mother's geese weighed around twelve 2. CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN J. MONTGOMERY ACHIEVEMENTS

pounds. His young mind wondered how the flight of one hundred geese he counted overhead weighing altogether at least twelve hundred pounds could stay and fly in the high air. He measured the wing surface of geese in proportion to their weight. A man, too, could fly, he thought.

OAKLAND and SAN TA CLARA

July 4, 1869. John's father, Zack, took him to see the steam­ engine powered AVITOR built as a dirigible balloon with basket and propellers. It flew July 3-4, 1869, at Shellmound Park, Emeryville beside Oakland. Bad winds pushed it around. John went home and built his own model of it.

EDUCATION OF THE INVENTOR. John attended St. Joseph's grade school, Oakland; then St. Mary's High School. D.iring his freshman year at Santa Clara College, 1874-75, he took great interest in the science classes and l earned from Rev. Aloysius Brunengo how to build a solar microscope, then so-called. B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees were gained by John in 1879 and 1880 at St.Ignatius College, San Francicco, under the brilliant Rev. Joseph Neri who first introduced electric lighting in the City for the Centennial Celebration, 1876.

WORK BETI1EEN COLLEG E YEARS . Finances were always a problem in ~large Montgomery famITy. John lea rned the hard way, and well. His uncle, John J. McCa rtney, ex-navy blacksmith and mechanic, t aught John lathe work and parts machining in the nearby McCartney shop in Oakland. John's hands and mind were well educated.

3. CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN J. MON'IGOMERY ACHIEVEMENTS

OTAY MESA

THE WORKSHOP AT OTAY MESA. John's family moved in December 1861 tc>a new ranching try near Otay and the Mexican border town of san Ysidro, San Di ego County. John followed i n t he spring of 1882. He set up his lathe and workshop and wa s allowed t he barn loft for construction of his designed i n 1882, and built with the help of his si ster J ane pumpin t he belows to f i re his steam boile r for f ashioning ash wood strips into parabolic cambered wing ribs like those of the birds.

AUGUST 28, 1883. John's f riends and neighbo rs had lea rned of his idea offlying. They joshed him, and among thern selv s shook their heads. Was the young man (now a ged 25) crazy? 11 HP. wants to fly! '1 they laughed among themselves. "Tetched" was a wo rd used for t he imagined condition of the resolute i nventor. !tall hu r t John, and made him very secretive. Only his brother J am es helped John load the newly constructed bird- like a irpl ane i nto t heir farm wagon , cover it with hay against. pryi ng eyes, hitch the hor ses and start well before dawn for the two miles away Otay Hesa rim. There was a good drop of fourteen f eet, then a long slope down to the Otay creek. Jim held a rope jus t below the rim. It was attached to the keel longeron of t he plane to help start against any sudden gu s t. A fine breeze was blowing from seaward up the slope. "Now! 11 shouted John. John jumped his frail craft of twenty-four pounds i nto the wind; Jim jerked and then l~t go. John rode the ai r for 603 feet. His wo r ds l a ter are a classic description. "I took this apparatus (twenty foot spre{!d of wings ••• depth fore and aft of four and one-half f eet) to the top 4. CHRONOLOGY OF JOlU-1 J- MONTGCMERY ACHIEVEMENTS

of a hill facing a gentle wind. There was a little run and a jump and I found my:se lf launched in the air. I proceeded against the wind, gliding down hill for a distance of about six hundred feet. In this experience I was able to direct my course at wi 11. A peculiar sensation came over me. The first f eeling in placing myself at the mercy of the wind was that of f ear. Immediately after came a f eeling of security when I realized the solid support given by t he wing surface. There was a cushiony softness about it, yet it was firm. When I found the machine would follow my movements in the seat for balancing, I felt I was self-bouyant." John's 1884 machine had hinged "aelerons", flexible wing tips, and rear stabilizer. His basic principles are built today into every aeroplane.

1883-1889. John Montgomery improved his designs and built a n'uinS"er of additional airpl anes and flew them. Earning a living as deputy customs inspector at the Mexican border interrupted his work.

ROHNERVILLE

1893, CHICAGO. Richard and James helped John go to the Aeronautical Convention held there in July. He met and read his paper on "Soaring Flight" embodying basic laws of aerodynamics to doubting listeners. In September he began teaching at St. J osephe s College, Ro hnerville (eighteen miles south, seven miles east, of Eureka, Ca liforni )& The re he quietly continued experiments with water and air currents on cambe red surfaces, and his sma ll mod el airplane which he flew secretly nearby was found hidden in bushes by a nei ghbor farmer, Charles Carr, who stated he had also seen it fly. I 5. I CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN J. MONTGOMERY ACHIEVEMENTS

APTOS

1896. John was welcomed by the Leonards of Aptos (now La Selva Beach Park) to fly his small gliders, "The Pink Maiden" (three and one-half foot spread) and 11 The Buzzard" (four foot spread), launching them weighted, with controls set, from the railroad trestle out to sea and return on the sandy beach. By 1898 he was launching eight-foot models, weighted, released sideways, and even upside down. They righted themselves, flew out ancl back to settle on the beach. These were tandem-wing gliders with tail assembly all at rear us in his 1883-1889 models. In 1902 he was pl anning and soon building his full cale twenty­ four foot spread ai rplane, ready i n 1903. He sought a careful pilot for training, Daniel John Maloney. He borrowed money to hire Frank Hamilton's large exhibition hot-air balloon. After heartbreaking delays, a day was set with competent witnes ses f ram Santa Cruz.

SANTA CLARA

1905. March 16, 17 and 20, at Aptos, flights were made by Dan Maloney, at 800 feet, 2000, and 4000 feet respectively. Full control in high air was had, wi th safe landing so Apri 1 29, 1905, the great fli gh t of twenty minutes, with all modern maneuvers was made in presence of one thousand witnesses from Santa Clara College campus , with safe, gentle l anding below Poplar Street, at Alviso, in Santa Clara. Montgomery had fathered basic flying.

NATIONAL AND I NTE r TIONAL RECOG NITION. More than one thousand people were present, and t wenty-five newspapers had reporters and photographers witness and record the first high-air flight by man from the college campus, Santa Clara , April 29, 1905. Accounts and pictures appeared within a few days or months in 6. CHRO NOLOGY OF JOHN J. MONTqOMERY ACHIEVEMENTS

New York, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose newspapers. In May, 1909, the impartial Austrian Flying Technical Society, after several years' investigation, named John J. Montgomery the First Ma n ~ f!1.•

EVERGREEN AREA - "MONTGOMERY HILL11

1905-1911. Further exhibition fli ghts were made by Dan Maloney (San J'o'se) and David Wilkie (a living witness,1963), who fl ew at Idora Park, Oakland, February 22, 1906._ Mont orne ry had refused to put an engine in his aeroplane glider unt i l he had achieved perfect fli ght control of air.

He continued his studies, building of new-type models, and in October, 1911, with his wife Regi na 'Cleary Montgomery, and mechanics Cornelius einhardt a nd J oseph Vi erra, took his new monoplane (now called "The Eve rgreen 1) to the hill slope of the Ramonda Ranch above San Felipe Road at Yerba Buena Creek Road, in Evergreen, southeast of San Jose, California. There for two weeks he alternated at the controls with Joe Vierra in fifty-f ive successful fli ghts. In trying a different adjustment of his stabilizer, Mont gomery sideslipped a t t ake-off from less than t wenty-three feet, and a stove bolt projecting from the fuselage penetrated his brain. Death ca. e an hou r l a ter on October 31, 1911.

7. PRIMARY AND SECONili\RY RESOURCES

GLEN H. CURTISS LETTE R. On October 20, 1911, Curtiss wrote JamesE. Plew, Montgomery's fri end in Chicago, asking about securing rights to the John Mont gome ry U.S. Pa tent (#831 173, issued September 18, 1906, for t he J. J. Mo ntgomery Aeropl ne ). Montgomery was holder of four electrical patents, and •NOrked in early radio communication. After ma rriage in 1910 to .egina Cleary, his residence was t he no rtheast corne~ of J ackson and Market Streets, Santa Cl ara, Califor nia. He had resided and experimented at the Santa Cl a ra College, 1897-1910. He wa s a good citizen and a Pioneer of Avi a tion.

ARCHIVES COLLECTIONS. The important papers, documents, and photos of the Montgomery contribution to avia t i on were originally preserved by his brother, Richa rd; and today there are two major collections on Montgome ry, one a t t he Uni ersi ty of Santa Clara, the other in the vault of the San Di ego Junior Chamber of Comm erce. The University of Santa Clara archives also house some original parts of the John J. Montgome ry models. However, major r emaining pa rts of the 1905 and 1911 Montgomery planes were donated in 1947, by Rev. \~ illiam C. Gianera, S.J., President of the University of Santa Cl ara to the Smithsonian Institution f .or pe rma nent exhibition.

REFERENCES.

1. Arthur D. Spearman, S.Jo John Joseph Montgomery, Fa ther of Basic Flying (Santa Claras University of Santa Clara , 1967).

2. Arthur D. Spearman, S.J., "The Story Behind the Sook: John Joseph Montgomery, Father of Btisic Flying," Soa ring, Vol. 32, No. 3 (March 1968) PP• 10-12.

~- Arthur D. Spearman, S.J. "A Memorial to John J. Montgomery­ Air Pioneer, 1858-1911," John J. Montgomery Day, October 31, 1963. (mimeo) 8. HISTORICAL LANU\!ARKS - SANTA CLARA COU N'IY

MONTGOMERY SHAFT. Grant te shaft erected on the University of Santa Clara campus sponsored by t he City of Santa Clara and dedicated April 29, 1946. The monument marks the cam pus site where the Montgomery aeroplane wa s t aken aloft in 190 5. In 1975 the land at the intersection of Lafayette and Santa Clara streets where Montgomery bull t his gliders is occupied by t he University of Santa Clara carport and t he Observatory.

Insert pti ons: "All subsequent attempts in aviation must begin with the Montgomery Machine. 11 Alexander Graham Bell.

"This flight of Montgomery's was the mo s t daring feat ever attempted." Octave Cha nute

"Erected by the Citizens of Santa Cl ara in honor ·of Professor John J. Montgome ry, The Father of Aviation, who from this spot sent aloft on April 29, 1905, the first heavier-than-air glider in controlled fli ght and maintained equilibrium. April 29, 1956. 11

"Eye witnesses of the Californi a flights as a rule seemed to imagine that something akin to a parachute jump was in progress, f ew realizing tha t the one great problem of aerial navigation from the beginning had been that of controlled fli gh t and maintained equilibrium, which here, for the first time in history, it wa s their privilege to witness. 11 Victor Lou gheed

9. HISTORICAL UNDMARKS • SANTA CLARA COUNlY

MONTGOMERY HILL. Monument at the intersection of San Felipe Road and YerbaBuena, San Jose, regi stered California historical land~~rk No. 813. This monument near the site of the current Evergreen campus of San Jose City College , superceded the earlier Santa Clara County Historical Landmark which was dedicated November 11, 19610 rne monument stands in a quarter­ acre donated by Mr. George W. Blauer, father-in-law of Mr. Richard E. Nie.11an. Mr. Nieman was instrumental in f acilitating recognition of Mont gomery with a monument . The site provides e.n unobstructed view up to Montgome ry Hill wh ere the inventor's Evergreen flights were made in Oc tober, 1911.

Inscription:

ff Three-quarters of a mile northeast 1 s Montgomery Hi 11, site of the 55 successful fli ghts of the 11 aeroplane 11 of John Joseph Montgomery, which demonstrated aerodynami c developments still indispensible to modern aircraft. Here the basic principles of aerodynam ics discovered by Montgomery were combined by his engineering skill and technology to produce a heavier-than- air flying machine which had complete control: the cambered wing, rear stabilizer, flexible wingtips, and the wing-wa rping . 11

Plaque was placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation: in cooperation with the California Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the University of Santa Clara, October 31, 1967.

10.