Synopses & Reviews
The Wright brothers have long received the lion’s share of credit for inventing the airplane. But a California scientist succeeded in flying gliders twenty years before the Wright’s powered flights at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Quest for Flight reveals the amazing accomplishments of John J. Montgomery, a prolific inventor who piloted the glider he designed in 1883 in the first controlled flights of a heavier-than-air craft in the Western Hemisphere.
Re-examining the history of American aviation, Craig S. Harwood and Gary B. Fogel present the story of human efforts to take to the skies. They show that history’s nearly exclusive focus on two brothers resulted from a lengthy public campaign the Wrights waged to profit from their aeroplane patent and create a monopoly in aviation. Countering the aspersions cast on Montgomery and his work, Harwood and Fogel build a solidly documented case for Montgomery’s pioneering role in aeronautical innovation.
As a scientist researching the laws of flight, Montgomery invented basic methods of aircraft control and stability, refined his theories in aerodynamics over decades of research, and brought widespread attention to aviation by staging public demonstrations of his gliders. After his first flights near San Diego in the 1880s, his pursuit continued through a series of glider designs. These experiments culminated in 1905 with controlled flights in Northern California using tandem-wing Montgomery gliders launched from balloons. These flights reached the highest altitudes yet attained, demonstrated the effectiveness of Montgomery’s designs, and helped change society’s attitude toward what was considered “the impossible art” of aerial navigation.
Inventors and aviators working west of the Mississippi at the turn of the twentieth century have not received the recognition they deserve. Harwood and Fogel place Montgomery’s story and his exploits in the broader context of western aviation and science, shedding new light on the reasons that California was the epicenter of the American aviation industry from the very beginning.
Review
"Harwood (a distant relative of John J. Montgomery) and Fogel (Wind and
Wings: The History of Soaring in San Diego) effectively trace their subject's determined efforts in pioneering aerial navigation. Beginning with Montgomery's initial 1883 flights near San Diego, they chronicle his work through a series of ever-improved glider designs. These tests culminated in 1905 with successful controlled flights in northern California employing tandem-wing craft released from hot-air balloons.
The authors also offer a fine exploration of Montgomery's crowded personal life and his interaction with air-minded peers; his nonaeronautical scientific projects; his continuing lack of sufficient research funds; and his inclination to protect his intellectual property with legal challenges; among other topics. Montgomery perished in a crash on October 31, 1911, at the age of 51. An epilog includes an account of his heirs' unsuccessful patent-infringement lawsuits against the Wright-Martin Corporation and the federal government. In 1946 Orville Wright supporters, according to Harwood and Fogel, engaged in a vindictive letter-writing campaign to stop production of a motion picture featuring the life of Montgomery; their efforts failed and Gallant Journey was produced.
VERDICT A solidly researched biography of a little-known turn-of-the century aerodynamicist and flyer compellingly framed against the broader tapestry of Western science and aviation. Highly recommended." -John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland
Review
"In this beautifully written and thoroughly researched comprehensive biography of John J. Montgomery, Harwood and Fogel not only debunk many myths surrounding Montgomery and the Wright Brothers but also provide a superb history of pioneer aviation in the west." -Gary F. Kurutz, Principal Librarian, Special Collections, California State Library
Review
Quest for Flight: John J. Montgomery and the Dawn of Aviation in the West re-considers the history of American aviation and provides the story of not the two brothers (which resulted from a public campaign the Wright waged to profit from their patent) but upon the scientist whose research into the laws of flight resulted in inventions of the basic methods of aircraft control and stability. His pursuit resulted in glider designs and resulted in controlled flights from Northern California that reached high altitudes and demonstrated the scientific accuracy of his designs - yet have received relatively little mention until now. Quest for Flight should be in any aviation history collection. --California Bookwatch
Synopsis
The Wright brothers have long received the lion’s share of credit for inventing the airplane. But a California scientist succeeded in flying gliders twenty years before the Wright’s powered flights at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Quest for Flight reveals the amazing accomplishments of John J. Montgomery, a prolific inventor who piloted the glider he designed in 1883 in the first controlled flights of a heavier-than-air craft in the Western Hemisphere.
About the Author
Craig S. Harwood is the great-great-grandson of Zachariah Montgomery, John J. Montgomery’s father. A native Californian, he is an engineering geologist with twenty years’ experience as a technical writer.Gary B. Fogel,a native of San Diego, is CEO of Natural Selection, Inc., a computer science firm, and the author of Wind and Wings: The History of Soaring in San Diego.