Quest for Flight

by Harwood, Craig S.; Fogel, Gary B.

• ISBN13: 9780806142647
• ISBN10: 0806142642
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-26
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

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 Flightreveals 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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
The Allure of California	p. 3
The Earth and Vaulted Sky	p. 11
Tutors in the Art of Flying	p. 21
Wings over Otay	p. 28
The Internal Work of the Wind	p. 33
The Path to Recognition	p. 46
Chicago, a Forum for the Outsider	p. 52
Other Pursuits	p. 61
A California Impetus	p. 69
A Rude Awakening	p. 79
Going Public	p. 88
Tragedy	p. 102
Wings in Tandem	p. 115
Baptism by Fire	p. 126
Birds of Prey	p. 141
Evergreen	p. 151
Epilogue	p. 160
Notes	p. 179
Glossary	p. 209
Bibliography
Archival Collections	p. 213
Primary-Source Correspondence	p. 215
Books and Articles	p. 216
Select Publications and Lectures That Mention John Joseph Montgomery	p. 220
Patents Held by John J. Montgomery	p. 226
Index	p. 227
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