John Joseph Montgomery

Biography

John Joseph Montgomery's pioneering experiments with gliders along the California coast in the 1880s and 1890s established him as one of America's earliest aeronautical inventors, and his meticulous study of bird flight informed the graceful, controllable designs he tested long before heavier-than-air flight became commonplace.

His gentle demeanor and unwavering confidence in the potential of the skies earned him admiration from scientists and the public alike, and his remains rest at Holy Cross Cemetery as a tribute to the dreamer who dared to lift humanity upward.