John Joseph The Montgomery Glider

John Joseph Montgomery began serious work in aeronautics in 1881-82. In the summer of 1884, he flew a monoplane glider between 100-200 m (325-650 ft) at Otay Mesa, California. In the late 1890s, early twentieth century, he experimented with tandem-wing gliders suspended beneath a balloon, which were then released to glide back to the ground.Show more

The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 ended Montgomery's aeronautical work for several years, but he resumed his efforts in 1911 with a new monoplane glider called the Evergreen. Between October 17-31, 1911, in the Evergreen Valley, just south of San Jose, Montgomery made more than 50 glides with his new aircraft, each approximately 240 m (785 ft). On October 31, flying at an altitude of less than 6 m (20 ft), the Evergreen stalled, sideslipped, came down on the right wingtip, and turn over. Montgomery hit his head on an exposed bolt and died from his injury two hours later.