The tragedy of the Space Shuttle Columbia Saturday made me
ponder, as many Americans are now doing, the inherent dangers of
human flight.
The tragedy of the Space Shuttle Columbia Saturday made me ponder, as many Americans are now doing, the inherent dangers of human flight.
Flying up into Earth’s orbit has become so routine in the public mind that we forget about the perils and the price some have paid in these pioneering days of space exploration. The shuttle is a complicated machine. Only a few key components malfunctioning can cause the loss of this technological marvel and – more tragically – the loss of crew members.
Santa Clara County has contributed much in terms of manned flight during the 20th century that has enabled aircraft and space shuttles to soar into the heavens. Much of the shuttle’s technology was designed and tested at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View. And during first decades of the 20th century, Gilroy’s Robert Fowler was an early pioneer in shaping the history of manned flight.
He set several significant records for flight, including being the first man to fly west to east across the United States. Fowler also developed several important technologies in aircraft design including a unique fuselage that’s left its imprint on today’s aircraft.
But in early Santa Clara County history, there’s one man who played a vital – but now overlooked – role in the early days of flight. Without his contribution, Orville and Wilbur Wright never would have been able to invent their airplane. That man was a physics professor at Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) named John Joseph Montgomery. And his death during an experimental aircraft flight-test foreshadows the tragedy of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
In 1874, Montgomery was a 16-year-old from Yuma, Ariz., when he arrived at Santa Clara College to study physics. After graduating, he began experimenting with the concept of human flight, supporting himself by teaching science classes at his alma mater. Like Leonardo da Vinci, Montgomery studied birds in flight, gathering data by measuring their bodies and wingspans as well as examining their wing curvature. It was this study that helped him discover the principle of the cambered wing, a necessary quality to produce lift and stability for flight.
The Wright brothers used many of Montgomery’s discoveries in building their airplane, and all modern aircraft – including supersonic military jets and space shuttles – incorporate Montgomery’s discoveries.
Montgomery limited his experimentation to glider flights. In 1905, in front of Santa Clara University’s small observatory, a hot-air balloon lifted glider test pilot Dan Maloney up to a height of 4,000 feet. The pilot cut the cords from the balloon and piloted the glider to a planned land site at Poplar and Alviso streets in Santa Clara. Although this was two years after Kitty Hawk, the event was historic. It was the first controlled flight of an aircraft.
More demonstration glider flights thrilled valley locals, and the U.S. Army was interested in Montgomery’s “aeroplane device” for military operations. At San Jose’s Agricultural Park along The Alameda, Montgomery staged one public demonstration on July 18, 1905, advertising with dramatic posters designed by his brother Richard that boasted, “Winged Man Sweeps Skyward. Most Daring Feat Ever Accomplished by Man.”
Adults paid 25 cents and children 10 cents to see “aeronaut” Jack Maloney fly the glider. Maloney’s balloon carried him high into the blue, but when it came time to cut loose, one of the ropes caught the glider wing, bending the strut. To the horror of the watching crowd, the pilot plummeted to his death. Seeing the dangers of flight, the army refused to sign a contract.
Montgomery didn’t let the tragic accident defeat him. He continued developing glider designs and test-piloting his gliders himself from the slopes of the Evergreen district in San Jose, taking at least 50 flights. In October of 1911, he took off from what is now known as Montgomery Hill. A gust of wind hit the glider and rolled it violently into the ground. The aircraft pioneer hit his head sharply on one of the glider’s bolts, injuring himself so seriously that he died several hours later.
In the Santa Clara University gardens stands a small obelisk marking the spot where Montgomery’s first controlled glider flight took off. A quote from Alexander Graham Bell on this monument reads: “All subsequent attempts in aviation must begin with the Montgomery machine.”
Watching the TV news about the Columbia tragedy on Saturday, I thought about John Joseph Montgomery. Like the astronauts, he believed it was humanity’s destiny to reach for the stars. And like the astronauts who died in the Columbia explosion, he paid the ultimate price in pioneering manned flight.
But if the lessons of all aircraft pioneers is an indication, the dangers of flight will not keep humanity grounded. In the spirit of John Joseph Montgomery a century ago and the seven crew members who perished in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia on Saturday, people will continue to reach for the stars.
