Quest for flight

Description

John J. Montgomery was an American inventor of basic flight technology and exponent of aeronautical theory in the pioneering period of aviation in America (1885-1905). He used wind tunnels, whirling arms and ornithological investigations to determine flight control and stability in heavier-than-air aircraft design. He developed a series of gliders and made controlled gliding flights in the 1880's and later with tandem wing gliders in 1904-1906 and with a monoplane glider in 1911. This book explored his life story and career in aeronautics as well as situates his story in the context of Californian contributions to the solution of the flying problem. Researchers engaged in the subjects of; aviation, pioneering aeronautics, american inventors, technology and society, California and the american west, and the history of technology will be interested in this title.

Description

At a time when humankind was grappling with "the impossible art" of aerial navigation, the trans-Mississippi west existed as a hub of invention and innovation prior to and at the time of the emergence of the Wright Brothers and others in the eastern United States. The book redirects the traditional focus of American aviation history from the east to the west and establishes John Montgomery and some of his west coast-based peers as crucial players in the quest for flight in the true pioneering period. Another surprising aspect of the story is the role that women played in this march of progress and the impact that they had on the larger societal attitudes about visionary science and technology. From the first acrobats dangling from trapezes and making parachute jumps from balloons hundreds of feet above the earth, to those who helped design and pilot the first successful dirigibles in America, women trail blazed the path in this visionary field, inspired a generation of aerial workers and transcended the "glass ceiling" in this otherwise male dominated field.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Quest for flight: John J. Montgomery and the dawn of aviation in the WestUniversity of Oklahoma Press2012-01-01
• Quest for FlightUniversity of Oklahoma Press2012-01-01
• Quest for FlightUniversity of Oklahoma Press2019-01-01