The John J. Montgomery Award was created by the National Society of Aerospace Professionals (NSAP) and the San Diego Aerospace Museum in 1962 for aerospace achievement. It was awarded from 1962 to at least 1964.

John J. Montgomery

The award bears the name of

John Joseph Montgomery John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American inventor, physicist, engineer, and professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, who is best known for his invention of controlled heavier-than-a ...

as the first American to fly in a heavier-than-air flying machine in 1884 near

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. Montgomery later designed gliders in 1903-1905 that were used for the first high-altitude flights by man in public exhibitions at

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

and other locations. He died in 1911 experimenting with a new glider design near

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. Montgomery was also one of the first Americans to investigate the science of aerodynamics using principles of physics.

Recipients

1962

The NASA

X-15 The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set spee ...

Program. Seven X-15 pilots and Paul F. Bikle, the then Director of NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, were awarded the first John J. Montgomery Award for aerospace achievement. The pilots were:

Scott Crossfield Albert Scott Crossfield (October 2, 1921 – April 19, 2006) was an American naval officer and test pilot. In 1953, he became the first pilot to fly at twice the speed of sound. Crossfield was the first of twelve pilots who flew the North America ...

, Maj. Robert M. White, Neil A. Armstrong, John B. McKay, Joseph A. Walker, Cdr. Forrest S. Petersen, and Maj. Robert A. Rushworth.

1963

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

. 26 people associated with Project Mercury including astronauts M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.,

John H. Glenn, Jr. John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American United States Marine Corps Aviation, Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first A ...

, Virgil I. Grissom, Alan B. Shepard, Jr.,

Donald K. Slayton Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was a United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, and test pilot who was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. He went on to become NASA's first ...

, and Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Dr.

Robert R. Gilruth Robert Rowe Gilruth (October 8, 1913 – August 17, 2000) was an American aerospace engineer and an aviation/space pioneer who was the first director of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, later renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. He worked ...

, MSC Director; Dr. Walter C. Williams, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator; Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, Project Mercury Manager;

Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. (February 28, 1924 – July 22, 2019) was an American aerospace and NASA engineer who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control Center and shaping its organization and culture. His protégé ...

, Project Mercury Flight Operations Director; Maxime A. Faget, Assistant Director of Engineering and Development; Dr. Charles A. Berry, Medical Operations Chief; Lt. Col.

John A. Powers John Anthony Powers (August 22, 1922 – December 31, 1979), better known as Shorty Powers, was an American public affairs officer for NASA from 1959 to 1963 during Project Mercury. A U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and war veteran, he was k ...

(USAF) (nickname "Shorty"), Mercury Public Affairs Officer; and John Finley Yardley, Mercury Launch Operations Manager.{{rp, 465

1964

The

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

Program was selected from 13 candidate programs. Awardees included

Charles Stark Draper Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentati ...

, Derald Stuart, and Dr. George F. Mechlin.

References

External links

Photos of 1962 recipients with Montgomery AwardsPhoto of Virgil Grissom's Montgomery Award from 1963
*Spearman, Arthur Dunning ''John J. Montgomery: Father of Basic Flying''. Santa Clara University 1967 and 2nd ed. 1977. *Harwood, Craig S. and Fogel, Gary B. ''Quest for Flight: John J. Montgomery and the Dawn of Aviation in the West''. University of Oklahoma Press 2012. Aviation awards