Historical Marker · No. 711
Montgomery Memorial
San Diego, San Diego County · California
Erected by San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce Montgomery Memorial Committee, dedicated May 21, 1950
Nobody photographed the flight. John Montgomery and his brother James paced off six hundred feet from this hilltop, and what is known of it comes from the people who stood there. Historians still divide between 1883 and 1884, because the Otay dam broke in 1916 and washed the family ranch and its papers down the valley. Montgomery never claimed a first himself. The bronze claims it for him, under a wing that is a static test panel from a B-32 bomber, given by the company that built them.
What the plaque says
John J. Montgomery made mans first controlled winged flights from this hilltop in August 1883. "He opened for all mankind the great highway of the sky" Erected by the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce Montgomery Memorial Committee Dedicated May 21, 1950
Where it stands
32.57872, -117.06877 · Directions
More markers nearby
- National City Depot, Transcontinental Railroad — 6.2 mi
- Hotel del Coronado — 9.5 mi
- First Military Flying School in America — 10 mi
- La Punta de los Muertos — 11 mi