Today's San Jose Mercury had a story describing the Bay Area's contributions to aviation in conjunction with the 100 year anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight. I was surprised to see connections to my alma matter (Santa Clara University:
John J. Montgomery, a Santa Clara University professor, gets credit for the first controlled piloted flight, in a glider he called the Gull, off the bluffs near San Diego 20 years before the Wright brothers' first powered flight.
There was also mention of the founding of Lockheed (Lockheed History):
So Allen Loughead, a Santa Clara University student, and his brother Malcolm borrowed $4,000, built a two-seat seaplane, the Model G, and flew it out of San Francisco Bay in 1913.
Then, they took their earnings from flying at the San Francisco exposition in 1915 and started Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing in Santa Barbara. The brothers later changed the spelling of their name to match its pronunciation. Their company evolved into aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
Santa Clara recently noted that Professor Montgomery was inducted into the National Soaring Museum Hall of Fame:
Montgomery built a tandem wing glider called the "Santa Clara" which he launched from Santa Clara College, as the University was then known. Today, a granite obelisk near Varsi Hall marks the spot where the glider was balloon-launched to 4,000 feet on March 16, 1905. The flight lasted 15 to 20 minutes and included several horizontal figure-eights, controlled turns and spirals. At the time, it was the highest flight ever by a manned aircraft.
