John G. Montijo

Montijo taught flight instruction to Amelia Earhart in a Kinner Airster after crashing with her first instructor Neta Snook.

Shortly afterward, he moved to Long Beach, California, and became one of the earliest licensed Hispanic pilots in the United States.

[3] In February 1921 Montijo competed in the Southern California Aero Club air races in a Bluebird Airplanes Inc. biplane named "The Desert Rat".

[9] In 1923 Montijo collaborated with Lloyd Royer on a four-passenger aircraft, the California Coupe,[10] that would become the first cabin biplane on the United States West coast.

[15] On 1 May 1935, he was on a newly modified route from Pueblo to El Paso when he died in an aircrash when one wing hit the ground in a low pass.

[17][18] Montijo's children remained active in aviation after his death, his son went on to be a P-51 pilot in the 353rd Fighter Squadron in WWII, and was hired to manage the La Cresta Airfield in Bakersfield, California on its opening.