"For well over a century, San Diego has been at the forefront of air and space innovation, development, and exploration. From the first flights by John J. Montgomery in 1883 to today's cutting-edge drone technology, San Diego has played a vital role in aviation and space technology. Today, there are over forty aerospace companies in the San Diego area, producing highly sophisticated aircraft and aircraft components for the world's aviation community.

This book documents the people and events that made San Diego's aviation heritage so unique and critically important through carefully selected photographic records, most of which are from the San Diego Air & Space Museum's archival collections. San Diego Aviation Through Time looks not only at the past, but also explores how aviation has shaped the region in the present day. Since 1961, the San Diego Air & Space Museum has been dedicated to the preservation of America's aviation heritage and to the spirit of adventure that first led us into the air and then to the outer reaches of space."