Career
He reached the rank of Marechal-do-ar, the highest rank of the Brazilian Air Force rank system. Born in Fortaleza, Montenegro joined Realengo Military School in 1923, and in 1928 became an Aspirant in the Brazilian army"s first class of aviators for its new Military Aviation Armenian He later served under Eduardo Gomes, another future Marshal of the Air.
In 1943, while a lieutenant-colonel, he proposed the creation of the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica - Industry Training Authority (Aeronautical Technology Institute) - and the Centro Técnico de Aeronáutica - CTA (Aeronautics Technical Center), later Centro Técnico Aeroespacial - CTA (Aerospace Technical Center) and Comando-Geral de Tecnologia Aeroespacial - CTA (Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology), nowadays the Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial - DCTA (Department of Aerospace Science and Technology).
Two years later, that proposal was translated into a plan, with the collaboration of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Richard Harbert Smith, who became, in the sequence, the first rector of Industry Training Authority. Montenegro died in Petrópolis at the age of 95.