1. Above, Kelly Johnson, who founded and run Skunk Works for decades, stands beside the F-104 Starfighter in a photo taken in 1958 Kelly Johnson was the larger-than-life figure that founded and ran . That includes both domestic and international flights. How did he achieve such amazing success? Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices. Rule Number 1. Johnson lived by the simple motto: Be quick, be quiet, and be on time. This influenced his management style at Lockheed, which was subsequently adopted by several other members of the Lockheed management. The founder and first director of Skunk Works was Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, who was the designer of a U.S. spy plane called the U-2. 13. Price and other details may vary based on product size and color. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry. Due to Johnsons previous experiences pushing how high an aircraft could fly, Johnson worked extensively on pushing the aircrafts service ceiling. by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson and Maggie Smith | Dec 17, 1989. Although slight variations exist, they go something like this: Kelly's Rules 1. Despite his volatile approach, Johnson earned unparalleled loyalty from his highly skilled team. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson would have celebrated his 100th birthday three days ago if he still was with us, his name is pretty well known to anyone with an interest in aviation. You could argue, that without Kelly Johnson, there might not have been stealth aircraft, and if there were, at least not to the level available today. Johnson ran the Skunk Works with what was known as Kellys 14 Rules. He is an AIAA Fellow and recipient of the AIAA Aircraft Design Award, the SAE Clarence L. Kelly Johnson Aerospace Vehicle Design and Development Award, The Engineers Council Clarence L. Kelly Johnson Skunk Works Award, and the Lockheed Martin Aero Star Award. Linda Thompson, It's a blessing not to be alone in your grief but it's also painful to see your parents and siblings in pain. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of their program in all aspects. However, the US military was pressured into the sale by the CIA who preferred the aircraft for their own missions. The ADP offices stank of plastic- due to the nearby plastic factory. That's all there is to it. Due to Johnson designing the F-104 to be better than any other aircraft, many other countries were interested in the F-104. No, it wont take someones lifetime to do it. View the profiles of people named 'Kelly Johnson on Facebook. Lockheed Skunkworks Engineer USAF, and CIA Contractor Admitted : UFO Are Real He was the lead designer on several of Lockheed's greatest aircraft in the Cold War, as well as being the first leader of Lockheed's infamous Skunk Works division. That was the credo of Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson, the aeronautical innovator who founded Lockheed's supersecret "Skunk Works" where he designed the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraftthe SR-71 Blackbird. 7. 5. That was the credo of Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson, the aeronautical innovator who founded Lockheed's superse-cret "Skunk Works" where he designed the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraftthe SR-71 Blackbird. I asked my backseater, who said, Dont worry about it. The team (and its leader) must earn this trust. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry. One Lockheed engineer, the Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson, had an idea for how they could beat the Nazis' groundbreaking plane. Now, go home and pour yourself a drink. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.. If it looks ugly, it will fly the same. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson When a young engineer named Kelly Johnson came to Lockheed in 1933, one of the first things he told his new employers was that their new airplane design, the Electra, was inherently unstable. The final thing youll need to know is dont half-heartedly wound problemskill them dead. Kelly also had a unofficial 15th, 16th, and 17th rules, which he is known to have stated repeatedly to his subordinates: 16. Kelly Johnson is known for a lot of things. Meghan O'Rourke, Many a good man I have seen go under. I had the honor of piloting that final flight on March 6, 1990, for its final 2,300-mile flight between L.A. and D.C. That may be our most enduring legacy as well as our source of lasting pride., When Congress approved the decision to retire the SR-71, the Smithsonian Institution requested that a Blackbird be delivered for eventual display in the Air and Space Museum in Washington and that we set a new transcontinental speed record delivering it from California to Dulles. Johnson officially retired from Lockheed in 1975, where he was succeeded by his close friend, Ben Rich. And if the ship was totally invisible, it looked like a blank spotlike a hole in the doughnutthat was a dead giveaway, Kelly began receiving all kinds of complaints and threats of lawsuits from communities claiming the Blackbird had shattered windows for miles around. They are still familiar with the inborn vocabulary of myth Madeleine L'Engle, I wonder why people wanted someone very badly, I wonder why someone comes in your life and life begins to change, every good happens to you, and you just want that person to never go from your life, remain there for you" One of the purposes I had for founding my technology corporation in 1998 was to bring forth these technologies that can clean the air and can help get rid of the toxins, and help reduce the need for so much fossil fuel. He lived by the motto Be quick, be quiet, be on time. So, while in London to finalize the sale of the new Hudson bomber, the British Air Ministry requested numerous design changes, and Johnson took on the challenge over three nearly sleepless days. We made every shop worker who designed or handled a part responsible for quality control. 9. See the complete letter in May, 2010 MUFON UFO Journal from John Andrews and the hand written reply from Dr. Ben Rich. He lived by the motto "Be quick, be quiet, be on time." So, while in London to finalize the sale of the new Hudson bomber, the British Air Ministry requested numerous design changes, and Johnson took on the challenge over three nearly sleepless days. Due to the P-38s incredible speed and maneuverability, one of these P-38s shot down the aircraft carrying Isoroku Yamamoto, killing him. We have lost something in the aerospace engineering world. When Kennedy was shown the site constructions, he asked, How do we know these sites are being manned? They showed Kennedy a picture taken from 72,000 feet, showing a worker taking a dump in an outdoor latrine. SIGNING UP IS FAST, EASY AND FREE (TAKES LESS THAN A MINUTE AND IT'S A FREE FORUM), CLICK IMAGE FOR VIDEO, MAP & ARTICLE LINKS. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, and there must be very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. All Rights Reserved. First, you have to understand that we will not get to the stars using chemical propulsion. Shortly after being hired by Lockheed six years earlier, Johnson had walked into his new bosss office, pointed to the companys promising new aircraft, the Electra, revealed a critical instability and then proceeded to correct the errors to the companys amazement. What we have to do is find out where Einstein went wrong., 4 : When Rich was asked how UFO propulsion worked, he said, Let me ask you. Yes, it is time. 'Secret Base' Being Built for 'Man-Eating Aliens' Revealed by US Official Records, The Brooklyn Bridge UFO - The Weirdest Story You'll Ever Hear, Two Suns Theory, Kali Yuga Cycle Completes 2025, Lockheed CEO Ben Rich Declared On His Death Bed: Extraterrestrial UFO Are Real. That's not a bad thing, its just going to take a while before we refocus. His work thrust the aviation industry several decades into the future, going from traveling only a couple of hundred miles per hour to several times the speed of sound! The term "skunk works" comes from a tiny Lockheed Martin facility run by chief engineer Kelly Johnson in the 1940s, which started in a tent next to a malodorous manufacturing plant. The Blackbird had as much gliding capacity as a manhole cover, and it came barreling in over Salt Lake, just as our pilot got a restart and hit those afterburners right above the Mormon Tabernacle. And, yes, we really did put it to work. He has received the Collier Trophy twice, for his works on the YF-12 (a variant of the SR-71) and the F-117 Nighthawk. Its criminal to not have video proof of any deathbed confession at this point. The carrier task force people didnt like the stealth ship because it reminded everyone how vulnerable their hulking ships really were., One of the biggest problems we had to overcome was our own extreme invisibility! Error rating book. The project was highly secret, very high priority, and time was of the essence., Inside the Skunk Works, we were a small, intensely cohesive group consisting of about fifty veteran engineers and designers and a hundred or so expert machinists and shop workers., I enjoyed the goodwill of my colleagues because most of us had worked together intimately under tremendous pressures for more than a quarter century. | Privacy Policy We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way. Beyond his moniker quick, quiet, and quality, he did this by operating by a code that was unique to himself and his subordinates: a living mental set of commandments of sorts that pulled from both his experience and his vision. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised. Kelly Johnson was always fanatical about security. An historical documentary about Kelly Johnson and Skunk Works, a division of Lockheed and the makers of many American iconic aircraft, such as the SR-71 Blackbird, U-2 Dragonlady, F-104. The Skunk Works' program manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. Rule Number 3. Lockheed built the plane at Skunk Works headquarters in Burbank, California, in just eight months, then sent it for testing at Area 51, which Johnson nicknamed "Paradise Ranch." BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL WHEN A NEW ARTICLE IS POSTED - ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE BOX BELOW AND HIT SUBSCRIBE! His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management. But it was Hall Hibbard, Kellys boss, who summed up his abilities best. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems). It was a rare win. From that day on, the boy and his friends stopped calling him Clara, instead calling him Kelly after a popular song at the time. Ill teach you all you need to know about running a company in one afternoon, and well both go home early to boot. This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies is "a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" (New York Times Book Review). But some complaints were for real. The knowledge I have of these technologies came from the craft that were captured here. They can and must test it in the initial stages. Outlets that have called him this include: International Aviation HQ, Aviation Week and Flying Magazine. Even though the engine was running fine I slowed down and lowered our altitude and made a direct line for England. With its premium plus plan, youll be able to browse flight deals going for up to 90% off in business, premium economy, and economy class. . The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Even the way they financed the operation was highly unconventional: using secret contingency funds, they back-doored payment to Lockheed by writing personal checks to Kelly for more than a million bucks as start-up costs. The game changing F-117, which quickly gave the U.S. air superiority in the Gulf War, wouldn't have been possible without Ben Rich, the second director of Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works. Many of the specialized sub-divisions in the Skunk Works that Johnson set up during the 1960s and 1970s are still going strong. We got Dr. Scott of the Bureau of Standards cleared to work with us as an adviser. His three principles: First, it's more important to. Children still haven't closed themselves off with fear of the unknown, fear of revolution, or the scramble for security. As Tony LaVier, Lockheeds former chief test pilot and a frequent Kelly arm-wrestling opponent, said, it was Johnsons planes that kept us out of World War III.. In 1970 Johnson was awarded theSpirit of St. LouisMedal by theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. Just what the F-86 pilots had asked for. And then, in August 1962, they hit pay dirt and came up with the pictures that showed the Russians were planting ballistic missiles right next door, SS-4s and SS-5s. Kelly Johnson, the legendary founder of the Skunk Works, sought to recruit only the best person in each specialty the project required (Disney tried to do the same). When I was working with the Skunkworks with Kelly Johnson, we signed an agreement with the government to keep very quiet about this. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. As such, the CIA contracted Lockheed to develop a new, undetectable spy plane. There are conflicting observations about the birth of Skunk Works. Planes like the F-117, SR-71 and U-2 were designed by humans, using something called a brain. In 1969, Johnson was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President for his work. While in Lockheed's case the reason was the national security nature of the projects, in . We know that there were some captured craft from 1947 in Roswell, they were real. 8. Unfortunately, I can't. This aircraft later became one of the best aircraft of WWII, flying the longest sortie in the entire war. Kelly Johnson is known for a lot of things. Why did Ben Rich die of cancer if they had a device that could cure it? All Rights Reserved. McDonnell Douglas DC-10: Your Ultimate Guide. We all know you wouldn't do that to a book that was truly ancient and fragile. Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices. But with. "Come on, Papa. Johnson soon realized that arming the aircraft was nearly impossible, so chose another route: speed. Working isolated, under rules of tight security, instilled a camaraderie probably unique in the American workplace. Kelly johnson, the founder of the lockheed skunk works, established fourteen basic operating principles to govern his talented personnel and top secret projects. In the later years, many of these aircraft were to do with the concept of stealth. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry. 3. Kelly Johnson worked on several of Lockheeds projects between the 1930s and the 1980s. Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies, Boyne, Walter J. His work was instrumental in preventing a Soviet win during the Cold War. Even his few dead-ends and failures had key technologies that would lead to wins or lessons learned down the road. The ocean waves showed up on radar like a string of tracer bullets. We are who we are in the deepest recesses of our minds, hearts and identities. Lockheed Skunk Works former CEO knew the Roswell extraterrestrial UFO influenced designs of Testor model kits for Roswell UFO models, and U.S. top secret aircraft. According to article published in May 2010 issue of the Mufon UFO Journal - Ben Rich, the Father of the Stealth Fighter-Bomber and former head of Lockheed Skunk Works,had once let out information about Extraterrestrial UFO Visitors Are Real And U.S. Military Travel To Stars The Air Force rejected his design but it caught the attention of America's secretive spy agency, the CIA. Between 1933 and 1975, Johnson worked on most of Lockheeds aircraft. 2. The main tenants of his management are: efficiency; reliability and cost-effectiveness. "There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly," Johnson wrote. I marvel more and more at what enterprising engineers were able to do with slide rules and drafting tables so long ago. Now, go on home and pour yourself a drink., Everything about this project was dark alley, cloak and dagger. He should report to a division president or higher. "Kelly Johnson and the products of his famous Skunk Works epitomize the highest and finest goal of our society, the goal of excellence. Walt Whitman, Avast talking about me as though I were not standing here. A moment later we were directly over central California, with the Blackbirds continual sonic boom serving as an early wake-up call to the millions sleeping below on this special day. Taking action to help you protect what matters most. Kelly Johnson lived a comfortable life with his family. 1 : Inside the Skunk Works (Lockheeds secret research and development entity), we were a small, intensely cohesive group consisting of about fifty veteran engineers and designers and a hundred or so expert machinists and shop workers. This was because the F-86 was more complex and larger than the MiG-15, which made it harder to operate during dogfights. , Skunk Works, , . Johnson has been awarded the Theodore von Karman Award, twice, for his aircraft designs. Johnson resigned from the corporate board of directors in 1980, but continued on as a senior advisor until his death. What he said might be new to many people today, but he revealed the information before his death in January 1995. Then he delivered the immortalConstellation, which revolutionized commercial aviation. Skunkworks reckons its anniversary to the June day in 1943 that Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, then chief of engineering for Lockheed, signed a contract with the Army Air Corps to develop, within 180 days, a jet fighter. Kelly Johnson was born on February 27 1910 in Ishpeming, Michigan, a remote mining town. Kelly Johnson spent over 50 years in the industry, designing some of the worlds most ambitious aircraft. Johnson contributed much to the early stealth designs of the F-117 and SR-71, as well as the high altitude spy plane, the U-2. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. After a 1969 Nixon purge, administration was handled by an international board of directors in the private sector Following his graduation, he enrolled at Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College) where he graduated a few years later. The design for the fighter was submitted on the 26th of June, only 30 days into the project, and the first prototype was delivered to Muroc Army Airfield on the 16th of November, just 143 days later. The article was written by Tom Keller, an aerospace engineer who has worked as a computer systems analyst for NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I was catching up on the KC-46 Pegasus program when I read this story and this story, among others. During the Apollo landing, Neil Armstrong says, Theyre here.They are right over there and looking at the size of those ships., it is obvious they dont like us being here. Instead, Johnson was tasked with developing new military aircraft. Honest to God, there will never be another like him., We became the most successful advanced projects company in the world by hiring talented people, paying them top dollar, and motivating them into believing that they could produce a Mach 3 airplane like the Blackbird a generation or two ahead of anybody else. Lisa Norato, I certainly wasn't happy. Barred from identifying the facility officially, insiders referred to the workplace as the "Skonk Works"after the fabled Kickapoo Joy Juice . Jack London The future rewards those who press on. "Skunk Works" is the official nickname of the Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs. Robert Wringham, The main thing is to get what little happiness there is out of life in this wartorn world because 'these are the good old days' now. He was the lead designer on several of Lockheeds greatest aircraft in the Cold War, as well as being the first leader of Lockheeds infamous Skunk Works division. He should report. TIMES STAFF WRITER. . Hear more revealing testimony from Disclosure Project whistleblowers. These became known simply as Kellys Rules, which were basically operating laws for Johnson and those working on his projects. International Aviation HQ. Today, these are commonplace on almost all airliners, including those designed by both Airbus and Boeing. The final thing you need to know is don't half-heartedly wound problems - kill them dead. We learned from both crash retrievals and actual hand-me-downs. The Government knew and until 1969 took an active hand in the administration of that information. 12. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO REGISTER, LET'S BUILD A GREAT COMMUNITY TOGETHER 2. Lord of the Skunk Works,, Oliver, Myrna. This aircraft could fly at 80,000ft (24,000m), far out of the reach of Soviet radars and interceptors of the time. From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. If he doesnt, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles. , : , . The attack on Pearl Habour by the Japanese in 1941 took the US by surprise. Despite this, Johnson spent a lot of his free time consulting on new Lockheed aircraft, until his death in 1990. Lockheed wanted to find out what pilots wanted for a second generation jet fighter. This taught Johnson to be hard working as well as to conserve cash- both things that would serve him well at Lockheed. AND BE SURE TO JOIN OUR FORUM TOO! I, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed. Top Kelly Johnson Skunkworks Quotes That's what a Congressman or a Senator is for to see that too much money don't accumulate in the national Treasury. The history of Skunk Works, the top-secret division of Lockheed that specialised in extreme, highly classified military aircraft design. ""Well, I don't think any of the boyos have figured it out, but all of the coven knows. The Blackbird's technology though built in the 1960s is still leading edge in the twenty-first century. 13. We hit a tanker over the Pacific then turned and dashed east, accelerating to 2.6 Mach and about sixty thousand feet. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones. Paperback. Kelly Johnson and Lockheed Story The Film Gate 72.1K subscribers Subscribe 3.4K Share Save 259K views 3 years ago #stockfootage #lockheed #history https://www.thefilmgate.com/. We have invested in developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology for over 30 years. He can and must test it in the initial stages. The oil and gas companies would not like a little device in anyones home that would provide ample energy thus eliminating the need for fossil fuels, electric grids, distribution systems and monthly income for them. But neither Lockheed nor the government had any resources to spare because of the total war effort going on. Ben Rich Lockheed Skunk Works CEO had admitted in his Deathbed Confession that Extraterrestrial UFO visitors are real and the U.S. Military travel among stars. Our security people nabbed him just outside the plant and had him signing national security secrecy forms until he pleaded writers cramp., freedom to take risksand faildefine the heart of a Skunk Works operation., He told me later that he was surprised to learn that with flat surfaces the amount of radar energy returning to the sender is independent of the targets size. To this day, Kelly Johnsons resume of accomplishments reads like a list of the most iconic airplanes in aviation history. During one of the wind tunnel tests, Johnson discovered a flaw with the Electras directional stability. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. What Was Barnstorming? Today's Skunk Works employs 3,700 employees at facilities in Palmdale, California, Marietta, Georgia, and Fort Worth, Texas. He was one of seven children, as well as the child of an immigrant, finances were naturally quite tight. BY BEN R. RICH. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, the very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. 11. The specifications applying to the hardware, including rationale for each point, must be agreed upon well in advance of contracting. After WWII, the Germans were no longer the enemy, but the US was skeptical of the Soviets. 1. Thanks to the fame and fortune he has earned from his work. Dave Reichert, Being transgender, like being gay, tall, short, white, black, male, or female, is another part of the human condition that makes each individual unique, and something over which we have no control. His take on the F-35 program in particular, which the Skunk Works has had its hands in, would be amazing to hear. Has the story of Kelly Johnson inspired you? A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided. I shall use my time. With many Lockheed aircraft entering service with the US military, engineers used it with test pilots, who then taught US Navy pilots. Benjamin Robert Rich (June 18, 1925 January 5, 1995) was the second director of Lockheeds Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991, succeeding its founder, Kelly Johnson. In 1975, Kelly Johnson retired from Lockheed as a corporate vice president, leaving his personal understudy Ben Rich to head the Skunk Works. On the black paint, he said, you were right about the advantages and I was wrong. He handed me a quarter. He should report to a division president or higher. 2023 Lockheed Martin Corporation. In the east and above, the hint of a red sunrise and the bright twinkling lights from Venus, Mars, and Saturn. 10. . Shortly after Johnson implemented a first variant of its Skunk Works idea, an experimental shop where a small team of engineers, mechanics and business people was co-located to solve a problem . 2. 4.7 out of 5 stars 455. Dont duplicate so much inspection. The Fort Robertson complex was located less than a thousand yards from the Municipal Airports in-bound runway. The founder and first director of Skunk Works was Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, who was the designer of a U.S. spy plane called the U-2. One of the guys boomed Kellys ranch in Santa Barbara as a joke that backfired because he knocked out Kellys picture window. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended. Initially the USAF didnt like the design (mostly because Lockheed submitted it without asking for it). The young Kelly Johnson, a brilliant engineer, led a team of only 28 people into the top secret project. Following Eisenhower becoming president, he chose two Lockheed Constellations to enter service as the first ever Air Force One. Our design engineers had the keen experience to conceive the whole airplane in their minds-eye, doing the trade-offs in their heads between aerodynamic needs and weapons requirements. Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works responded with a design that they claimed could fly as high as 73,000 feet with a range of 1,600 miles, based on the Lockheed XF-104 Starfighter, a slender and supersonic intercept fighter. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. Created by Ben Rich and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, Skunk Works takes its name from the . Commercial bid procedures are often better than military ones. Using what Johnson had pioneered on the P-38, especially speed, Johnson led a group of engineers, including the famous Hall Hibbard and Willis Hawkins. Aircraft programs under Johnson were so cutting edge and historically influential, and his cult of personality and management strategy so effective, that he and Lockheeds Skunk Works (which he also founded) are forever enshrined in mankinds technological hall of fame. This resulted in Irv Culver, answering the internal phone lines as Skonk Works in reference to a comic strip in the local newspaper. After their first success, they applied the Skunk Works method again to create the world's first spy plane in 1954 that could take crystal clear pictures at 70,000 feet. 1. Ben Rich and "Kelly" Johnson set the origin as June 1943 in Burbank, California; they relate essentially the same chronology in their autobiographies. And the first time Dr. Scott paid us a visit and saw the three tanks of liquid hydrogen holding hundreds of gallons under storage, his knees began to shake. McDonald said: Well Hal, you asked for it! Don Phillips, These UFOs were huge and they would just come to a stop and do a 60 degree, 45 degree, 10 degree turn, and then immediately reverse this action. I don't have time to complain.