Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed
Ratings24
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings24
Average rating4.5
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). 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. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of cold war confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds. Here are up-close portraits of the maverick band of scientists and engineers who made the Skunk Works so renowned. Filled with telling personal anecdotes and high adventure, with narratives from the CIA and from Air Force pilots who flew the many classified, risky missions, this book is a riveting portrait of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the twentieth century. "Thoroughly engrossing." --Los Angeles Times Book Review
Reviews with the most likes.
Fascinating account of Lockheed's secret ‘Skunk Works' facility, and how they went about achieving technological advances that were generations ahead of their time, including the U-2, Blackbird, an Stealth Fighter.
Damn interesting for the engineering behind the scenes even if the military industrial context is repugnant.
Also, the shear lunacy of the CIA never disappoints.
Very interesting read about the advent of stealth technology in aircraft from one of the ones at the forefront of the technology. The the whole book reads very conversationally throughout and Ben Rich is not one to pull punches and calls people out. I knocked off a star since the book devolves a bit into a series of meandering shorter anecdotes towards the end. Overall a great read and would highly recommend!
