Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

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!

Fantastic engineering tale. I love this genre.

About the high-stress adventure of building airplanes, learning about radar-absorbing coatings, experimenting with perfect stealth geometries, about going on overnight flights at high altitude across Russia. About how making timely decisions even if they turn out wrong is better than to delay decisions. About having your designers sit right next to your machinists. About prototyping. About using off-the-shelf components. About keeping your teams small.


Kelly Johnson's 14 Skunk Works Rules1. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.6. 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.7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.8. The inspection system as currently used by the Skunk Works, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don't duplicate so much inspection.9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn't, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. 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.11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.12. 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. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.14. 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.

A fascinating look into the glory years of the Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works as written by former leader of the division, Ben Rich.

Contextual Note
My love of airplanes started at an early age as a child growing up in Houston, TX we were very poor, but my Dad would take me to Intercontinental airport just to watch the airplanes come in and take off. He had a pair of old binoculars and he taught me how to tell all the planes apart. We'd go see the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds anytime they were within driving distance. I loved all the different, beautiful planes of the American fleet. We had books full of photos and specs of all the world's aircraft. Dad and I would talk airplanes for hours, debating the virtues and vices of each of them. His favorite was the F-14 Tomcat. My favorite fighter was the F-15. But my overall favorite jet was the SR-71. That blackbird was the prettiest plane ever drafted. Most of my childhood, I grew up wanting to be a pilot or astronaut, likely due to all these discussions. /context

This book explores the inner workings of the Skunk Works unit in Lockheed Martin from the development of America's first jet fighter (the P-80) to the U-2 and the first true stealth airplane, the F-117 (along with its predecessor, the Have Blue prototype). And of course the SR-71! There's a huge focus on the founder of Skunk Works, Kelly Johnson and how he ran the shop. There are many anecdotes from pilots who flew these craft on missions and the unusual situations and the politics that were affected in this crazy time in history (1950's - 1990's). You'll also find plenty of discussion of the bidding process and competitions between aircraft companies of that age.

It is all simply fascinating. The very end also includes some insight into how the process actually prevents the citizens from getting the most out of our tax dollars and some suggestions that might help.

If you've ever sat around and had a discussion about which airplane is your favorite (ever in your life), you'll probably enjoy this one.