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Kelly: More Than My Share of It All

Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith · 5 HN comments
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Amazon Summary
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
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For more detail on how effective Skunkworks was, read Kelly Johnson's book. It was recommended to me by a buddy at JPL and it's a wonderful view into how they did things on time and below budget on projects like the SR71.

Not an affiliate link: https://www.amazon.com/Kelly-More-Than-Share-All/dp/08747449...

dharmab
I love the problem solving stories. My favorite is the one about transporting the prototype from Washington to Nevada on a very wide trailer- which involved sawing signposts apart and bribing a bus driver...
The book you want is probably Kelly: More than My Share of It All. I haven’t read it myself but the reader reviews seem great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874744911/

myself248
I've read it and came away wanting. It's a brief personal memoir, with very little technical detail. If it'd been written by anyone other than the man himself, it'd barely warrant a mention.

It's good for a peek into his life, his early years, stuff like that. Definitely does give you some sense of what sort of person would make a comment like the above.

Animats
Ben Rich's "Skunk Works" book has lots about Kelly Johnson. Rich worked with him and eventually succeeded him.
This article mentions Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. If you don't know who he is and care to learn more about one of the best engineers that ever lived (SR-71 is his work), check out his book: https://www.amazon.com/Kelly-More-Than-Share-All/dp/08747449...

His second in command at Lockheed, a man named Ben Rich also wrote a very good book: https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/...

ThenAsNow
> (SR-71 is his work)

One unfortunate trait of the original Lockheed Skunkworks culture was to make Kelly Johnson (brilliant as he was) the only face of the organization. As just one such example, many know of the clever inlet system on the A-12/SR-71, but it, like many things Skunkworks in the pre-Rich era, is incorrectly ascribed to Johnson. The real person who deserves the credit as the chief for that system is David H. Campbell, but how many people know his name?

theoh
The form of the T-38 was apparently determined by Lee Begin at Northrop. Who, you ask? Well, good luck finding information about him on the Internet.
That book is by Johnson's protege and successor, this one is by Kelly himself:

http://www.amazon.com/Kelly-More-Than-Share-All/dp/087474491...

Both are amazing stories.

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