SKUNK WORKS STORY | Aviation Revolutions, Lockheed, And Kelly Johnson | Complete Documentary

I would like to make an addition that is very clear to me. Having been involved in some 44 aircraft development programs and 20 in

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factories, I have seen time and time again how American industry, aerospace industry or whatever you want, has shown that when you know what it is, it will. produce, has no parallel. Lockheed Martin Corporation today can trace its hi

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to 1912, when brothers Alan H. and Malcolm Lougheed founded Alco Hydro Airplane Company in San Francisco, California. In 1916, Alan and Malcolm moved their company to Santa Barbara, California and renamed it Lougheed Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The company went on to produce a couple of aircraft, namely the Model F-1 flying boat and the Model S-1 sports aircraft.

The latter had an advanced monocoque design that, due to its prohibitive price, could not compete. Without any orders for aircraft, Lougheed Aircraft was forced to close in 1921. In 1926, Alan Lougheed, John Kirsten Jack Northrup and Kenneth Kanjay joined forces to form Lougheed Aircraft Company in Hollywood, California. The spelling of Loheed was changed to Lockheed to avoid pronunciation errors. Northrop joined Loheed Aircraft in 1920 as a draftsman and it was he who designed the S-1 sports aircraft. This new company used the monocoque design features of the S-1 to create the Lockheed Vega. The company moved to Burbank, California, in March 1928 and by the end of the year had sales of more than $1 million.

From 1926 to 1928, the company produced more than 80 aircraft and employed more than 300 workers, who by April 1929 were building five aircraft per week. In July 1929, majority shareholder Fred E. Keller sold 87% of Lockheed Aircraft Company to Detroit Aircraft Corporation. In 1929 Alan Loheed resigned. The Great Depression destroyed the aircraft market and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors led by Walter Varney and the other Robert Ellsworth brothers Bob Gross and Cortland Sherrington Gross brought the company out of bankruptcy in 1932. The syndicate purchased the company for $40,000. Ironically, Alan Loheed had planned a bid for his own company, but had only raised $50,000, which he considered too small a sum for a serious bid.

He should have bid because if he wanted he would have taken the company back from him. In 1934, Bob Gross was named president of the new company, Lockheed Corporation, which was headquartered at the Burbank Municipal Airport. Cort Gross was named co-founder and CEO. The first successful aircraft built in any number was the 1927 Lockheed Vega, best known for its record-breaking first flights by Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and George Hubert Wilkins, among others. I became a real estate agent after he sold the business and I actually bought him a house. But the team that arrived, led by Robert Gross, included Hall Hibbert, who was their finance and administration man.

And that team, and many others, of course, I won't say many, maybe there were 10 or 15, and they involved a man who came with the company, Carl Squire, who was the head of marketing, so to speak. . At that time we didn't call him that, but he was the salesman. And the team put together quite a few different ideas to take the company from its wooden plane, legend so to speak, and production, to the all-metal world they saw coming. I think it was a pretty brave move. It was a twin-engine plane, Lockheed never built a twin-engine plane. Everything was metal.

Lockheed never built a metal airplane. They had retractable landing gear. They had done it once, but this was a little different. And it had two tails, which of course was the initial signature, so to speak, of one of the site's designers, Kelly Johnson. And that's when I first learned about Lockheed. Kelly Johnson was the head of advanced design at Hall Herbert and came from the University of Michigan. And back then we didn't have wind tunnels in the industry, or at least none that I know of. And Kelly used the University of Michigan as a wind tunnel.

We had a little tunnel in the basement of the engineering building in Michigan. And I was a student assistant at the time. And then I worked in the election wind tunnel when I was a student at Michigan. And there the two tails were born. That was a good idea. And it's still a good idea for a multi-engineer or a bioengine anyway. At least I was interested. I met Kelly when he returned from the wind tunnel and then went to work for Lockheed after graduating. But the twin-engine Electra posed a risk for the company. The company had been purchased for $40,000 and the development time for this aircraft was surely a good year, which is quite short.

And it was a very successful airplane that filled a niche in the market and continued to fill it, and that was really the basis of the company. The Model 10 would spawn the Model 12 Electra Junior and the successful Model 14 Super Electra. As a result, Johnson would be partially responsible for the financial margin inherent in the Model 22 prototype, which would later be known to the world as the P-38 Lightning. The pioneering Lightning was a twin-engine, twin-boom, twin-tail interceptor pursuit aircraft that eventually became a key fighter aircraft in World War II. The design and engineering of the P-38 was the work of aeronautical engineers Hibbert and Johnson, and the first example, the unique XP-38, made its first flight on January 27, 1939.

Secretly, several advanced aircraft features were incorporated. on the new fighter, including a major structural revolution in which the aircraft's aluminum skin was moved, adjusted and riveted flush, a design innovation that was not anticipated in the Army specifications, but would provide less aerodynamics. drag and provide greater resistance and less mass. As a result, the XP-38 was the world's first 400 mph fighter. It was flown by a USAAC AMC test pilot engineer, 1st Lt. Benjamin Scoville Kelsey, who was the combat project officer in AMC's engineering division and one of the P-38's biggest supporters. In fact, he helped convince the USAAC to acquire the type.

In addition to the P-38 Lightning program, Lockheed Aircraft and its subsidiary Vega Aircraft Corporation, formerly AI Rover Company, were busy building advanced trainers under license for North American Aviation, the Vega, Electra and Super Electra aircraft, and the Hudson bombers and patrol boats, Ventura and Harpoon. In 1939, Howard Hughes Jr., billionaire and major shareholder of Transworld Airlines, made an industry-wide request for a 40-passenger transcontinental airliner with a range of 3,500 miles. The previous design of the Lockheed L-044 Excalibur did not meet the requirements, but was changed to what became the Lockheed L-049 Constellation. But like so many other aircraft manufacturers of that era, it was constantly looking for a new business to survive and keep its relatively small workforce intact.

There were 65 P-38 Lightnings on order for fiscal year 1940 and a single Lightning derivative designated the XP-49. These aircraft, ordered by the then USAAC, were only a few in production and additional orders were highly sought after. The year 1941 turned out to be much more lucrative due to the expansion of wars in Europe and the Pacific. In 1941, military orders for Lockheed increased dramatically. After December 8, 1941, the date the United States declared war on Germany and Japan, the floodgates opened and military combat transport aircraft soon began rolling out of the Lockheed and Vega production lines. Between July 1, 1940 and August 31, 1945, the company produced no fewer than 19,077 aircraft for the war effort.

This figure represented 6.6% of all production in the United States during this period and about 9% of the total weight of aircraft airframes. At the end of World War II, Lockheed was the fifth largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States. The war catapulted Lockheed into the upper echelons of financially successful aircraft manufacturing companies. Therefore, it was able to undertake research and development initiatives that would otherwise have been almost impossible in the most difficult of times. In particular, as early as 1939, Hal Hibbard and Kelly Johnson had become a little enamored with the theory of jet propulsion. This power plant concept, already exploited with considerable effectiveness on the other side of the Atlantic, had been relegated in the United States, mainly due to the difficult circumstances of the war.

In 1944, however, this was no longer the case. Money was made available for studies on hardware development. Phil Coleman, Willis Hawkins and Gene Frost worked with Hibbard and Johnson on the development of the airframe and with visionary Nathan Price on the propulsion. World War II ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, but the war in the Pacific lasted another four months. Meanwhile, the fledgling Skunk Works was busy trying to improve its P-80 series of aircraft while diving into new designs. It was a time of controversy because the United States War Department planned to cut its numerous high-volume aircraft orders.

Wartime aircraft production was coming to an end. In any case, within Kelly's lair, the design, development and engineering of various aircraft projects was constant, and as chief research engineer, Johnson was responsible for all of his wants and needs. With the military market declining, it was time for Lockheed to re-examine the civilian aircraft market. His big, sleek Constellation would soon be flying around the world, but smaller, feeder-type airliners were needed to transport passengers between major cities. During this particular period, the still quite nascent Skunk Works entered unprecedented territory with the creation of several interesting aircraft projects. Its aerodynamic, aeronautical, electrical, fuel, hydraulic, propulsion and thermal engineering staff was full of brilliant minds and came up with many successful bids.

This team, a precursor to the soon-to-be-born Skunk Works, generated over a six-month period a series of design studies that ultimately resulted in the ultimate jet-powered, canard-configured L-133 fighter. Of all steel construction, and with an estimated top speed of 600 miles per hour, it was to be powered by two L-1000 XJ37 axial flow turbojets of Lockheed design and built of 5,500 pounds of thrust each. As it was, the L-133 and L-1000 experience, while apparently not productive at the time, would eventually bear significant fruit for Lockheed. Both concepts were extremely advanced in the early 1940s, even in the face of parallel German and English efforts, and the axial flux engine in particular would prove prescient from a technological standpoint.

More importantly, the small but significant experience base resulting from the Maverick's airframe and engine would serve the company well when the Air Force finally realized the legitimate need for a jet-powered fighter. Jet engine technology in the form of aircraft propulsion had undergone a relatively long and arduous gestation when it was successfully applied to the German Heinkel He 178, the world's first successful jet aircraft. The Ernst Heinkel company had already begun jet propulsion studies in 1936. After the first flight in the hands of the competent Heinkel test pilot Eric Worsitz at the company's airfield in Mariehenne on August 27, 1939, the HE- 178 not only served to study the aircraft engine as an aircraft propulsion unit, but also to convince Nazi and Luftwaffe leaders of the viability of the jet engine.

Its success in the propaganda department later manifested itself in the extraordinarily rapid development of excellent operational fighters such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 and the Arado Ar 234 and again in the attempt to develop a plethora of aircraft-powered fighter types that included the very advanced ones. Messerschmitt P 1101 Henschel Hs 132 Junkers Ju 287 and Heigl He 162 Only the cessation of hostilities prevented Germany from developing a suite of fighter aircraft that could have drastically changed the outcome of the war. Across the Atlantic, the development of American work on jet-powered aircraft has been slow. The reasons were multiple, but essentially all came down to an unstoppable push in the form of an industrial complex committed to more conventional forms of aircraft.

On 25 July 1944, 1st Lieutenant AE Wall and Pilot Officer AS Lobbin flew an unarmed reconnaissance variant of the agile De Havilland Mosquito over Munich, Germany. They noticed an enemy aircraft approaching approximately 400 yards astern and quickly closed in. Five times Wall turned on attacker Me 262 but was unable to gain the advantage. Only by diving into the cloud cover could the Royal Air Force plane and its crew escape the frustrating battle. When Wall and Lobben returned to their base of operations at Firmo, near Ancona, Italy, they spent very little time doubting the capabilities of the long-rumored German aircraft. They were convinced that their performance was something that the Allies could not easily or safely ignore.Very little was known about these advanced machines and their features.

Intelligence personnel were hard-pressed to provide even minimal information to Allied combat crews. In turn, available information on jet engine technology, including domestic research conducted in the United States over the previous two decades, was examined with renewed interest. By 1939, sufficient progress had been made to convince the British Air Ministry that funding for the research was appropriate. Accordingly, a contract was signed for a prototype engine, the 855-pound Thrust W1, to power a proposed jet research aircraft to be built by Gloucester under contract SB-3229, dated 3 February 1940, and designated E-28-39. . During March 1941, Vannevar Bush, Ph.D., after receiving an insightful letter dated February 25 from General H.

Hap Arnold, then deputy chief of the Air Staff, a Special Committee on Jet Propulsion under the chairmanship of Will Durand, former NACA president and prominent turbocharging advocate. During April 1941, while meeting with British military commanders in England, General Arnold had the opportunity to view the Gloucester E-28-39 test aircraft as it performed high-speed taxiing and short air-hop tests in the Hucklecote airfield and reviewed it in detail by the Whittle, the jet engine. The display impressed General Arnold. He immediately requested that information about the plane and its unique propulsion system be given to his technical staff in London for a detailed review.

At the same time, he advised the US State Department on British jet engine development and asked it to assist in establishing diplomatic relations that would enable the acquisition and dissemination of jet engine information and technology in the United States. In early September 1941, the British received jet aircraft. Engine technology, knowledge, drawings and hardware through the technical team assembled under the command of General Arnold resulted in the decision to build a replica of the Whittle jet engine. Almost by default, General Electric was the unanimous choice to build the engine, and Bell Aircraft Corporation was, also by default, chosen to build the airframe.

The British government agreed to grant rights to the American government and also supply it with a single

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engine and one of two E-28-39s. Bell, after submitting and receiving approval for its aircraft design, received a contract on September 30, 1941 for three Model 27 aircraft with the military designation XP-59A. Beginning on 5 February and continuing through 18 February 1944, three of the YP-59As were used to evaluate the type as an air combat platform, flown against a Republic P-47D Thunderbolt and a Lockheed P-38J Lightning. Unfortunately for all three first-generation aircraft, their performance against their considerably older reciprocating engine peers was abysmal.

In simulated dogfights, the P-47 and P-38 proved to be faster in level flight, capable of reaching higher maximum altitudes, faster in a dive, and with a higher rate of climb. Only in one part of the envelope did the P-59 prove to be only marginally superior: the radius. About three weeks after Morock's evaluations, General Arnold made it official that the P-59A would not become the Air Force's first full-production jet fighter. Its poor performance against modern American aircraft did not justify its operational deployment. More importantly, intelligence data detailing the rapid development of the German aircraft initiative gave every indication that a fighter fleet with performance far superior to that achieved by the Bell P-59 was rapidly being created.

What General Arnold also knew, but few had been privileged to know, was that about eight months earlier Lockheed had received the go-ahead for a new fighter aircraft that was certainly capable of dealing with the Luftwaffe threat. As news of the B-59's demise began to spread, Lockheed's new fighter jet flight test program was secretly taking off in Morocco. On 17 May 1943, Hibbert and Price were briefed on the status of jet propulsion development and were invited to submit a fighter proposal around Major Frank Halford's de Havilland H-1B Goblin. Two months later, during meetings on May 17, Hibbert and Price were asked whether Lockheed might consider designing and building a fighter jet around the British power plant.

Due in part to the interest that Hibbert, Johnson and Price had shown in jet propulsion with their L-133 and L-1000 studies over the previous three years, and their associated attempts to sell both to the Air Force, it was a foregone conclusion. . that Lockheed's response would be positive, and it was. At Lockheed, the new L-140 project, launched in the midst of an incredibly intense production program aimed at meeting the enormous generic needs of an impending world war, received minimal corporate attention. Robert Gross, then president of the company, and Hall Hibbard, chief engineer, assigned Johnson to the project because of his strong interest in jet propulsion, his established organizational skills, and because he was the most competent of the many young engineers on the large staff. of the company. .

Johnson noted in his autobiography that the

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's labors begin as follows. For some time I had been pestering Ross and Hibbert to allow me to establish an experimental department where designers and craftsmen could work closely together on aircraft development, without the delays and complications of the intermediate departments that were responsible for administration. , shopping and everything. other support functions. I wanted a direct relationship between design, mechanic and production engineer. I decided to handle this project that way." Putting extraordinary pressure on Johnson and his L-140 XP-80 team at Lockheed was the Air Force's requirement that the aircraft be

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d in one hundred and eighty days or less.

The 16th noted Mr. Hibbard came later to make sure the progress images weren't fake. And the next day, the entire XP-80 team was told that not everyone would be able to participate in the plane's first flight if they could do it at 140. days While the team waited for the new engine, several checks were carried out on the airframe and work continued on smaller sub-assemblies and preliminary designs for the second and third aircraft, which now began to take shape around a new engine. General Electric called I-40. These improved aircraft, officially designated by Lockheed as L-141 and by the Air Force as XP-80A, began to differ significantly from its predecessor, the 44-, it was nicknamed Lulu Belle, also known as Green.

Hornet. for his painting. Powered by the replacement Halford H-1 taken from the Haviland Vampire fighter prototype, it first flew on 8 January 1944 with Lockheed test pilot Milo Burcham at the controls. After this flight, Johnson said, it was a magnificent demonstration, our aircraft was a success, a success so complete that it had overcome the temporary advantage the Germans had gained during years of preliminary aircraft development. No doubt the donated British jet engine and program data had proven invaluable. In test flights, the XP-80 eventually reached a maximum speed of 502 miles per hour at 20,480 feet, making it the first turbojet-powered USAAF aircraft to exceed 500 miles per hour in level flight, following the August 1944 flight record of 504 miles. an hour of a special high-speed variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

Modern pilots, transitioning to state-of-the-art aircraft such as the Shooting Star, were not accustomed to flying at high speeds without a loaded engine and had to learn to trust the airspeed indicator. By January 15, Bircham had completed five flights in the XP-80 for a total of 1.67 flight hours. The primary objective of these flights was to obtain preliminary impressions of the XP-80's flight characteristics, as well as information on its level flight and climb capabilities. A significant amount of flight time was also used to evaluate the aircraft's stall characteristics and high-speed performance. The second prototype, designated XP-80A, was designed for the larger General Electric L40 engine.

Two aircraft were built. 83021 was nicknamed the Gray Phantom for its pearl gray paint, while 83022, which was left unpainted to compare flight characteristics, became known as the Silver Phantom. Initial reviews of the XP-80A were not positive, with Lockheed chief test engineer Milo Burcham commenting that the plane he liked so much had become a dog. The P-80 test program proved very dangerous." Bircham died on 20 October 1944 while flying a third YP-80A-44-83025. The Gray Ghost was lost on a test flight on 20 March 1945, although pilot Tony LeVier escaped. LeVier, recently promoted to test pilot engineer to replace Bircham, got out of trouble when one of the engine's turbine blades broke, causing a structural failure in the tail of the LeVier plane. he landed hard and broke his back, but returned to the testing program after six months of recovery Unfortunately, on August 6, 1945, Major Richard Bong, Medal of Honor recipient and top-scoring American ace. , died in a P-80A while attempting to take off south of California's Van Nuys Airport, apparently also as a result of a fuel pump failure.

After Bong's death, the USAAF and Lockheed wanted to demonstrate the aircraft's reliability. Chuck Yeager and two other pilots spent 500 hours on each plane. After the war, the USAAF compared the P-80 and ME-262 and concluded. With a gross weight difference of almost 2,000 pounds or 900 kg, the ME-262 was superior to the P-80 in acceleration, speed, and about the same in climb performance. The Me 262 apparently has a higher critical Mach number, from an endurance standpoint, than any current Army Air Force fighter. At least one other major P-80 project became the responsibility of Skunk Works before the shrinking team moved on to other things.

On November 11, 1945, a Royal Air Force Gloucester Meteor Mark 4 set a new speed record of 606 miles per hour. This, one of the first such records set by a jet aircraft, sparked the Air Force's interest in breaking the record using a slightly modified P-80A. After a study of the P-80 aircraft by Johnson and several Lockheed Wright field engineers, it was concluded that a P-80A with minimal modifications could reach a speed of 615 miles per hour at the maximum required level of 100 meters from the sea. During Chilstrom's numerous runs around the Moroccan speed trap, it became clear that breaking the British record would not be easy.

Complicating matters was another British speed record set by Group Captain EM Donaldson in a Gloucester Meteor F-4. And the P-80A wasn't the only American aircraft in the race. Republic's new XP-84, a similar first-generation straight-wing jet fighter, proved its worth at Morock by tearing through the speed trap at speeds in excess of 600 miles per hour, officially becoming the fastest American aircraft. This left the Lockheed-modified P-80, now known as the XP-80R, as the sole American record holder. About nine months after the failed record attempt in October, the XP-80R was back at Muroc with Colonel Boyd in the cockpit.

On June 19, 1947, everything, including the weather, was finally ready for the final attempt. Guided by reddish smoke flares starting at both ends of the runway, Boyd passed through the traps four different times as per the FAI requirement. The speeds of 617.1, 614.7, 632.5, and 630.8 miles per hour were officially long, giving an average speed of 623.8 miles per hour and giving the United States its first official world speed record in almost a quarter century. The P-80, previously named Shooting Star by company executives Robert Gross and Hall Hibbard, would have a long and successful career not only in the US military, but also in the air forces of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Peru too.

It would claim the first victory in air combat between aircraft in hi

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and amass an extraordinary record as a fighter, fighter-bomber, and reconnaissance platform during the Korean War. Later, although obsolete, it fulfilled important duties with various Air Guard and Air Reserve units, and was finally withdrawn from service in the United States during 1958. In total, including prototypes and production aircraft, some 1,732 P-s were built. 80. As just one of several important legacies, the XP-80 and two XP-80As left the full reality of one of Kelly Johnson's long-cherished dreams: an experimental department whereDesigners and craftsmen could work closely together in developing aircraft without the delays of intermediates. departments and complications in dealing with administration, procurement and all other support functions.

He strongly aspired to have a direct relationship between design engineer, mechanic and production, and wanted the opportunity to prove that it would work. The P-80 project provided that opportunity and served as the seed of what would become the most famous and mysterious aircraft manufacturing institution in the world. In any retrospective describing the history of Skunk Works, the period from 1945 to 1954 needs to be approached with some trepidation. By the end of 1945, the Skunk Works, as it then existed, had served its purpose and had effectively ceased to exist as a separate entity within the corporate umbrella of Lockheed Aircraft Company.

Still, Kelly Johnson had not let the success of the XB-80 program be absorbed by the ever-looming corporate bureaucracy. After seeing the qualities of the unencumbered design and manufacturing system he and his Skunk Works teammates created, he was determined to maintain his operating philosophy for future projects. By the time the P-80 was delivered to Lockheed's 28-10 Division for production program expansion, several other aircraft had been incorporated under the Skunk Works operating philosophy for future runs. These projects, the Model 75 Saturn prototypes, XR-60-1 Constitution, T-33 and T-2V-1 C-Star, F-94 Starfire, XF-V1, YC-130 Hercules, would not all be brought. come to life immediately under the Skunk Works umbrella, but he'd rather arrive with surprising regularity over a period of about nine years.

This stable workflow kept Skunk Works philosophically alive, but did little to preserve any coherent core group that could accurately refer to itself as Skunk Works. During this period, none of these aircraft would be created in a true Skunk Works atmosphere, instead utilizing various aspects of the Skunk Works approach to prototyping. In all cases, some aspect of the design, construction or construction was handled by what are now considered mere remnants of the old XP-80 approach. In many cases, the engineering talent was the same as that used for the XP-80, only now operating under the direction of Lockheed California Company, rather than independently under the direction of Skunk Works.

Keeping it all alive was Kelly Johnson, which at times was the only physical manifestation of what was left of the original Skunk Works. Often working on several projects at once, he rarely distinguished between Lockheed aircraft that were completed at the Skunk Works and those that were not. It was truly a unique period and one that will always remain a gray area in the history of advanced development projects. Ben Rich, retired president of the LADC, refers to it today as the era of the skunk quick-action

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hop. Its singular purpose was to create or assist in the development of prototypes quickly and quietly with minimal interference from outside help.

Then we had our Saturn, a small transport plane, where we did the most extensive market research we had ever done until recently. And it had to be a low price per mile flight on an airplane. It was good, but it was a complete failure because it was up against 10,000 C-47s that were available at half the price and were better in several other ways - larger, mainly, and readily available. Tony LeVier piloted the first flight on June 17, 1946. By the end of 1947, everything was clear. The Saturn was not going to be a successful project and there was no reason for Lockheed to waste any more money on development.

Despite its relatively low operating costs and better maintainability, it could not compete with the $25,000 Douglas C-47s and the equally inexpensive C-54s. Breakout costs for the Saturn were now expected to be between $100,000 and $130,000, taking advantage of tax write-off opportunities. The two prototypes were handed over to recovery teams to be broken down. The Constitution was a naval project. It actually started as a program for Pan American Airlines with a gross weight of 184,000 pounds. In this project we used Skunk Works engineering methods, but we used conventional shop practices. The plane was good, but we never got the 5,500 horsepower turboprop engines it was designed for.

It ended up being one of the least powerful airplanes in the world. The Lockheed R-6V Constitution was a large propeller-driven biplane transport aircraft developed in the 1940s by Lockheed as a high-capacity, long-range transport and passenger aircraft for the US Navy and Pan American Airways. . Only two of these aircraft were built, both prototypes. Although these two aircraft entered service with the Navy, the Constitution's design ultimately proved to be underpowered and too large for practical airline use at the time. Other studies with various Wright, Allison and Pratt & Whitney engines were also offered, but without success. Eventually, a turboprop version powered by British builder Armstrong Siddeley Pythons was studied but ultimately rejected, as Lockheed vice president Cyril Chappellet would later lament.

Although we could have fitted larger engines, the Model 89 faced a bleak future on the commercial market. Pan American, although seriously interested at first, reevaluated its operations at the end of the war and decided that the aircraft was too large for immediate traffic needs. Although the Martin JRM Mars seaplane had a slightly larger wingspan, the Constitution remains the largest type of fixed-wing aircraft ever operated by the US Navy during its time. From that day on, the T-33 emerged and then several derivatives for interceptors. The T-2V was a Navy program, a carrier-based aircraft, and we made as many as there were engines in the Navy.

It was a success. The Lockheed II VC-Star, later named T-1C-Star, is a jet-capable training aircraft for the United States Navy that entered service in May 1957. Developed from the Lockheed T-33, which in turn derives from the Lockheed P-80. Shooting Star, was powered by an Allison J-33 engine. Beginning in 1949, the U.S. Navy used the Lockheed T-33 for land-based aircraft training. The T-33 was a derivative of the Lockheed P-80 or F-80 fighter and was designated T-02, later T-V2 in Navy service. However, the T-V2 was not suitable for operation from aircraft carriers. The continuing need for a carrier-compatible trainer led to more advanced design development of the P-80-slash-T-33 family, which became Lockheed designated L-245 and USN designated T-2V.

Lockheed's L-245 demonstrator first flew on December 16, 1953, and production deliveries to the US Navy began in 1956. Lockheed eventually manufactured around 5,691 T-33s of all types. Canada Air manufactured another 656 aircraft in Canada and Kawasaki manufactured 210 aircraft in Japan. Additionally, more than a thousand T-33s manufactured by Lockheed eventually reached the air forces of more than 20 countries around the world, many of them under the auspices of the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. In total, the Navy purchased 150 T-2V1s, designated T-1A on September 18, 1962, before Lockheed's production program ended in 1959. At that time, just after World War II, there was quite a group of airplane prototypes. , starting with the F-87, F-88, F-90, F-91 and a bunch of bombers.

Back then we had many prototypes. The Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet-powered all-weather day and night interceptor of the United States Air Force. It is a two-seat ship developed from the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star Trainer in the late 1940s. It entered operational service in May 1950 with the Air Defense Command, replacing the twin-engine North American F-82 Mustang. piston in all-weather interceptor function. The F-94 was the first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and the first all-weather jet-powered fighter to enter combat during the Korean War in January 1953. Although it took a long time and delayed the entry into service of the F-94C in almost two years, the various changes and improvements in the airframe, systems and engines resulted in the air force obtaining a powerful interceptor.

It is true that the F-94C was not as fast at high altitudes as other all-weather fighters other than those purchased by the Air Force, but at low altitudes it was the best of the lot. Additionally, when the changes eliminated the engine shutdown when all 24 rockets were salvaged, the closed installation of its armament made the Starfire significantly more accurate than the F-86D and F-89D, which had open rocket installations. In the end, its limited range was the plane's biggest flaw. However, this was not due to a design oversight. Being the latest development of a relatively small 1943 design, the F-94C did not have the interior volume necessary for greater fuel capacity.

The first nine F-94Cs produced were accepted by the Air Force in fiscal year 1952. The last 225 Starfires were accepted during fiscal year 1954. Ultimately, the F-94C enjoyed a long and modestly successful life in the Air Force. . The XF-90 was the only aircraft to defeat the atomic bomb, its concept of military requirements was poor and it was 10 years before the engine it was designed for was available, it did not turn out well. The Lockheed XF-90 was built in response to a US Air Force requirement for a long-range penetration fighter and bomber escort; the same requirement produced the McDonald XF-88 Voodoo.

Lockheed received a contract for two XP-90 prototypes, redesignated as 1949, with the chief test pilot. Tony LeVier at the controls. On August 28, Johnson noted, he again made a trip to Wright Airfield in Washington. The picture is extremely confusing. I'm sure we could build our prototype 90 ground attack aircraft if we wanted, but the information we've gathered on the Russian aircraft, plus the long delay that would now occur before it goes into production, makes the 90' ​​obsolete. I can't recommend building it to face airplanes four or five years from now that will have 15 degrees more sweep, half the weight and a third the range.

I couldn't stand it. I have recommended that we leave the plane in a note to Hall and Bob from 9 to 5.” A final note dated September 6 said: Project 90 permanently dissolved. On September 11, 1950, the McDonnell XF-88 was declared the winner of the competition. In truth, the they could have compensated for the excessive structural excess. of the XF-90's operational capabilities was practically non-existent. On the positive side, Lockheed and the various Skunk Works engineers who conceived and built the XF-90 pioneered the use of 75ST aluminum (about 25% stronger than the commonly used 24ST aluminum), verifying the viability of the unusual horizontal glue mix. vertical tail structure control system and indirectly participated in the improvement of the jet engine afterburner.

At the end of the program, when refitted with Westinghouse XJ34 WE15 afterburning engines, both prototypes showed improved performance, but not enough to surpass their main competitor, the McDonnell XF-88. Although none of the penetration fighter's competitors would enter production on their own merits, the XF-88 developed, in the form of the F-101 Voodoo, would eventually have a long and eventful career in the Air Force. As for how the XF-90, according to Johnson, defeated the atomic bomb, suffice it to say that the other aircraft still exists. Used as a prototype during the 1952 atomic bomb tests at Frenchman's Flat, Nevada, it survived three massive explosions with remarkably little damage.

Recent interest in recovering it for museum display has been discouraged, mainly because it remains highly radioactive. The first XF-90 was shipped to the NACA laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, and used there as an exemplary structural test specimen. Its final disposition is unknown. Research, development, testing and evaluation costs for the XF-90 total $5.1 million. The estimated unit cost of the first 170 F-90s in production was estimated at 670,000. Kelly Johnson lamented that the price was as high as the first Constellations. The X-7 was just a ramjet test vehicle that did a lot of these things. It was designed to fly at speeds up to Mach 4.0 at altitudes above 93,000 feet.

They tested the engine for Bomark. It was an engine test vehicle. The post-war analysis of the available technology and the attempt to assimilate the large amount of data that was accessed asThe result of the capitulation of Nazi Germany found the American aerospace industry in an enviable but extraordinarily complicated situation. The great mass of data that suddenly fell at the feet of American academics and technocrats during 1946, combined with the possibility of conducting research in virtually every facet of space science, was overwhelming at times. There seemed to be no limits. Although funding was always a matter of major controversy, the post-World War II perspective on military research spending appeared to be one of blind benevolence, and as a result, many obscure programs received the equivalent of blank checks.

While not necessarily falling into the latter category, propulsion system projects created to explore virtually all forms of jet, rocket, turboprop, and ramjet propulsion appeared in overwhelming numbers. Strong military support for these countless companies made many of them a reality, including a significant number optimized to explore the properties of power plants for supersonic aircraft. This was especially important considering that the first supersonic flight had yet to take place on October 14, 1947. The X-7 was put into production due to the US Air Force's requirement to develop a supersonic aircraft. test unmanned ramjet with a maximum speed of at least Mach 3.

The X-7 project was developed under the AMC designation MX-883 and received the Lockheed internal designation L -171. The L-171 was originally designated PTV-A1 by the USAF, but was later designated X-7 in 1951. Although its first launch was a failure, following conversion from the original ramjet, subsequent test flights were successful. . During the 130 X-7 flights that were ultimately recorded, many test items and projects were parasitized onto the base vehicle. Some of these included modifying the wing of an The latter was tested on three different occasions. Although the results were favorable, the logistics of handling the extremely toxic propellant proved formidable.

In addition to being dangerous to inhale, even in small quantities, it was also hypergolic. The X7A1 and X7A3 series were followed by five X7Bs, intended to test the steering and control systems in the same manner as the engines tested on the X7A. The X-7B program ended just as a flight test program was underway. Twelve X-7B flights were completed before its cancellation. A relatively unmodified version of the X-7A3 known as the XQ-5 and named Kingfisher was developed for use as a dedicated high-speed target drone. Surprisingly, the performance of the XQ-5 proved to be significantly superior to any of the surface-to-air weapons for which it was designed, and it was doubtful that any would be destroyed by enemy action.

This situation ultimately affected the XQ-5's operational career as a target of the Bombard and Nike anti-aircraft missile system, as it was literally left out of work. About eighty of the more than 130 X-7XQ-5 flights attempted were fully or partially successful. Problems of a bewildering variety arose during the flight test program, including concerns about range safety, ineffective radar control, malfunctioning autopilots, simple human error, and poor design. But the missile's inviolable performance eventually became a source of considerable pride for Lockheed's fledgling missile and space company. Our first Navy program was the following, the XF-B1, a rear seat aircraft for direct takeoff and landing from a small area on any Navy ship.

He had to retreat to the deck. We did excellently in terms of cost and weight, but this aircraft was a failure. It was a failure because we had a faulty engine and we couldn't look back over our shoulders when we were flying at the height of the judges. We could practice in the clouds all day, but this is the only airplane we've built that we were afraid to fly ourselves in final testing. During 1947, the Air Force and Navy began... The Navy in particular found VTOL attractive primarily due to the inherent limitations of deck space and the associated deficiencies of the steam catapult and arresting equipment used on most the aircraft carriers existing at that time.

In early 1953, the first XFV-1 was completed at Lockheed's Burbank facility with a provisional 5,850 shaft-equivalent real flight. Lockheed test pilot Herman Fish Salmon was assigned to the aircraft as chief test pilot. On December 23, 1953, during a high-speed taxi test at Edwards Air Force Base, the plane inadvertently took off for the first time. Sam N landed moments after leaving the ground. A review of the program's progress now showed a continued inability to sustain flight operations sufficient to maintain pilot experience as a result of repeated delays due to major component failures. Therefore, when the engine and propeller installation did not demonstrate the required high degree of reliability, the XFV-1 program was terminated.

And there was the Navy version, the R-7V-2, we had poor performance in the shops because we were playing with 17-7 stainless steel, which required a million parts and every fine gauge that was very difficult to assemble. We had to do them twice. This was a failure. It was a failure even in the testing phase due to the high cost. The plane flew fine and all, but it never went into production. On August 18, 1950, the US Navy signed a contract for eleven military transport versions of the Lockheed L-1049. The aircraft were to be convertible troop transports, based on the L-1049B model.

The R-701 would also have had round portholes instead of the rectangular ones on the Air Force C-121C Constellations. The aircraft entered evaluation service with the Navy's oldest test squadron, VX-1, based in Patuxent River, Maryland. In November 1951, the idea arose to build a turbine-powered version of the R-701. This new aircraft was designated L-1249A by Lockheed. In 1954, two R-701s, then designated R-7V1, were removed from the assembly line to be converted into prototypes of the new L-1249A. The landing gear was reinforced along with the fuselage and wings of the plane. Additional fuel tanks were also added to the wingtips of both aircraft, increasing fuel capacity to 7,360 gallons.

The wings were also shortened from 123 feet to 117 feet 7 inches. The new aircraft was designated R-7V-2 and first flew on September 1, 1954. The R-7V-2 reached 412 miles per hour, making it the fastest transport aircraft in the world at the time. . The two R-7V-2 aircraft were delivered to the Norwegian Navy on September 10 of the same year. In 1953, the US Air Force became interested in the L-1249A project. Two R-7V-1 aircraft were again removed from production lines in 1955 and converted to L-1249A standards. These aircraft, designated YC-121F, were identical to the R-7V-2 in service with the Navy.

The first YC-121F flew on April 5, 1955 and was delivered to the Air Force in July 1955; The aircraft entered service with the test squadron in 1700. air force transportation group of the Military Air Transport Service, based at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. After brief tests, the YC-121F was used on regular transport flights. On one occasion, Lockheed test pilot Roy Wimmer managed to reach a top speed of 479 miles per hour in the YC-121F during a 20-degree dive. On January 25, 1957, a YC-121F flying from Long Beach to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, set a new transcontinental record for propeller-driven aircraft at 4 hours and 43 minutes.

Lockheed proposed a passenger aircraft version of the L-1249A, designated the L-1249B. This would have had the airframe of the L-1049E and been equipped with additional wingtip fuel tanks as well as four 5,500-horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT2F1 turboprops. In the end, airlines continued to favor piston engines, so no L-1249B was ever built. In a last-ditch effort to revive the military's Constellation turboprop program, in mid-1957 Lockheed won a Navy contract for a new version of the WV-2 equipped with airborne early warning radar. Although modestly successful, the turboprop constellation program proved too little, too late.

The jet age of the mid-1950s had seeped into the

aviation

industry, and with the arrival of the De Havilland Comet, Tupolev Tu-104, and Boeing 707, it became clear that the future lay in pure jet aircraft. . Turboprops continued as viable engine options for smaller, short-legged airliners, but their use on transcontinental and intercontinental airliners proved economically unsustainable. One of the least known of the Skunk Works' many efforts, the RB-69 program was initiated under the direction of a CIA contract that required aircraft to monitor and document electromagnetic emissions and transmissions in denied territories. The project began in 1954 with Kelly Johnson supervising program director Luther McDonald, who effectively ran it until 1957, when Fred Cavanaugh took over after being removed from the P-2V program.

To meet the CIA's mission profile, McDonald had proposed the use of Lockheed's venerable P-2V Neptune, the world's longest-range twin-engine aircraft at the time. Under the auspices of a skunk

works

-like engineering and production environment, five new Navy P-2V-7s and two older P-2V-7s were converted to RB-69s and secretly deployed to Burbank in Force markings. Air during 1955. Supply flights were carried out. conducted to the North Base of Edwards Air Force Base, where the flight tests were carried out in utmost secrecy. Dubbed by the CIA as Project Cherry, or later Wild Cherry, the goal was to build a plane that could safely enter denied airspace, collect intelligence, and return, all without being easily detected by defensive systems.

The American pilots hired by the CIA to fly the RB-69, like their U-2 counterparts, underwent a sheep-herding exercise that effectively erased their real identities and replaced them with backgrounds that were completely fictitious, right down to their constructed names. Each plane had a crew of 12, including a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer, a radio operator and electronic intelligence personnel to operate the various sensor systems. A combination of penetration flights and border surveillance was carried out. One of the first objectives was the collection of data from the electrical grid. This was obtained by flying over the power lines of western Russia.

When an American officer covered the European operation, he was allegedly captured by a female KGB agent and the Weizenbaden missions ended. Chinese operations then became the top priority. The Chinese operation began in early 1957 and continued for the next seven years. The Chinese, frustrated by the RB-69's unlimited night penetration into Chinese airspace, eventually perfected a night illumination system that successfully exposed the aircraft long enough for fighters to make visual identification and attack. This required a large number of Ilyushin IL-28s and Xinyang J-5s to be sent into the air to launch flares. These illuminated the entire night sky, thus revealing the RB-69s and allowing their interception and destruction.

The successes achieved were fundamental for the CIA and Taiwan to make the decision in 1964 to withdraw the model from operational service. Next comes the YC-130, the first two prototypes were built using partial skunkwork methods. It was then taken over and transferred to Georgia, who took charge of it and went into production, bringing the total to 1,500 aircraft. I think the concept was good. It demonstrated our ability to hand it over to another manufacturing organization that took it and made it work. On 2 February 1951, the Air Force Tactical Air Command issued requests for proposals to Boeing, Douglas, Fairchild, and Lockheed airlines requiring a turboprop-powered medium-weight transport capable of meeting the described specifications and performance criteria. in any of the three. general operating requirements it contained.

The Air Force needed a quick response to the request for proposals, and within days of its release, Art Flock was assigned as chief project engineer and Willis Hawkins as general supervisor. Hawkins was also in charge of Lockheed's preliminary design department at the time. Skunk Works operating procedures will be used as necessaryto accelerate design and prototype development. Collaborating with Hawkins were Eugene Frost, Eldon Peterman, Dick Pulver and Flock, all veterans of previous Skunk Works projects under Johnson's direction. Assigned the temporary design number L-206 and later becoming the Model 82, the new transport developed rapidly under Flock's leadership. As its configuration matured, the preliminary design group's conviction grew that it was creating a logical but utilitarian aircraft capable of not only achieving, but replacing, the basic GR objectives that specified requirements for an eight-fold payload range. larger than any existing design at the time.

During the design development and construction of the model, input from external sources was invited and reviewed. Air Force and transportation personnel came from virtually all segments of the industry. Each was asked to critique the new aircraft and recommend changes or improvements. Flock and his team carefully evaluated the resulting information and, where appropriate, incorporated it into the actual aircraft. Additionally, Lockheed representatives associated with the development of the Model 82 visited facilities that could provide information on operational requirements and usage. Interestingly, at this stage of the Model 82's development, Johnson was beginning to have doubts about its ability to succeed.

Dissatisfied with his rather proletarian aesthetic, he had reached the point where he refused to sign paper proposals submitted to the Air Force, forcing his boss, company vice president Hall Hibbard, to overrule him. . Due to the pressures of the Korean War, the Air Force quickly evaluated proposals from Boeing, Douglas, Fairchild, and Lockheed. On July 2, five months after first receiving the RFP, Lockheed was informed that its proposal had been selected as a prototype instead of the competition proposal. On July 11, the AF33 contract was awarded to Lockheed, which called for the construction and flight testing of two Lockheed Model 82s, previously designated C-130 by the Air Force.

In short, the company has officially named the new transport Hercules, following its tradition of naming planes after stars and constellations. On August 23, 1954, with Stanley Belt as pilot, Roy Wimmer as co-pilot, Jack Reill as flight test engineer, and Dick Stanton as flight engineer, she departed Burbank Airport at 2:45 p.m. on her first flight. Partly due to the fact that the base mission weight of 108,000 pounds had been 5,000 pounds lighter than warranted, cruise speeds were about 20% higher, takeoff distances were about 25% lower, Initial and ceiling climb rates were approximately 35% higher and landing distances were approximately 40% shorter and single-engine climb speeds were a surprising 55% higher than anticipated.

Some 37 years after the production aircraft's first flight, on May 15, 1992, Lockheed delivered the 2,000th production Hercules, a C-130H, to the Air Force. Representing one of the most successful aircraft production programs of all time, this transport is just the latest heir to a legacy that now boasts a seemingly endless list of achievements. They came up with a requirement for a tactical transport that has some very unique requirements, such as the ingress and egress capability of the aircraft, which required the entire end of the aircraft to be opened, and many other unique requirements. . And many people who saw the design, including the famous Kelly Johnson, commented that it was the ugliest airplane they had ever seen.

Next the F-104. We think the price and performance of the model were excellent, and I guess after around 2,500 units have been built worldwide, we consider the F-104 series a success. The history of the F-104 began during the Korean War. Kelly Johnson visited frontline squadrons in 1952 to determine the characteristics of the next generation of US Air Force fighters. At that time, the Republic F-84 Thunderjet and the North American F-86 Saber were surpassed by the Soviet-made Mikoyan MiG-15, especially at high altitudes. Predictably, the pilots' response was a demand for greater speed, altitude, and rate of climb, even at the expense of maneuverability, armament, range, maintainability, and creature comforts.

Johnson returned to Lockheed with the idea of ​​a lightweight, fast-climbing, high-speed, high-altitude daytime interceptor. The idea wasn't exactly new, but by implementing it, Johnson took Lockheed into financially risky territory. The concept of Specialized modified XF-104 fuselage and associated vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. Most notable, however, was the removal of the XF-104's distinctive trapezoidal wings and their replacement with a high-aspect wing with extraordinary span. The latter's design consisted of four integral fuel tanks completed by a fifth tank in the hull. Combined, they gave a total fuel capacity of 925 gallons. After a thorough but hasty review, Seaberg and his staff rejected the CL-282.

Johnson, after receiving news of the negative report, would point out that on June 7, 1954 she received a letter rejecting a proposal because it was considered too unusual, that it was a single-engine aircraft and that they were already committed to the Martin Program. When the Air Force informed Johnson of its decision to remove the CL-282 from combat, Johnson decided to seek funding through other channels. Johnson's timing couldn't have been better. Numerous sources had begun to provide data to the American intelligence community indicating that the Soviet Union was rapidly advancing an extensive family of liquid fuels. Intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

On November 19, 1954, Johnson would make the following entry in the log. I met with the government advisory council. They wanted to be sure that our proposal was technically feasible. They believed my story that we could build such a plane in the mentioned time and also asked why Lockheed seemed to be the only one who could do this job. General Putt kindly replied that we had proven it three times. As it turned out, this was a momentous decision. In a masterstroke, with Gross's blessing, Johnson had transformed the virtually nonexistent Skunk Works into not only a full-scale advanced engineering and design outfit, but also a manufacturing facility.

The secret had ordered the change. Eisenhower had agreed that financing and management of the project, which would be codenamed Aquatone, would be done through CIA offices rather than the Air Force, and that Richard Bissell would direct it. Previously, on November 9, 1954, Trevor Gardner had visited Lockheed President Robert Gross and Johnson at the Lockheed facility in Burbank. After reviewing the full-scale U-2 mockup, Gardner gave official confirmation of the project's approval and gave a directive to proceed with construction of the prototype. Johnson promised that the first aquatone plane would be in the air no less than eight months after the first metal was cut.

On December 10, the design team was frozen, and on December 20, Johnson noted in his diary that he was working like crazy on an airplane and that the first tunnels had been successful. Among the design program's unique weight-related achievements were the following: Wing weight was maintained at an almost unbelievable 4 pounds per square foot. The landing gear was a bicycle arrangement whose heaviest component consisted of a single main strut. The tail assembly was attached to the center body with just three bolts. The side-opening hood was manually operated. The steering system was not powered, hydraulically powered systems were kept to a minimum, there was no cabin pressure and there was no ejection seat.

On the morning of August 4, 1955, Johnson, Ernie Joiner, Glenn Fulkerson, Bob Murphy, and several other Skunk Works personnel watched as LeVier climbed Article 341 in preparation for his first actual flight. Callsign Angel 1, the plane was to be pursued by a C-47 company officer with Johnson and test pilot Bob Mathieu as observers. Customers were also picked up in Washington, DC, and arrived at the testing site by shuttle just before LeVier's start. LeVier remembers the first takeoff and climb that took place at 15:55. Everything went perfectly and he encountered no problems or difficulties during the climb. At the 8,000-foot level, he spent 45 minutes cycling the landing gear, deploying and retracting the flaps, exploring stability and control characteristics, checking engine temperatures and exhaust pressure conditions, and practicing stalling. power.

There were no breakdowns of any kind. LeVier completed a total of 20 flights on the Angel before transferring back to the F-104 and other Lockheed flight test programs on September 1. Additionally, LeVier became the first pilot to take the plane to 50,000 feet. The latter required the use of a partial pressure suit. This had forced Lévière to undergo the Air Force's high-altitude training program. He completed the study program at age 42 and at the time was the oldest pilot to do so. During its first flight test period, the Air Force, on Johnson's recommendation, assigned the plane the innocuous designation U-2 as its formal military alias.

The flight test program for the remaining months of 1955 went smoothly. December 1 marked the first anniversary of the U-2, something Johnson duly took note of. ''We have built four flying aircraft, we have the ninth aircraft on the roster and we have flown above our design altitude several times. We have trained the crews and are developing the Bakersfield plant... It has been a good year.''On June 19, 1956, CIA pilot Karl Overstreet left Weisbaden on the first operational flight. After flying over Warsaw, Poland and returning via Berlin and Potsdam, he landed without incident and delivered the first covert photographs of the U-2 to the American intelligence community.

The results were spectacular. The quality of the images generated by the folded B-type optical camera was everything the CIA had hoped for. The resolution, contrast and quality were far beyond anything seen before. Baker, of Harvard University and an astronomer by training, was one of America's leading lens designers in the 1940s and 1950s. Now Soviet diplomatic circles were affected. The U-2 flights had been tracked with little difficulty by Russian radars, and the Soviet government was uncomfortable at the ease with which the planes could penetrate Russian airspace, the military consequences were great, and a communication of July 10, 1956, the Soviet ambassador to the United States in Washington was asked to present a formal protest to the American government and request that the overflights cease.

In response, American diplomats denied that any military aircraft had been involved in such activity. Of course, this was true since the CIA was a civilian agency and not a military one. During 1958, the Soviets began to accelerate their efforts to develop an effective countermeasure for the U-2. The SA-2, an improved surface-to-air missile, codenamed in the West as Guideline and equipped with a warhead that had a kill pattern of about 400 feet in diameter, was put into service and for the first time threatened the USA The domain of 2 at high altitude. Although the estimated probability of a 2% kill was low, for the first time U-2 was forced to consider the new SA-2 launch sites.

By the end of its third year of operation, the U-2's intelligence-gathering capability had become the most important tool in the entire arsenal of the American intelligence community. CIA U-2 operations were not limited to the Soviet Union during this period. In late September 1956, Gary Powers flew over the eastern Mediterranean gathering information on the positions of British and French warships as they prepared to assist in the upcoming Israeli invasion of Egypt. Additional flights followed during the Suez crisis and later during crises involving Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Yemen, all to gather intelligence on military activities and the eternal war between these two different Middle Eastern countries.

Additionally, on December 6, 1958, U-2 overflights of the Chinese provinces of Chekyang and Kangxi began. On May 1, 1960, the U-2 came to light when one piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk by a surface-to-air missile. Captured, Powers became the center of the resulting U-2 incident, which embarrassed Eisenhower and effectively ended a summit in Paris. The incident caused an acceleration of spy satellite technology. The U-2 overflights of Cuba in 1962 remained a strategic assetimportant and provided the photographic evidence that triggered the Cuban missile crisis. On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy delivered his now famous speech in which he publicly revealed that Cuba had acquired extensive offensive weapons capabilities, including MRBMs and IRBMs.

In an undeniably threatening tone, Kennedy declared that any launch of a Cuban missile would be considered an attack by the Soviet Union against the United States and that massive retaliation would ensue. It shall be the policy of this nation to consider any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response by the Soviet Union. During the crisis, a U-2 piloted by Major Rudolph Anderson Jr. shot down by Cuban air defense. On October 26, communications with the Soviets indicated that they would begin dismantling the Cuban missile sites.

On October 28 this was confirmed. The Cuban missile crisis, due in large part to photographic intelligence provided by the U-2 surveillance program, had come to an end. The frequent Cuban overflights continued. They were still underway when President Kennedy commented: I must say, gentlemen, you take excellent photographs. As surface-to-air missile technology improved, efforts were made to improve the aircraft and reduce its radar cross section. This was not successful and work began on a new aircraft to make overflights of the Soviet Union. In the early 1960s, engineers also worked to develop carrier-compatible variants, the U-2G, to extend range and flexibility.

During the Vietnam War, U-2s were used for high-altitude reconnaissance missions. In 1967, the aircraft was drastically improved with the introduction of the U-2R. About 40% larger than the original, the U-2R had lower wings and improved range. The phaseout of U-2Rs over Vietnam led to the phaseout of the Air Force's remaining U-2Cs. The last of the original U-2Rs were delivered from the Skunk Works facility in Palmdale in December 1968. As Johnson would note in the log, we are quickly running out of work in this program. This was joined in 1981 by a tactical reconnaissance version called TR-1A.

The introduction of this model restarted production of the aircraft to meet the needs of the USAF. The U-2R and TR-1 were instrumental contributors to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. They flew with an array of sensors for high-speed resolution photography, radar mapping, and low-light observations. Intelligence agencies, field commanders, the Pentagon, and even the president used this information to identify military targets, assess enemy forces, and conduct battle damage assessments. In the early 1990s, the U-2R fleet was upgraded to the U-2S standard, which included improved engines. A production configured U-2R completed its flight test qualification phase at Palmdale in late 1993.

Three U-2Rs with the engine and other upgrades were officially delivered to the Air Force from Palmdale to Beale Air Force Base , California, on 28 October 1994. The upgraded aircraft were officially designated U-2S in single-seat and U-2ST configuration. in the two-seat coach configuration. A total of 37 U-2Rs will be brought up to the new standard when the modernization program ends in 1998. NASA's ER-2 will also be upgraded beginning in 1996. Despite its advanced age, the U-2 remains operational due to to its capacity. conduct direct flights to reconnaissance targets at short notice. Although there were efforts to retire the aircraft in 2006, this fate was avoided due to the lack of an aircraft with similar capabilities.

Jetstar made two of them. They were a success as far as prototypes were concerned. When it was delivered to our Georgia division, this is a case where it was not delivered well. It was almost completely redesigned, having four engines instead of two. The cost almost killed us in the end. But as for the prototype part of the program, it went well. By late 1955, it became clear to the Air Force that its aging and somewhat electric fleet of twin-engine transport and trainer aircraft needed to be replaced with modern hardware. Many of the aircraft then used for these missions could trace their origins to the period before World War II.

All were powered by reciprocating engines. The Air Force's problem was compounded by a funding shortfall after the Korean War that severely limited acquisitions of new aircraft. However, the service chose to move forward with long-term plans under its UTX and UCX specifications. To do this, it was necessary that the companies that presented their proposals were also willing to finance their respective prototypes with their own money. Concurrent with its August 1, 1956, request for proposals, the Air Force made it clear that if funding restrictions were lifted, it would order up to 300 of the winning design. Doubly attractive to manufacturers was the prospect of corporate and commercial sales in addition to those made to the military.

Kelly Johnson would later note that, with the military as a clear prospect for such a large order, we pulled out all the stops, assembling our engineering teams, studying requirements, drawing up plans, designing and building. While the new CL-329 model was conceived, designed and put into flight in less than eight months, Lockheed had spent about $7 million over the previous 13 years studying large jet-powered transport aircraft involving technological advances that could be used directly in your future. utility and training aircraft. During 1956, the Air Force informed industry that there was a military need for a small transport aircraft to meet its UCX and UTX specifications.

With company approval, Johnson and his Skunk Works team immediately began preliminary design studies based on a small variant of the L-193. Consequently, Johnson decided that for the CL-329 to take off as soon as possible, it would need to be powered by British-built 4,850-pound-thrust Bristol Orpheus 1-5 turbojets. On the morning of Wednesday, September 4, 1957, the first Jet Star taxied to the dry lake bed of Edwards Air Force Base. At 8:58 Jetstar took off for the first time. He had met Johnson's first departure deadline of September 4 and had beaten the expected departure by 9 by two minutes. Air Force Phase II testing was completed in February 1958 with the first aircraft and the Jetstar was determined to have excellent flight and performance characteristics.

On June 17, 1958, the first Jetstar went on a promotional tour to demonstrate its transcontinental range and high cruising speeds. Unfortunately, although the demonstration tour was successful, the national recession forced the Air Force to postpone its plans to acquire the aircraft for operational service. As a result of the Air Force's intransigence regarding four engines versus two in January 1959, the Pratt & Whitney JT-12A turbojet was chosen to power the Jetstar and its production configuration. On 31 October 1958, the Air Force selected the Jetstar over the NA-246 submitted by North American to meet the requirements of the UTX specification, which Lockheed had not originally planned to meet.

During October, the Air Force announced its plan to acquire the Lockheed aircraft with the designation T-40A. Shortly thereafter, however, it reversed the original decision and awarded the contract to North American for what became the T-39A Saber Liner. The Air Force and Navy would eventually acquire 211 Saber Liners light transport and training aircraft, while Lockheed's Jet Stars were starving for orders. It was not until June 1960 that a first Air Force order for five Jet Stars finally arrived. The first of these, now designated the C-140A by the Air Force, was delivered in April 1961. By January 1962, Lockheed, after having spent $100 million on the Jetstar program, was recording a loss of $80 million. .

This was due to initial indications from the Air Force that it would purchase around 300 aircraft, when in fact by mid-January 1962 it had only purchased 16. When production of the Jetstar ended during 1980, with delivery of the 204th aircraft and Last to the Iraq government, Lockheed had lost a significant amount of money but had learned some very valuable business lessons. Regardless of its financial situation, the plane proved to be a successful corporate transport. Lockheed eventually built several versions, including the C-140A, C-140B, and VC-140B for the military, and the Jetstar 6, Jetstar 8, and Jetstar 2 for the commercial market.

Then came a series of Mach 3 types. The first one you would be familiar with would be the YF-12A. Its gross weight is still a secret, but the profitability was excellent. It was a success. It produced none because there was no threat. Not until the attacker appeared upside down. Of the many aircraft whose origins can be traced back to Lockheed's famous skunkworks, none is more significant than the A-12. More than any other aircraft, this titanium masterpiece represented the pinnacle of aeronautical engineering of its time, not only at Lockheed, but at every major aerospace engineering office in the world.

Today, more than three decades after its first flight, it remains the aircraft by which all others are judged. Project Suntan had provided Kelly Johnson and engineers on Lockheed's Advanced Development Team with an important opportunity to explore the properties of hydrogen propulsion systems. Equally important, however, is that the Suntan also enabled the exploration of advanced airframes optimized for the first time to fly at speeds well in excess of Mach 3. Shortly after the first flight of the U-2 in 1955, Richard Bissell He quickly organized research and development of tracking systems, including what would become A-12. New studies, codenamed GUSTO, were initiated to explore the design and possible development of an entirely new subsonic reconnaissance platform that would be designed from the ground up to incorporate the lowest possible RCS.

The resulting analysis concluded that supersonic speeds combined with the use of radar-attenuating materials and a radar-attenuating design greatly reduced the chances of radar detection, although they did not reduce them to zero. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and General Dynamics' Convair Division were to respond during the fall of 1957 to a general operations requirement that called for a high-speed, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, but they would do so without a formal contract or government support. Johnson spent virtually every available minute working on the Advanced Aircraft Program, which he sometimes jokingly referred to as U-3. Project Gusteau ended and was assigned a new codename, Oxcart.

Ben Rich would point out that the A-12 was composed of 85% titanium and 15% composite materials. Learning to work with titanium turned out to be quite a task. The countless advancements that the Skunk Works manufacturing team has developed to conquer this metal remain one of the great and unpredictable successes of the Most Incredible Program. It's just a great job with the many problems we are trying to do to build this airplane. "Everywhere you look, there is a huge problem that requires invention, new systems and money," Johnson said. On April 30, the first official flight took place, with appropriate government representatives.

Almost a year late, the plane. The A-12 went supersonic for the first time, reaching Mach 1.1. Problems were minimal and Johnson began to feel confident that the flight test program would proceed quickly and possibly make up for some of the time lost in the lengthy manufacturing process. The Cuban missile crisis now breathed new life into the program. The loss of Major Rudolph Anderson's U-2 over Cuba on October 27 emphasized the increasing vulnerability of this subsonic platform when operating in denied airspace, and this did not go unnoticed by intelligence community offices involved in the overflight program. . . The successful implementation of Oxcart has now become a matter of top national priority.

By late 1962, two A-12s were in flight testing, one powered by a J-75 and the other powered by a J-75 and a J-58. A speed of Mach 2.16 and an altitude of 60,000 feet had been reached. Flight test progress was still slow and engine lag and lack of thrust remained a major problem. Meanwhile, by the end of 1963, the CIA's A-12 flight test program had resulted in 573 flights totaling 765 hours. Nine aircraft were present at the test site. As mentioned above, during July Mach 3 was reached for the first time, and during November the design speed of Mach 3.2 was reached at an altitude of 78,000 feet.

It should be noted that at that time, on the 24thJuly 1964, President Johnson made the first official announcement of the upcoming Lockheed SR-71, while the A-12 status vacillated between an operational commitment and continued wait and see, flight testing of the YF-12A had continued. . During July 1966, Johnson wrote in the log, we were asked to abandon future flights with the YF-12As, although we had proposed shooting down a drone at Holloman to achieve the ground-rooting effect on low-altitude targets. The following August 5, he wrote, we laid off half of our test team on the YF-12A and only kept people to store the aircraft or ship it to Burbank.

We are very close to the end of this program." As late as January 26, 1967, Johnson made the following comments in the A-12 log. We jointly agreed that there would be only one round and not two. It appears to have been a very accurate assessment. as it appears that 30 SR-71s give us enough overflight reconnaissance capability and we do not need the additional 10 A-12 aircraft." On January 5, 1968, an official cable terminating the F-12B was received from the Air Force. The YF-12A program would formally end on February 1. In a final disheartening move, on February 5 the Air Force sent Johnson a letter ordering Lockheed to destroy the A-12 F-12 weapon.

The last flight of the A-12 took place on June 21, 1968, when the last remaining aircraft, No. 131, was transported from the test site to Palmdale by CIA pilot Frank Murray and put into storage. It would remain there for the next two decades. On June 24, Johnson wrote: "...while the intelligence community in Washington strongly wanted to keep the A-12 program going, the current financial situation cannot sustain the strain. It is a grim end to a program that in overall, the A-12 program lasted just over ten years from its inception in 1957 to its termination in 1968. Skunk Works produced 15 A-12s and 3 YF-12s, with two lost.

YF-12A. In accidents, two pilots were killed and at least six narrowly escaped. In addition, two F-101 fighters were lost with their Air Force pilots. The main objective of the program, to create a reconnaissance aircraft with a speed, unprecedented range and speed. However, perhaps the most important aspects of the effort lay in its byproducts: the remarkable advances in aerodynamics, engine performance, cameras, electronic countermeasures, pilot life support systems, and the mysterious arts of milling, machining and shaping titanium. . All in all, it was a groundbreaking feat that will almost certainly never be repeated in

aviation

history. The YF-12A evolved into the SR-71 and in that case the profitability was again excellent as we returned over $19 million to the government on the contract and considered it a success.

On December 6, 1962, Kelly Johnson noted in his diary that, working on an R-12 utility aircraft, using the company's work order, he could not obtain a decision on any military version of the aircraft, but there appears to be a considerable interest in it. Johnson's rationale for this design was based on the premise that if he produced a single platform capable of conducting reconnaissance, reconnaissance attack or interception depending on customer needs, it would greatly simplify production and eliminate the need for the Air Force decides which version they want to buy." Seven days later, several SAC staff visited Skunk Works and Johnson recorded that they wanted to see what type of reconnaissance version would meet SAC's needs.

We put together our proposal for 140,000... pound of reconnaissance, capable of carrying 4,300 pounds of reconnaissance equipment, and delivered it to Colonel Templeton with a letter of consignment On March 18, 1964, construction of the R-12 was progressing at considerable speed, but negotiations of the. contract had not yet been completed with the The Air Force, Johnson noted in the record, spent several days on the first R-12. It is extremely difficult to make a reasonable profit for what we do and no credit is given for operating cheaper than others. . All activity related to the R-12 and RS-12 configurations had, of course, been kept completely hidden in the skunkworks and within two frameworks of the involved Air Force and CIA offices.

However, on July 24, 1964, President Johnson made his memorable announcement, revealing to the world the existence of the Mach 3-capable Lockheed reconnaissance aircraft. I would like to announce the successful development of a major new strategic manned aircraft system that It will be used by the Strategic Air Command. This system uses the new SR-71 aircraft and provides an advanced long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft for military use capable of conducting global reconnaissance for military operations. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in reviewing RS-70, emphasized the importance of the strategic reconnaissance mission. The reconnaissance system of the SR-71 aircraft is the most advanced in the world.

The aircraft will fly at more than three times the speed of sound and operate at altitudes of more than 80,000 feet. It will use the most advanced observation equipment in the world. The aircraft will provide United States strategic forces with a unique long-range reconnaissance capability." In August 1964, Kelly Johnson called Bob Murphy and asked if he would work on the new reconnaissance aircraft. At that time, Murphy was A superintendent in charge of the production of the D-21 drone accepted the offer and was immediately informed by Johnson, who told him: "I want you to go to Palmdale and move Site 2 away from Rockwell.

The parts you need will be with you on the road." 1." .November and I want it to fly before Christmas. The SR-71 measured 107 feet 5 inches long and had a wingspan 1,605 feet 6 inches high from the rudders, and its gross weight ranged from 135,000 pounds to more than 140,000. The effect of thermodynamic heating caused by the extreme operating environment of the aircraft was a major factor affecting its construction. Up to 93% of the fuselage was constructed of titanium, while the remaining 7% consisted of phenylsilane laminates, silicone asbestos and fiberglass to help reduce. RCS of the airplane. The forward fuselage of the SR-71 has a circular cross section and is of semi-monocoque construction.

It housed the pilot and a reconnaissance system operator, RSO, seated in tandem, the nose landing gear, the fuel cells and the in-flight refueling canister. The delta wing has two prominent engine nacelles, each mounted mid-span and fused with the wings to further reduce RCS. Two rudders mounted on top of each nacelle and tilted inward 15 degrees from the vertical also reduced the plane's radial signature. A large, movable rear nose extended forward from each engine nacelle, helping to regulate massive airflow to the twin Pratt & Whitney J58 engines. The maximum fuel load weight for the SR-71 was 80,280 pounds and it was carried in six fuel tanks.

Built to traverse an afterburner at Mach 3.2 and at altitudes above 80,000 feet, the aircraft encountered extremely high fuselage temperatures generated by thermodynamic heating. This, combined with the diverse operating framework of its Pratt & Whitney J58 engines, required the development of a special fuel that would act not only as a propulsion power source, but also as an optimized hydraulic fluid in the engine's hydraulic system to power the system. main and afterburner fuel nozzles. On the ground, the aircraft is only half filled with fuel and then pressurized using LN2 to 1.5 psi above ambient pressure. Shortly after takeoff, SR-71 would encounter a tanker and be crowned.

The air intake control system was a major innovation used to exponentially increase the speed of all of Kelly-Johnson's so-called Blackbirds. At Mach 1.4, the exhaust ports located on the outside of the engine nacelle began to automatically modulate to achieve a pre-ratio between the dynamic pressure outside the intake throat and the static duct pressure inside the intake cowl. At 30,000 feet, the inlet peaks locked and at Mach 1.6 they began to move aft, reaching their fully aft position at the design cruise speed of Mach 3.2. Cruise speed design. When navigating stealth during operational missions at speeds exceeding one mile every two seconds, it was essential that the SR-71's navigation system be highly accurate and not rely on external navigation aids to ensure the aircraft headed to the black line.

Therefore, the core of the successful missions was Neutron's Astro-Internal Navigation System (ANS), named NAS-142V2. Originally designed for the Douglas Skybolt air-to-surface ballistic missile, which was canceled in 1963, it proved to be a perfect solution to navigate the SR-71 after some modifications and upgrades. The system combined data from the internal navigation platform with a timed data with an accuracy of 5 milliseconds. Position updating was achieved automatically by astronomical tracking at any time of 6 of the 52 most prominent visible stars, day or night, in effect using nature as a global positioning system long before GPS was developed. When the autopilot was linked to the ANS via the AutoNav function, the SR-71 could fly automatically, precisely maintaining a predetermined flight path loaded before flight into the ANS's computer memory.

To facilitate maximum mission flexibility, the SR-71 featured three interchangeable nose sections containing a high-resolution side-view radar used for ground mapping and called CAPRE, which stands for Capability Reconnaissance Radar, an advanced aperture radar system. synthetic, or the so-called glass tip that houses a palletized optical bar camera. The SR-71 did not carry any type of defensive weaponry except that generated electronically. ECM was and remains a very sensitive area where rapid technological advances meant that the SR-71's defensive electronic systems required continuous upgrading throughout its life. Inside the SR-71 cabin, the pressure was allowed to drop steadily as the aircraft climbed from sea level to 8,000 feet, and then remained constant until 25,000 feet.

This ensured that the fuselage was not exposed to unnecessarily high pressure gradients, which in turn meant that the structural weight of the aircraft would be reduced. But if pressure was lost or the crew had to eject, survival depended on each wearing a full pressure suit. This requirement was imposed by Air Force Regulation 60-16, which required pressure suits to be worn when flying above 50,000 feet. In 1977, the company developed the next generation of pressure suits. Called the S1030 series, it had a high level of commonalities between the U2 and SR71 programs. Colored in old gold, the suit incorporated cutting-edge textiles and was more durable and comfortable.

Its four main layers consisted of a Nomex outer shell that was durable, tear-resistant, and fire-resistant. The helmet, designated GN-121394, was attached to the suit by a rotating ring to allow the head to rotate. Oxygen was supplied to the crew members through holes located around the helmet's face seal. A watertight port located on the lower right side of the hull allowed crew members to drink water through a straw to ensure they stayed hydrated, and a level of sustenance was also available in the form of liquid food dispensed from a tube. The gloves completed the snap seal and were secured by hinges at the wrists.

The boots had heel retraction straps that were connected by a cable to the ejection seat at the cockpit entrance. The entire pressure suit system costs about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars per unit. sample. The crews were delivered in pairs and lasted between ten and twelve years, undergoing a complete overhaul every five years and a thorough inspection every ninety days or 150 hours. On December 22, the first SR-71, with Skunk Works test pilot Bob Gillen at the controls, took off for the first time. Taking off from Lockheed Air Force Plant 42 Site Facility 2 in Palmdale, it remained in the air for just over an hour and reached a speed of more than 1,000 miles per hour, which Johnson said is a Kind of a record for a first flight.

Although the first flight of the SR-71 was accomplished with few difficulties, the aircraft's ongoing flight tests were not without problems. The SR-71 flight test program conducted at Palmdale, like its A-12 predecessor, was not without setbacks. The first involving the third SR-71A occurred on January 25, 1966, when Skunk Works pilot Bill Weaver miraculously escaped without losing his ejection seat. His sealer, Jim Zweier, was not so lucky and was murdered. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was turning right and Weaver then manually operated the forward bypass doorsfrom the right entrance. Although SR-71s had finally begun to enter the Air Force's operational inventory, the various subsystem problems were still difficult to overcome.

Tank sealing and range deficiencies continued to plague aircraft, including those considered operational at Beale Air Force Base, and corrective actions were painfully slow to overcome. By the end of 1967, all 31 SR-71s ordered from Lockheed had been completed and delivered. By the end of September 1969, the SR-71 was on its way to a long and illustrious operational career. SAC had already flown more than 100 major missions from Kadena. NASA first formally inquired about having an SR-71 for testing purposes on December 29, 1970, when Skunk Works received an inquiry about possible use of the aircraft to launch test scale models of the future space shuttle.

On July 28, 1971, Johnson noted in a log. Nothing new about operation SR-71. SAC conducted a ten-hour flight recently, about half the time above Mach 3 and 80,000 feet. They flew 10,000 miles. The Vietnam War had successfully justified the existence of the SR-71 from the time of its operational debut between 1968 and 1973. Some 600 missions had been logged during the Vietnam operations and the aircraft had posted an enviable record of reliability and success. The mission. Temporary deployment to forward operating locations around the world was carried out with considerable care, and during its service career the aircraft flew over almost every major point of political and military importance in the world, collecting intelligence data of invaluable value. political and military.

The YF-12A speed and altitude records mentioned above were eclipsed by the SR-71A during a series of flights overseen by the International Aeronautical Federation during 1976. At the time of writing, all of these records remain in place. , including global absolute speed and sustained speed. altitude records. In the late 1980s, as major international political and economic changes began to unfold around the world, the U.S. intelligence community began to reevaluate priorities and, in particular, how it would spend its limited financial resources. Virtually all programs, including SR-71, were reviewed with the goal of determining their long-term viability and especially their simple profitability.

As a result of this review, and in light of progress in other sensor systems programs, all SR-71 activities, with the exception of crew training and associated training flights, were suspended on 1 October 1989 while The Air Force was awaiting release of the Fiscal Year 1990 Budget. When it was revealed several weeks later, funding for the SR-71 program had been eliminated. Therefore, all Air Force SR-71 operations officially ended on November 22. Good night. Recent Air Force budget cuts have ended funding for the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft program; Local civilian and military personnel had the opportunity to view the final functional check flight of the SR-71 as it prepared to return to the United States.

As the SR-71 taxied down the Kadena runway for one of the last times, the SR-71, nicknamed Habu, performed a functional check flight in preparation for its final journey to the United States and into the pages of history. The atmosphere was filled with excitement as the flight crew, Maj. Jim Greenwood and Capt. Steve Zviniak, were helped into 45-pound pressure suits. Physiological support technicians then performed pressure tests on each suit and again performed these tests on the aircraft during the preflight. Additional testing helps ensure the suits will work if pilots have to eject. The suits allow ejection to altitudes above 80,000 feet at speeds of Mach 3.

After completing all pre-flight checks, the engines were fired and the Habu came to life and took to the skies over Okinawa for one of the last times. . From Kadena Air Base, I'm Airman Rob Ivey. To build Have Blue, we needed $10 million. You can't imagine what goes through their minds when you have to ask the board of directors to invest $10 million at a time when the company was considering filing for bankruptcy. This $10 million investment gave the company several billion dollars in sales and a reputation for technical superiority and stealth technology. The benefits of low observability or stealth technology have been a question of considerable military interest for decades, and this applies not only to aircraft but also to all other types of military equipment.

Attempts to camouflage or reduce the visibility of equipment and personnel had been ongoing since the beginning of recorded military history. During World War II, the use of camouflage paint patterns was studied with considerable intensity. Scientifically conducted research helped generate patterns that effectively reduced an aircraft's visibility both in the air and on the ground. Polished aluminum, for example, was criticized for its remarkable ability to reflect sunlight and increase the detection distance of a target aircraft. Dull, dull matte paint eliminated this problem, but not without increasing some cost and performance. The demands of war limited extensive research into developing an airworthy non-reflective structural material, but some attempts were still made.

The Germans placed special emphasis on reducing radar return for select aircraft, including the notable Horton HO-229. Constructed primarily of wood on a steel tube support structure, this extremely advanced winged fighter aircraft was to have used, in some production models, a sandwich layer of wood with a core material of granulated carbon. The coal presumably absorbed the radar energy and was calculated to reduce the aircraft's radar return by a not insignificant margin. The war ended before the technology could be fully exploited. Countermeasures developed slowly at first, with little focus on reducing radar visibility or countering radar energy during the 1950s and 1960s.

It was not until the Vietnam War that effective electronic countermeasures were adopted. The threat of radar-guided missiles required a reevaluation of technology, leading to the development of ECM pods and shaft dispensers. Lockheed gained experience with anti-radar capabilities through programs such as the U-2, A-12, and SR-71. In 1974, DARPA requested studies for a fighter that could not be observed except Lockheed, but they were eventually included through the Skunk Works effort. Lockheed refined external dispatch techniques using ECHO-1, a computer program that predicts radar cross sections based on mathematical formulas. They used faceting and created a three-dimensional plane from flat panels to reduce the RCS.

Validation testing was performed with a model called Hopeless Diamond, which shows a lower RCS than previous designs. In August 1975, Lockheed, along with Boeing and Northrop, received invitations from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to participate in a highly competitive project known as the Experimental Stealth Testbed. The goal of this project was to develop and test an innovative aircraft design with exceptional low observability characteristics. After a thorough evaluation process, Lockheed was selected in April 1976 to proceed with detailed design, development and testing of the aircraft. , which he called Have Blue. A single-seat subsonic aircraft had a distinctive design that aimed to achieve high maneuverability and low observability.

An important feature of the aircraft was the inclusion of a large twin-piston flap known as a platypus, which automatically deflected downward when the angle of attack exceeded 12 degrees, improving nose-down control. The first engine tests were performed on the first HabBlue on November 4, 1977 at the Lockheed facility in Burbank. To maintain security, the plane was parked between two semi-trailers over which a camouflage net was installed. On December 1, 1977, with Lockheed test pilot Bill Park at the controls, Have Blue took off. A new era in military aviation had just begun. Only twenty months had passed since the contract was awarded.

As mentioned above, the main objective of the test program was to demonstrate VLO technology. To do this, the Have Blue 1001 would demonstrate handling qualities and stability control. Have Blue 1002 was designated as a PCS test vehicle. Have Blue 1001 perform 36 flights over the next five months and successfully extend the flight envelope enough to allow RCS testing to occur. Have Blue 1002 joined the program in July 1978 and first flew on 20 July with RAF Norman pilot Ken Dyson at the controls. This aircraft differed from the Hablue 1001 in that it had a true speed system and did not have a drag parachute installed.

It also featured front-wheel steering to improve ground handling and was decked out with all the trim and materials necessary to perform its intended task. After a few speed calibration flights, the aircraft completed 52 flights over the next 12 months and completed the low observability test. The final phase of testing in a simulated integrated air defense environment was completed in July 1979. The aircraft demonstrated its low-observable capabilities against ground and air systems during these tests. Its low acoustic signature was also verified. The Have Blue program was a low-cost demonstration of a radically new concept in VLO aircraft design. Get the results of the Blue program including from a technical point of view, the lowest RCS aircraft in the world by several orders of magnitude, VLO infrared signature, VLO visual signatures, VLO acoustic signature and confirmation of complex aerodynamics.

In conclusion, it was determined that VLO tactical and strategic aircraft could be designed, produced and operated. I always felt like it would work really well, but I never expected it to work as well as it did. We had not involved the aircraft operationally and therefore the operators did not know how to use it. It's like having a new tool. I was worried that we hadn't repaired him enough. The advantages of very low-observable or stealth technology, once successfully demonstrated by Lockheed's HAP Blue prototypes, quickly led to a large-scale engineering development contract from the Air Force on November 16, 1978.

The contract fixed price production was signed 13 months later. It ordered five full-scale development models and 15 production models of a single-seat subsonic attack aircraft that would be officially called the F-117A. Under the direction of program director Norm Nelson, engineering work on the new aircraft progressed at a rapid pace using the database that had been developed during Have Blue. The resulting unusual shape of the F-117 is the end product of low-visibility goals set for the aircraft at the beginning of the program. Not surprisingly, this presented aerodynamics and stability and control engineers with a significant challenge. The F-117A incorporates a number of design features to significantly reduce flight signature.

There are seven different types of observable worry signatures. Radar, infrared, visual, contrails, engine smoke, acoustic and electromagnetic emissions. Since the F-117A departed from the normal aerodynamic design, considerable efforts were made to reduce development risk by using several proven systems from existing aircraft. Examples of this are the General Electric F-404 turbofan engine used in the McDonnell Douglas FA-18 fighter, the cockpit components of the General Dynamics F-16 and McDonnell Douglas FA-18 navigation and attack systems, computers and electronics. , all terrain vehicles. -Shelf weapons and modified F-16 fly-by-wire flight control system. All aircraft designs are a compromise in one way or another, where the primary mission objective dominates these characteristics.

The primary mission of the F-117A is to penetrate enemy airspace, destroy high-value targets and survive. Since the main goal was low observability or stealth, he set the external configuration and especially the sweep angles of the wings and tail. One of the biggest challenges was providing the greatest sweep possible and still having a sufficient aspect ratio for the lift over drag needed to achieve the required range. Another major challenge was providing sufficient control to achieve the desired maneuverability within a reasonable angle of attack for an aircraft unstable in both pitch and yaw. The resulting control configuration did not favor low takeoff and landing speeds.

The full wingspan 11 could not be dropped tolanding without leading edge devices or other means of pitch control. The solution was to use a drag parachute for landing and accept a longer takeoff roll. Subsequently, the capacity of the braking system was improved, reducing dependence on the trailing axle. Another little-observable design consideration was to provide very sharp leading edges. This is good for a supersonic airfoil, but not optimal for a subsonic aircraft. The Air Force was eager for a new aircraft as it had temporarily lost its new Boeing B-1 bomber due to government cuts. Naturally, speculation in the aviation press centered on a technologically advanced, full-size bomber.

The new plane could have gone completely unnoticed, except that the White House deliberately alluded to its existence in 1980. Whether this was an election-year ploy remains unclear. The new aircraft, then popularly known as a stealth fighter rather than a stealth bomber, would become a hot topic in aviation for the next decade. The new aircraft received a new code name, Senior Trend, as well as the misleading designation F-117. The first stealth fighters flew on Lockheed's C-5 Galaxy cargo planes to Groom Dry Lake, where they first took off in June 1981. Security was tight, to say the least. Unauthorized ground staff had to stay inside while a stealth plane left its hangar.

The test flights were carried out mainly at night. Its schedule was organized to avoid overflights by Soviet reconnaissance satellites. Nellis Range also hosts the Air Force's Red Flag air combat exercises, which involved aircraft and pilots from the U.S. and several foreign military aviation services. These other aircraft were kept away from the grooming area by an aerial screen of security aircraft. Despite the F-117's 33% increase in physical size over the prototype, the stealth fighter's RCS measured between 01 and 001 square meters, roughly that of a small bird. For example, compared to a McDonnell Douglas F-4G Phantom normally used for wild weasel anti-radar missions, which has a frontal RCS of 6 meters, the F-117 was able to get 90% closer to ground search radars and a 98%. % closer to airborne radars before being detected.

Testing was still ongoing when the Air Force ordered a full wing of the production version of the Senior Trend, the F-117A Nighthawk. Until the delivery of their F-117As, pilots trained on Vought A-7D Corsair IIs. The first military pilot to fly a Nighthawk was Lieutenant Colonel Alton C. Whitley, a Vietnam veteran with combat experience in the A7 and the North American F-100, and former commander of the Air Force Aggressor Squadron. When I first saw the F-117, remember, it reminded me of some Star Wars-type aircraft. I thought, boy, this is the 21st century. Having emerged from the Groom Lake facility, the stealth unit, now officially the 4450th Tactical Group, operated from the remote Tonopah Test Range airfield in the northwest corner of the Nellis Range.

Although overlooked by public land, the Tonopah facility was about 40 desert miles from the nearest city, remote enough to deter all but the most persistent observers. The 4450th pilots flew to Tonopah every Monday aboard a government-approved aircraft for four nights of training before returning home Friday afternoon. In June 1986 and again in October 1987, pilots crashed their Nighthawks into the ground. Both incidents were attributed to pilot fatigue and disorientation. Despite the US Air Force's efforts to the contrary, the news was leaked to the outside world. Finally, in November 1988, the Pentagon publicly released a grainy and retouched photograph, most notable for how little it revealed of the F-117.

By then, the 4450th, now activated as the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing, was ready for combat. On two occasions, stealth fighters came within an hour of taking off to bomb targets in Libya, only to have their missions canceled to avoid revealing their existence. It was not until December 1989 and the US invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause, that the F-117A saw action. Six Nighthawks airlifted tankers to Panama via Texas and the Caribbean Sea. Two of them were backup planes that returned unnecessarily. Two more were assigned to support the special forces attempting to kidnap General Manuel Noriega, but their mission was scrapped.

Confusion over the last-minute change resulted in confusion over the remaining objective, a barracks housing two battalions of elite enemy troops. The intention was not to kill, but to stun. The lead F-117A did just that with a single 2,000-pound Mark 84 bomb. Known colloquially as the Hammer, the bomb exploded with a lethal radius of 400 feet and capable of rupturing eardrums half a mile away in a field adjacent to the barracks, generating confusion among Panamanians. The second stealth plane also hit its first aiming point, but it turned out to be a mistake. Still, the Air Force declared the mission a success.

After all, the stealth planes had gone unnoticed on Panamanian radar. On August 17, 1990, the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing received a new commander, Colonel Al Whitley. Four hours later, the colonel recalls, news came to deploy our first squadron. The United States and its allies planned to expel Saddam Hussein's Iraqis from Kuwait, by force if necessary, and the Night Stalkers were among the first Allied units to deploy to Saudi Arabia. Located 6,500 feet high in the mountains near the Red Sea, King Khalid Air Base, nicknamed Tonopah East, was built in the late 1970s in exchange for the supply of McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter jets and Sentinels. airborne AWACS to Saudi Arabia. .

Because the base was well out of range of Iraq's Scud-B ballistic missiles, the stealth planes would need three mid-air refuelings each to reach their primary target, central Baghdad. "I generally put the F-117s against targets in Baghdad," said Air Force mission planning chief Brigadier General Buster C. Glosson, where we would have lost aircraft. The mission staff included only three combat veterans, Whitley, his second in command and just cause pilot, but five months later, after the F-117s were deployed to Saudi Arabia, the relentless training over the arid Nevada desert paid off before 3 a.m. local time.

On January 17, 1991, eight black planes, with their lights off and silent, arrived in Baghdad. It was Captain Marcel Kerdavid who was tasked with bombing the Al-Khark tower. Although I felt very well prepared with my training. "I was a little worried about the plane," he later admitted. His stealth had not been tested in combat, and everyone was wondering if this stealth really worked. Anticipating a burst of anti-aircraft fire that would rattle the pilots, mission planners had assigned another stealth aircraft to mark Kurdavid's targets and lighten his workload. When the laser beam hit the Al'kark's domed ceiling, an infrared radar in the nose of Kurdavid's plane picked up the signal and displayed it on the cockpit's eight-inch video screen.

Using a fingertip control on the accelerator, Kurdavid locked his sights on the laser flash and his weapons system projected an imaginary basket above him in which to drop the bomb for a successful attack. Ten seconds before his release, Kerdavid pressed the button that activated his weapons system. The Nighthawk's bomb bay opened and lowered its deadly payload into the slipstream. A one-ton GBU-27A-B guided bomb, designed specifically for use by the F-117A. Freed from the need to dodge anti-aircraft fire, Kurdavid was able to drop his bomb from a relatively high altitude and close to Al-Khark. He immediately turned north, toward his secondary objective, a command bunker in the suburbs of Taji.

The other F-117 loitered a little further into the station and used its belly-mounted downward-facing infrared radar laser designator to mark the target of Kurdavid's bomb as it fell. In his room at the Al-Rashid Hotel, the CNN reporter's microphones picked up the growing wail of an airstrike warning. Now the sirens are sounding for the first time, said Peter Arnott. The Iraqis have informed us. At that moment, as if out of nowhere, Kurdavid's GBU-27 crashed into Al-Khark, piercing the tower halfway before exploding. The entire building split in half. A losing move for CNN viewers and King Khalid's staff because the network quickly went black.

A survivor's audio-only ground link allowed Arnett to verbally describe the blinding hail of aimless return fire rising over the Baghdad skyline. The Iraqi gunners' radars told them that there were no planes flying overhead. Seconds later, the GBU-27 of another F-117A hit directly across the Tigris from Al-Khark. It fell through the roof of the twelve-story Baghdad International Telephone Exchange, known to Air Force mission planners as the AT&T Building, and the only target in the city scheduled for a double hit. One of those planners was Maj. Jerry Leatherman of the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron, who sixty seconds after the first attack circled from the northeast to launch a pair of highly explosive Mark 84 home runs from three miles into the air through the hole. on the roof of a building. .

The first fell a little, but the second hit its target and together they brought down the four upper floors. In quick succession, three waves of stealth aircraft pinpointed their targets with a precision both ruthless and merciless. Iraqi Air Force and Baath Party headquarters, air defense control centers, Rashid Airfield and other high-value targets, including two of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces. Half an hour after the first attacks, the city went dark, probably not because of Iraqi precautions, but because the power grid was destroyed. But Baghdad remained well lit by Triple A fire. Back at King Khalid, ground crews were talking excitedly about the returning planes, the last of which didn't land until after dawn.

Miraculously, not only did all of the Nighthawks return, but none of them suffered even a scratch. In the first 24 hours of the war, King Khalid's 42 stealth fighters, just 2.5% of the total Allied aircraft deployed in the Gulf, accounted for 31% of the targets attacked. Damage estimates were lower than expected, in part due to a lower layer of fog that obscured Baghdad at dawn. Cloud cover, three times greater than the wartime seasonal average, not only interfered with subsequent operations, but compromised the black plane's invisibility. "If you're right on top of a cloud and the moon is reflecting off it, you can really stand out," Leatherman explained.

At one point, an F-117A was shadowed by what appeared to be an Iraqi Dessault Mirage F-1. However, illuminating A landing light or searchlight to visually detect the stealth aircraft was the closest any Nighthawk came to an air battle with the most dangerous high-priority targets during the Gulf War. These included radar sites, SAM launchers, and SCUDs. , enemy command control communications facilities, bridges, hardened aircraft shelters and bunkers. Their data recorders provided some spectacular video footage of Air Force publicists. These included the destruction of a hardened scud depot with a guided bomb. by laser that fell through an air duct, a bomb exploding in the door of an ammunition bunker and another bomb flying through to explode inside, a GVU-27 flying down an elevator shaft to detonate in what deep into the Iraqi Air Force headquarters and blow up all four walls.

Ultimately, the primary goal of Nighthawk surgical strikes, as opposed to indiscriminate bombing raids, was to save lives on both sides. Statistically, during Desert Storm, the 37th TFW compiled a record unmatched in the annals of air warfare. The Nighthawks achieved an 80% hit rate on precision targets and destroyed nearly 40% of all strategic targets attacked by coalition forces. The 37th TFW's performance also received high praise from military and political leaders. In particular, Senator Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that the F-117A is the heart of our offensive power and targeting capability. Brigadier General Buster Glosson, commander of the 14th Air Division, called the 37th TFW the backbone of the strategic air campaign.

General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commented: They are showing the nation what we are all about, combining the highest technology with the best kind of people we can.gather on the field as a team. Defense Secretary Richard Cheney said: "You have gone far beyond what anyone could have imagined." It's been phenomenal. The 37th Tactical Fighter Wing, redesignated the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing, moved from Tonopah to Haliforce Air Force Base. Air Force analysts have so far not determined that stealth technology could be compromised in the foreseeable future. In any case, the F-117A Nighthawk, Skunk Works and Ben Rich have secured their place in aviation history. "We guaranteed to deliver an aircraft that would have stealth capabilities, would be virtually undetectable by radar technologies known today, and would be capable of delivering a weapons system with unprecedented precision," Rich said.

We've done it. Our results speak for themselves. In many ways, the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter is the true daughter of the F-117. Stealth would be an important factor in the United States remaining a superpower in the 21st century. We worked very hard with the F-22 to integrate stealth into a supermaneuverable supersonic fighter and we achieved it. After our final day of YF-22A flight demonstrations from Edwards late on December 28, 1990, I told my wife, Judia, that we had won. And we did it. Our team delivered results. It was a privilege to lead this team. The F-22 Raptor is the most advanced in its class.

Built around the spirit of first look, first shot, first kill. It is planned to become the main fighter of the US Air Force in the 21st century. The Raptor is a killing machine, just as its name suggests. It's even deadlier when it goes out and does the job. Deadly and undetectable at long range, this impressive fifth-generation fighter combines unmatched aerial combat with precision ground attack capabilities. Confidence lies in the fact that these goals can be achieved as a result of a synergistic combination of features and characteristics, including low observability, also known as stealth, the ability to cruise at supersonic speeds or supercruise at long ranges and without the use of afterburners. and a highly sophisticated, integrated avionics unit.

Additionally, the FA-22A is designed to be more maneuverable, better armed, more reliable, easier to maintain, more supportable, and more capable in the air-to-ground mission than any comparable aircraft in history. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviets developed different missiles to attack at different altitudes. You couldn't fly under the threat of missiles, you couldn't fly over the threat of missiles, you had to deal with the threat of missiles. One way to do this is to make the suppression of enemy air defenses, that is, the destruction of missile sites on radars, the most important mission of the air force.

By the 1970s, air superiority had re-emerged as a top priority, and the US Air Force committed to building its first pure air superiority fighter, an aircraft that would eventually become the F-15. Eagle. But just as the F-15s went into service in 1978, alarming new evidence suggested that the new fighter's superiority might only be temporary. For the moment, and perhaps most importantly, reconnaissance satellites had photographed several new fighter prototypes, the Mikoyan MiG-29 and the Sukhoi T-10 at the Ramenskoye Flight Test Center outside the small town of Zhukovsky. , about 40 miles southeast of Moscow. This new generation of Russian fighter jets represented a significant improvement in capability over anything previously observed by US intelligence agencies.

It was obvious to all concerned that a new air-to-air combat platform would be needed to meet the new threat posed by these new Russian aircraft. The Sukhoi T-10 came as a big surprise to Western analysts. It was larger than the F-15 and much larger than any previous fighter built by the Soviets. If the MiG-29 had worried the American military establishment, the existence of the Sukhoi T-10 set off alarm bells. These are very good airplanes. Aircraft that can play in the same league as some of NATO's best fighters like the Phantom and eventually the F-15. Just weeks into his first term, the 40th president of the United States increased American defense spending by $32.5 billion and began rearmament of the United States on a colossal scale.

The goal is world peace. In 1981, the Cold War became very hot. It is absolutely essential that we increase our spending on national defense if we are to maintain peace. When Reagan and Brezhnev came into office, the US Air Force concluded that it would urgently need a new replacement for its F-15, an advanced tactical fighter, or ATF, that would not be on its side. As U.S. planners begin to develop the air-to-ground combat concept for fighting World War III, the U.S. Air Force is beginning to think about what kind of equipment it will have when it comes time to wage war.

Under this motto, two subprojects were established. Advanced Tactical Fighter, which included concept and technology development, seven airframe companies are Boeing, General Dynamics, Grumman, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop and Rockwell. Each received $1 million conceptual development studio contracts. And the Joint Fighter Engine, an engine technology demonstration program to be managed jointly with the U.S. Navy, Pratt & Whitney, and General Electric, each received contracts worth $202 million in September 1983. The seven competing companies submitted around 19 conceptual designs. From these it was concluded that the ideal air-to-air platform would offer low observability in combination with super cruise and superior maneuverability. The analysis of air-to-air combat in Vietnam, called the Red Baron Study, had begun the race for stealth.

The principle of stealth technology is to literally make an aircraft invisible to the enemy. The shape of an aircraft should reflect incoming radio waves away from the enemy's radar instead of towards it. To further increase low observations, an aircraft is covered with materials that absorb radar signals, further reducing its visibility on radar screens. At the forefront of stealth technology was Lockheed's Skunk Works division. In 1977, amid unprecedented security, Lockheed had flown a prototype of the world's first stealth fighter jet, and in the 1980s, during Operation Just Cause, its F-117 had helped destroy the general's regime. Noriega in Panama.

The US Air Force decided that any new fighter must incorporate stealth technology and identified two other areas in which a future air superiority fighter would have to excel. The challenge was issued. Now it was up to the world's best aerospace manufacturers to respond. The Advanced Tactical Fighter Program was about to begin and the Raptor, America's fifth-generation fighter, was being born. By 1983, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had reached a new low. After the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the Politburo, now controlled by former KGV chief Yuri Andropov, had been called by Reagan the focus of evil in the modern world.

Reagan continued his rearmament policy and announced plans for the Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as Star Wars, and Moscow reacted with fury. That August, when Korean Airline Flight 007 en route to Seoul from New York veered hundreds of miles off course into Soviet airspace, Russia acted. A fighter jet was sent in and the civilian plane with 269 people on board was shot down. The downing of KAL 007 sent shockwaves around the world, straining international relations almost to the breaking point. Reagan's response to the crisis reinforced the American belief that stealth would now be the primary requirement for new American fighter aircraft.

After about four initial drafts, the basic framework of the ATF requirement, which calls for a range of approx. 800 miles, a supersonic cruise capability of Mach 1.4 to 1.5, a 2,000-foot runway requirement, a gross takeoff weight of 50,000 pounds and a unit cost of no more than $40 million in 1985 were released for the industry. Importantly, implicit in the proposal was a requirement that the ATF's life cycle costs be at least as good, if not better, than those of the McDonnell Douglas F-15. Lockheed and Northrop's submissions were found to be superior to those of Boeing, General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas. Lockheed had held consortium talks with Boeing and General Dynamics as early as June 1986, but did not formalize an agreement with its partners until the following October 13.

As a result, Lockheed assigned Sherman Mullen as general manager of the ATF team program office. Mullen would lead Lockheed in the role of prime contractor and, as a result, benefit from the unique technical strengths represented by Boeing and General Dynamics. Northrop, about two weeks later, followed suit acting as lead team with McDonnell Douglas. By default, the two consortia were selected on October 31, 1986 to build two prototypes each and complete them in the revised demonstration and validation phase. An aircraft under the official Air Force designation YF-22 Northrop under a similar contract would build two of its N-14 prototypes under the official Air Force designation YF-23.

And in 1990, just months after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the shapes of the two rival designs were finally revealed. Northrop's version, called the YF-23, closely resembled its original design. In contrast, Lockheed's design, called the YF-22, looked surprisingly conventional, with four tail surfaces, thrust vectoring, a wide, solid body, and a conventional wing. However, unlike other Lockheed stealth aircraft, the F-117's radar-absorbing materials were not applied throughout the FA-22, but were used selectively on its edges, cavities and crucial surface areas. The F-22 carries its weapons internally. Four weapon compartments are hidden in the central part of the body.

Six missiles can be carried in ventral compartments covered by double doors. Each of the side bays will contain a Sidewinder missile, carried on a trapezoidal launch pad. The center section also houses the fighter's landing gear and complex intake ducts. Attached to the center fuselage is the forward fuselage, which houses the cockpit and advanced avionics. Both the YF-23 and YF-22 are impressive machines, but their performance remains to be tested. The most crucial phase of the competition still lies ahead: the flight test. Northrop was the first to fly. In August 1990, piloted by Paul Metz, the YF-23 took off.

The test was a great success. But Lockheed chief test pilot Dave Ferguson prepared the Raptor for its maiden flight. Over the next three months, the Raptor underwent a series of tests. The Air Force required both teams to give them performance projections and would actually compare them to what the planes actually did in subsonic and supersonic flights at different altitudes, etc. The winner of this stage would obtain a contract for 650 aircraft. The decision will depend not only on what the contractors promised, but also on the Air Force's confidence in its ability to deliver. During flight testing, the Raptor had outperformed Northrop's YF-23 in several crucial performance areas.

The YF-22 had clearly demonstrated that in all categories it was far superior to any existing fighter. The Air Force was very, very impressed with what Lockheed had done, but their flight test program was very aggressive. They flew hard and fast. They flew many more hours and sorties than Northrop, all of which gave the Air Force confidence that they knew what they were doing and could build a superior aircraft. But it would be the events of 1991 that would determine the future of the Raptors. At 22 minutes after midnight on January 17, 1991, Lockheed's stealthy F-117 led American strikes against Saddam Hussein's regime.

The performance of Lockheed's stealth bomber during Operation Desert Storm would give the company and its aircraft invaluable publicity. The F-15, the aircraft destined to be replaced by the ATF, had emphatically confirmed its status as the world's premier air superiority fighter. It now seemed that the need for an advanced stealth fighter, the F-22, might be entirely unfounded. But not everyone agrees. In April 1991, immersed in the debate over the F-15, the US Air Force prepared to announce the winner of the contract for the Advanced Tactical Fighter, but could the Raptor emerge unscathed from the controversy? Following testing of the prototypes at Demm-Valflight, USAF Secretary Donald Rice announced Team Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney as the winners of the ATF and engine competitions.

The YF-23 design was considered stealthier and faster, while the YF-22, with its thrust-vectoring nozzles, was more maneuverable, as well as cheaper andrisky. After winning the contract, Lockheed announced its intention to locate the F-22 headquarters in Georgia, where the Raptor's forward fuselage would be built. General Dynamics would build the center section of the F-22 fuselage in Fort Worth, Texas, and Boeing would manufacture the wings and tail in Seattle, Washington. Modifications to this aircraft took place at Edwards Air Force Base. It would consist of an additional 100 flight hours, or approximately 25 sorties, to expand the YF-22A's flight envelope and explore selected segments of the envelope in more detail.

But on April 25, 1992, the program hit its first major hurdle. During the preliminary test the unthinkable happened. A YF-22 piloted by Tom Morganfield crashed just after takeoff. The plane arrived on the runway with the landing gear up, slid approximately 8,000 feet, and caught fire. year. Despite the loss of the stealth aircraft, the program had achieved its main objectives. Ten million man hours of analysis, four thousand hours of radar testing, and hundreds of hours of flight testing had been invested in the development of the aircraft before construction even began. In fact, the F-22 has completed more flight tests than any other fighter before full-scale production.

On April 9, the first F-22A, officially called the Raptor, a previous attempt to name the superstar aircraft failed in 1991, was unveiled for the first time in a public ceremony at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. Now air force pilots will have the opportunity to test the new aircraft themselves. First flown by the Air Force in 1997, Edwards Air Force Base pilots have surpassed 2,000 hours of flight testing and more than 900 missions. One of the most important advances in the Raptors design is its advanced cockpit and integrated avionics system. Key mission systems include the Sanders slash General Electric electronic warfare system, the Martin Marietta infrared and ultraviolet missile launch detector, the Westinghouse slash Texas Instruments active electronic scanning array radar, the TRW communications and the advanced long-range IRST. currently in testing.

The radio frequency receivers of the electronic support measures system allow the aircraft to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks. The F-22 has a glass cockpit with all digital flight instruments. The monochrome head-up display offers a wide field of view and serves as the primary flight instrument. Information is also displayed on a six-color liquid crystal display or LCD panels. This plane shows you information, it gives you awareness of the battlespace, it's about seeing what's in front of you and being able to make the right decisions about what to engage in and when to use it. The ejection seat is a version of the ACES-2 commonly used on USAF aircraft, with a centrally mounted ejection control.

The Raptor carries a formidable variety of ammunition. The F-22 has three internal weapons bays, a large main bay at the bottom of the fuselage and two smaller bays on the sides of the fuselage behind the engine inlets. The main bay is divided along the center line and can accommodate six launch pads for beyond-visual-range missiles, and each side bay has a launch pad for short-range missiles. The main air-to-air missiles are the AIM-120 AMRAAM and the AIM-9 Sidewinder with planned integration of the AIM-260 JATM. Missile launches require the bay doors to be open for less than a second, during which pneumatic or hydraulic arms push the missiles free from the aircraft.

This is intended to reduce vulnerability to detection and missile launch during high-speed flights. While the F-22 typically carries internal weapons, the wings include four hardpoints, each capable of supporting 5,000 pounds or 2,300 kilograms. Each hardpoint can accommodate a pylon that can carry a removable 600-gallon or 2,270-liter external fuel tank for a launch pad with two air-to-air missiles, and to complement the Raptor's eight-missile armament, the fighter also has a weapon. An internally mounted M61A2 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon is embedded in the aircraft's right wing root, with the muzzle covered by a retractable door. The radar projection of the weapon's firing path is shown on the pilot's head-up display.

Before the FA-22 Raptor enters service with the US Air Force in the fall of 2005, it will have completed thousands of hours of intense combat testing. But since Desert Storm, critics of the F-22 program argue that the F-15 Eagle, which will be replaced by the Raptor, already had the features necessary to remain the world's premier air superiority fighter well into the 2000s. new millenium. It's an opinion the Air Force has rejected. In March 2003, F-15 fans had the opportunity to see if the Eagle was still the best fighter in the sky. Five F-15s would go alongside a single Raptor.

Although no missiles would be used during the exercise, the sorties would closely resemble real combat. Neither side would give any quarter. This was a kill or be killed exercise. The five F-15s are flown by experienced F-22 pilots. One by one, the Raptor shoots them down. In combat testing with F-15s, the F-22 Raptor has emphatically proven its skeptics wrong. In December 2005, the United States Air Force announced that the F-22 had reached initial operational capability. During exercise Northern Edge in Alaska in June 2006, in simulated combat exercises, 12 F-22s. The F-22 cannot be exported under US federal law to protect its stealth technology and classified features.

American fighter customers are purchasing older designs, such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, or the newer F-35 Lightning II, which incorporates technology from the F-22 but is designed to be cheaper , more flexible and accessible. export. The USAF had originally planned to purchase a total of 750 ATF. In 2009, the program was reduced to 187 operational aircraft due to high costs, lack of air-to-air missions due to concentration on counterinsurgency operations at the time of production, ban on exports, and development of larger aircraft. affordable and versatile. F-35, with the last F-22 delivered in 2012. America's F-22 Raptor was created out of Cold War fears that Russian-made fighters would overwhelm the F-15.

The US Air Force is the sole operator of the F-22. As of August 2022, it had 183 aircraft in its inventory. In today's changing world, there are few certainties, but the governance of the Raptor, America's air dominance fighter, is one of them. The F-35 was the product of the Joint Strike Fighter program, which was an amalgamation of several fighter programs from the 1980s and 1990s. The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, unofficially nicknamed Panther, is a fifth-generation strike fighter developed in the United States that incorporates new and learned stealth technology and practices with advanced computer processing and systems through a modular approach.

The primary goal of the project was to create a versatile aircraft capable of meeting the needs of multiple branches of the United States Department of Defense, including the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps. Joined. To achieve this goal, the F-35 program developed three interconnected but separate airframes, all based on a single-engine, single-seat design. Although variations exist between production models, all versions of the aircraft retain their supersonic capabilities and possess unrivaled strike capabilities, making them incomparable to any other modern battlefield platform. The F-35 program has evolved into an international effort beyond US and UK commitments and has included Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey to varying degrees.

Each nation hopes to operate the F-35 platform and number at some point, and each player is evaluated by development partner levels. The JSF program was initiated on November 16, 1996, as a US effort to develop a next-generation combat airframe capable of replacing a number of dedicated fighter and fighter-bomber types in the US warfighting inventory. The new design would have to succeed proven equipment such as the Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog, the carrier-based Boeing FA-18 Hornet and the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, a task not less. the respective successes of each aircraft around the world at this moment in aviation history.

The F-35 originated in the USJSF program and went through a five-year competition phase known as the X-35 against Boeing's X-32. Although both aircraft met requirements, Lockheed's submission was chosen over Boeing's because it consistently outperformed the latter and was considered to pose less of a long-term financial risk. Boeing's X-32 used a more conventional vectored propulsion approach, similar to the Harrier, for vertical takeoff maneuvers. In contrast, a third proposal from a team at Northrop Grumman McDonnell Douglas presented an interesting lift-plus-lift cruise method similar to that of the Soviet Yak-38 Forger. Lockheed's approach involved a dedicated lift fan system located in the aircraft's center of mass, just after the cockpit, combined with a rotating rear engine exhaust nozzle to achieve a balanced result.

Both propulsion units derived lift from the single engine, and Lockheed's patented lift fan was considered a more feasible long-term solution. The lift fan concept had clear advantages over the X-32's thrust vectoring system, as it offered cooling of the descending compressed air, reducing the risk of hot exhaust gases re-entering the engine. Additionally, the space saved by the lift fan drive system allowed for greater internal fuel storage in the proposed X-35A and X-35C conventional fighter versions, improving their operational range. This feature was especially attractive to the USMC, which prioritized a short-range, fast-reaction aircraft for the STOVL version, the X-35B.

Winning the X-35 contract was a major achievement for Lockheed. With potential revenue of up to $200 billion through the development of its main engine. Additionally, the British government invested $2 billion in the project in hopes of acquiring its first fifth-generation stealth fighter jet. The production version of the F-35 aircraft was derived from three X prototypes, the first of which was the X-35A, manufactured at the Skunk Works facility in Palmdale. The X-35A successfully completed its maiden flight on October 24, 2000 and then underwent extensive testing, including mid-air refueling and supersonic flights at Edwards Air Force Base. After completing 27 flight tests on 22 November 2000, it was converted to the prototype variant X-35B STOVL.

Meanwhile, the X-35C, acting as a backup to the more complex X-35B development, was prepared to accept Lithuanian assembly if necessary. The first production F-35 Lightning II made its first flight on December 15, 2006, and the first F-35A completed its first flight test at Edwards Air Force Base on October 23, 2008. Shortly thereafter, On November 13, 2008, the supersonic aircraft was achieved flight. The . The production STOVL F-35B began its flight test phase in 2008, with the first F-35B completing its maiden flight on 11 June 2008 and the second F-35B completing its maiden flight on 25 February 2009. The first aerial refueling exercise for the F-35B was successfully completed on 13 August 2009, the carrier-capable X-35C made its maiden flight on 16 December 2000 and subsequently underwent a series of rigorous simulated landings to evaluate the performance of the modified airframe.

The X-35C demonstrated excellent low-level, low-speed approaches that the US Navy was looking for in its new fighter aircraft. After completing a total of 73 flight tests on March 11, 2001, the production F-35C was unveiled on July 28, 2009, with first flight expected to be scheduled before the end of 2009. The F-35 test program reached a milestone with its 100th flight on June 23, 2009. Initially, the F-35B was expected to be delivered to the USMC around 2012, which would make it the first of threevariants, while the USAF expected deliveries of its F-35A model in 2013. The United States Navy's F-35Cs were expected to be delivered in 2015.

The F-35's airframe life expectancy extended beyond The F-35 is equipped with an advanced electro-optical distributed aperture system that gives the pilot a complete view of the battlefield from all angles of the aircraft. DAS allows the F-35 to detect and coordinate enemy aircraft, air-to-air and surface-to-air missile launch platforms, and ground explosions. Both the short takeoff, vertical landing and conventional landing variants featured high levels of automation to streamline operations. The aircraft also offers improved pilot vision during the day and night. The DAS system was developed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in collaboration with Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems.

Additionally, the F-35 is equipped with an entirely new electro-optical guidance system developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. This guidance system provides the pilot with enhanced target detection and tracking capabilities at extended ranges, making the F-35 one of the deadliest fighters in the sky. The EOTS is located at the bottom of the nose assembly. Advances in stealth technology learned from the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter have been extensively incorporated into the design of the F-35 Lightning II. The engine nozzle is designed to be stealthy and axisymmetric, reducing the aircraft's radar signature and maintaining a minimal profile.

The F-35 avionics suite, produced by Northrop Grumman Space Technology, has data sharing capabilities that allow the pilot to share real-time information with allied air and ground forces via a satellite data link system. The communication package, developed in collaboration with internal partners, ensures robust and adaptable communication options. For situational awareness, the F-35 is equipped with an APG-81 series active electronically scanned radar developed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. This radar system allows the pilot to detect, track and attack targets on land, water or air at significant distances. Radar can also act as a passive receiver. To further increase the pilot's situational awareness, the distributed infrared system consists of six internal sensors strategically located around the aircraft.

These sensors provide a real-time infrared image of the aircraft's surroundings, projected directly onto the advanced helmet worn by the pilot, offering a complete 360-degree view. The F-35 engine intakes are designed with cable-free fittings, reducing weight and complexity by minimizing moving parts. The aircraft features a helmet-mounted display system developed by Vision Systems International LLC that delivers critical mission and system data directly to the pilot's helmet visor. This advanced system eliminates the need for a conventional head-up display and allows the pilot to track and engage targets without looking directly at them. The driving position is equipped with a large multi-function panoramic display system that provides real-time information and high-resolution images.

The F-35 cockpit supports direct voice input through a voice recognition system and incorporates a Martin Baker US-16E ejection seat. Flight control is achieved by a conventional practical stick and throttle configuration. The systems onboard the F-35 are highly configurable, allowing adaptation to different mission requirements, whether air superiority or ground attack operations. With its cutting-edge technology and unmatched capabilities, the F-35 Lightning II was a force to be reckoned with in modern air warfare. Primary propulsion for the F-35 is provided by a single Pratt & Whitney F-135 afterburning turbofan engine. Originally, another engine option, the upgraded F-136, was being developed in a joint effort by General Electric and Rolls-Royce.

However, development of the F-136 was completed in December 2011. The F-135 engine is an afterburning turbofan that delivers 28,000 pounds of dry thrust and up to 43,000 pounds with the afterburner fully engaged. Located in the rear center position of the fuselage, the engine allows the F-35 to reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.61. Climb rate and G limits vary by variant, with the A model having a limit of 9 G. For the production model F-35B, vertical flight capability is achieved using the patented shaft-driven lift fan. Lockheed Martin. This elevator fan system, built by Rolls-Royce Corporation of Indiana, consists of the fan itself, a clutch, two roller posts, and the drive shaft that connects the elevator fan to the power plant.

Working in conjunction with the three-bearing rotary module, the thrust vectoring nozzle in the tail of the aircraft, the lift fan enables balanced lift during vertical flight. Driven by a two-stage turbine in the engine, the lift fan can generate up to 20,000 pounds of lift, nearly half of the total vertical thrust. Additionally, the elevator fan provides cooling of the descending air, which is an improvement over previous short take-off and vertical landing systems. The air flow through the fan is regulated by variable inlet vanes. The standard armament for the production model F-35A is the GAL-22, a 25mm four-barrel gun with 180 rounds.

The F-35B and F-35C also have this weapon, but through an external mount and with 220 rounds, the capsule itself has a stealth design to keep the F-35's fuselage signature at bay. To meet its stealth requirements, the F-35 typically houses its primary ammunition and bomb bays internally, while six optional external underwing pylons provide the majority of the weapon's payload capacity. Due to the international appeal of the F-35, the aircraft is capable of providing some foreign-sourced weapons systems into the arsenals of the United Kingdom, Israel and NATO. Some analysts have criticized the F-35, arguing that it is overly complex, defective and prone to breakdowns.

Additionally, they claim that it may not be suitable for the missions for which it was originally designed. After 20 years of research and development, the lightweight replacement fighter became heavier and more expensive as the Air Force and prime contractor Lockheed Martin packed it with more and new technology. Yes, we are talking about the F-35. The 25-ton stealth fighter has become the problem it was supposed to solve, and now the United States needs a new fighter to solve the problems of the F-35," officials said. With a selling price of around $100 million per plane, including engine, the F-35 is expensive, while stealthy and loaded with high-tech sensors, it is also high maintenance, buggy and unreliable.

The F-35 is not a. light, cheap fighter," said Dan Ward, former Air Force. program director and author of a popular business book, including The Simplicity Cycle. Brown's comments are a tacit admission that the F-35 has failed. As envisioned in the 1990s, the program was to produce thousands of fighters to displace nearly all existing tactical fighter aircraft in Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps inventories. The Air Force alone wanted about 1,800 F-35s to replace the aging F-16 and A-10 and form the lower end of a mix of low- and high-end fighters, with 180 twin-engine F-22s for the higher end. but the Air Force and Lockheed failed on the F-35.

They tried to make the F-35 do too much," said Dan Grazer, an analyst at the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, D.C. The complexity drove up costs. Rising costs brought delays. The delays gave developers more time to add even more complexity to the design These additions resulted in more delays, etc. The F-35 has not performed well in its field work, nor has the reality that each generation of fighter pushes technology to the limit, and this implies different challenges and a learning curve. The real question is whether trends in military capability, readiness, and operational costs are moving in the right direction. 35 This is certainly the case for members of Congress attending the oversight hearing. this week, it may be worth reading the advice of Sir Frederick Hanley Page, British aviation pioneer.

No one ever won a war by trying to carry it out on the cheap. Nothing is as expensive as losing a war while saving money. If today you want to have the cheapest possible air force, it is very easy to standardize a lot of airplanes that will be of no use when war comes. For 80 years, Skunk Works has been pushing the boundaries of innovation, failing to quickly test new technologies or deliver disruptive solutions to our customers. Buckle up as we take a quick trip through the years to reflect on the critical work Skunk Works has done, all of which informs the work we do today and in the future.

Watching the technologies that Skunk Works continues to develop now and in the future is as exciting and classified as the history of Skunk Works. Work continues in critical areas such as UAS, hypersonics, artificial intelligence, low observability and other disruptive technologies. A good example that is not being developed under the cloak of secrecy is a team working with NASA to develop and build the X-59, the prototype that will dampen the supersonic boom. The way we build and develop these capabilities is also evolving. As we increasingly lean toward a digital approach that reduces costs and accelerates development, Skunkworks' unique and proven philosophy has made the impossible possible for 80 years.

This dedicated and growing team continues to embrace Kelly Johnson's motto: Be Fast, Be Calm, and Be On Time. We innovate with an urgent need to push boundaries and ensure our customers have the capabilities needed to stay ahead, and we ensure our customers have the capabilities needed to stay ahead. He decided that he wanted to design airplanes when he was 12 years old after reading Tom Swift and his airplanes. He designed his first airplane before seeing it in person. When he first applied for a job at Lockheed, the company flatly rejected him. He earned his master's degree in aeronautical engineering and returned, rewarded for his perseverance with an $83-a-month job as a tool designer.

By the time he finished his career at Lockheed, 47 years later, he had built the world's most important aircraft research and design facility. There, in Lockheed's legendary skunk factories, he and the team he led revolutionized aviation. For 30 years, it was impossible to see a significant display of American aircraft without seeing something designed by Kelly Johnson. Whether it was a fighter, a bomber, a transport, a passenger ship, or even a spy plane, chances were he had designed at least some of it. Without a doubt, he is the greatest aircraft designer in history. This is Clarence Kelly Johnson. Clarence Kelly Johnson was born in the town of Ishpeming, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on February 27, 1910.

The son of Swedish immigrants, he got his Irish nickname from his schoolmates after standing up to the school bully. He had dealt with some of the kids at school who called him Clara since his name was Clarence. And he finally got tired and decided to retaliate against one of the bullies. And when he was done, the children in the schoolyard decided that she could no longer be Clara and instead had to look for a more appropriate name. And since the Irish of the time were known for his pugilistic skills, they decided to name him Kelly. He designed his first airplane, which he called the Merlin Battleplane, at the age of 12, and it earned him a prize at school.

He then knew that this was what he wanted with his life. He paid five dollars for his first flight, a three-minute ride in a biplane that ended badly when the plane's engine spun at 700 feet. As he grew up, he worked in construction and at the Buick factory, saving money. He took his savings to a flight school and asked to be taught how to fly. The flight instructor, a cash-strapped man, rejected Johnson's money and told the young man to spend it on college. Johnson enrolled at the University of Michigan just before the stock market crash of 1929 and supported himself by washing dishes in fraternity houses.

As an assistant in the aeronautical engineering department, he worked in the school's wind tunnel. The school allowed him to rent the tunnel when it was not in use. Johnson earned $35 an hour and helped design a new, streamlined Studebaker model. He graduated in 1932 and attempted to enlist in the Army Air Corps, but was rejected. He returned to Michigan to pursue his master's degree and, among other things, used the Michigan wind tunnel to help designaerodynamic race cars for the Indianapolis 500. In 1933, he began working for Lockheed in California as a tool designer for $83 a month. Lockheed was at the time a deeply troubled company.

He had just emerged from bankruptcy and had staked his future on the Electra, a twin-engine transport. When Johnson arrived in Burbank, his boss asked him what he thought of the plane. Johnson looked and said it would be unstable and that he didn't trust Lockheed's wind tunnel testing. Chief engineer Hall Hibbert sent Johnson back to Michigan with a model of the Electra and a mandate to conduct his own study in his own wind tunnel. See if he can do better, Hibbard told him. He did. After 72 tunnel tests, Johnson devised a redesigned flap system and swapped the Electra's single stabilizer for a twin-tail one.

These changes stabilized the Electra and helped make it one of the most successful aircraft of its time. Johnson returned to Lockheed as a senior engineer. Appointed flight test engineer for the Model 10 Electra, he eventually began flying regularly. He befriended Amelia Earhart and advised her on several of her missions. She flew an Electra and Johnson advised her on fuel mixing techniques to help her get the best performance from her airplane. He continued to work on upgrades to the Electra through the Electra Model 14 and soon attracted attention outside of Lockheed. In 1937 he won the Sperry Award for outstanding achievement by a young man in aeronautics.

That same year, Congress approved the Neutrality Law. That law was designed to keep the United States out of World War II. At the same time, the military had become convinced that American participation in the war was inevitable. They invested as much money as they could into designing new equipment. Lockheed won the competition to build a new fighter with an aircraft designed by Johnson, the XP-38. With two engines and a double fuselage, it was an unconventional aircraft that had its problems. In particular, its high speed and strict maneuvers sometimes created forces so large that they broke the plane in mid-air.

Once again Johnson returned to his wind tunnel. And after making some changes to the plane's design, it passed Army Air Corps testing and was ordered into limited production. Johnson, the designer, was 27 years old. In the late 1930s, Lockheed emerged from bankruptcy, largely thanks to its commercial aircraft. Electra in particular had built a profitable customer base. But for Lockheed to grow, it needed to build a successful military aircraft business. The P-38 was a start, but when the Army Air Force first awarded the contract, no one knew how many thousands of aircraft would ultimately be built. In 1938, with Europe on the brink of war, the British sent a procurement commission to the United States in search of military aircraft, particularly a long-range coastal patrol bomber that could be used to hunt submarines.

The commission, which was scheduled to visit several aircraft manufacturers, initially had no intention of visiting Lockheed. Their schedule changed at the last minute and Lockheed was invited to make a presentation with only five days to prepare. During the five days of preparation for the British, Johnson demonstrated what he was destined to become famous for: the ability to make something completely new from existing components and to see a project through to completion with a relentless eye on deadlines. . He himself lived by the creed: be fast, be calm, be on time. He was someone who believed strongly in getting good people and giving them the ability to do what they do best.

He also believed in minimizing the number of people working on a project. In just five days, Johnson and his crew not only redesigned the Electra to suit the needs of the Royal Air Force, but also built from scratch a full-scale wooden model of the plane, a civilian transport converted into a bomber. medium. The British were stunned. They were so impressed with Johnson and his crew that they invited Lockheed executives to England to confer with the Air Ministry. Johnson agreed. At the meetings, the British changed the design specifications, requiring a complete redesign of the aircraft. Johnson locked himself in a London hotel room and completed the engineering plans in just 72 hours.

The British were stunned once again and Lockheed was awarded the contract. The British expressed their reluctance to work with an engineer as young and inexperienced as the 28-year-old Johnson. Lockheed reassured the Air Secretary, who ordered 200 of what became known as the Hudson bomber. It was the largest aircraft order ever received by an American manufacturer, and upon the batch's return to the United States, Lockheed promoted Johnson to chief engineer. In 1939, Congress significantly increased the defense budget and P-38s began to be produced in record numbers. During this period, Johnson truly mastered the art of manufacturing, streamlining production processes and developing an entirely new job: that of program manager.

The program manager, now a regular part of production, is someone lower in the chain of command who has operational control of a project. If it all seems a little heavy on business administration and a discussion about airplanes, consider this. Johnson believed that excellent airplanes designed and manufactured quickly were inevitably the product of a single visionary. That visionary used to be, of course, Johnson. He was not someone who believed in development by committee. He was also someone who hated long reports and usually limited any report sent to him to 20 pages. He believed in brevity, he believed in clarity, and he believed in giving people the tools they needed to get the job done.

In 1943, Lockheed put Johnson in charge of advanced product research and set him up on land outside Burbank, California. Johnson named his new kingdom Skunk Works, after the comic strip character, Little Abner, responsible for the production of a mysterious and powerful drink called Skunk Works. In the cartoon Little Abner, a powerful mysterious elixir was known as Kickapoo Joy Juice and the Kickapoo Joy Juice was made at Skunk Works or Skunk Works as it was called in the cartoon through a series of things that were thrown into a giant mix between They used old skunk shoes and things like that, and the nickname was applied to the Lockheed operation because it was actually a mysterious elixir.

No one was quite sure what was going on there, but they knew that a lot of stuff was thrown in there and that Kelly Johnson brought a lot of people together from different places to create something interesting. The mission of the Skunk Works was to quickly, cheaply, and secretly develop advanced aircraft that could help win the war. His first commission was the P-80 Shooting Star, the first American jet aircraft. Intelligence had determined that the Germans were far advanced in developing jet aircraft, and the Army Air Forces' not-so-secret fear was that the Nazis would deploy their planes in large numbers before the war in Europe ended. .

The effect on the Allied bombing campaign would have been terrible, the Allied propeller-driven fighters would have been almost useless against the jet fighters, Kelly Johnson uh... in her efforts to oversee these operations would have uh... attracted people. Far from other projects he would try to get a minimum of the best people and put them on the project, give them minimal supervision, but let them trust that they are capable of doing the jobs for which they have been selected. After setting up the skunk plant and recruiting his team, Johnson went to work on the P-80. Lockheed's contract with the Army Air Force gave it an incredibly short schedule, 180 days.

Johnson got to work on the design and sent his team to work on several critical paths and had the prototype ready for testing 37 days ahead of schedule. Within five months, Lockheed had designed and built the first American jet aircraft. It was transported from Burbank to Muroc Air Force Base in the California desert for testing. Fearing that there might be spies in the surrounding hills, they disguised the plane during transport with a plywood propeller. Johnson said years later that when he launched a new plane for testing, he had only one thing in mind. What have I forgotten?

In the case of the P-80, despite the short design and construction cycle, not much had been forgotten. It was a beautiful plane, faster and more agile than any other plane in the American arsenal. The war ended before it entered combat, but it evolved into the T-33, one of the best and longest-lived training aircraft in history. However, when the war ended, there were those who questioned whether skunk factories had any role to play. After World War I, the aviation industry had shrunk to near nonexistence. After World War II, many expected this to happen again. But there were two fundamental differences between the end of the war.

First, the United States was involved in the world after World War II in a way that it was not after World War I. No one could reasonably expect the world's only nuclear power to go into hibernation again. And secondly, before the war ended, it became clear that the postwar world would require a strong and ready military. Because the day the Japanese surrendered, the world was divided into two groups of allies. Those of the communist East, under the control of Joseph Stalin, and those of the democratic West. World War II was over, but the Cold War had barely begun.

Kelly Johnson and Skunk Works were on the verge of becoming the world's largest aircraft developers. During his career, Kelly Johnson designed more than 40 airplanes. By far its most productive period was the 1950s. It was a decade of enormous technological advances, achieved in an atmosphere of endless crisis, and there was no better place for aeronautical engineers to work than in factories. Johnson designed and built the Constellation, the most elegant aircraft of his time and which served effectively in both civil and military roles. He experimented unsuccessfully with vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with the idea that they could operate from relatively small ships.

He designed the F-104 Starfighter, at 1,300 miles per hour, the fastest aircraft ever flown at the time. At times it was a complicated plane to fly and at more than Mach 2 there was not much room for error. It was adapted around the world for a variety of difficult tasks, including transporting nuclear weapons. Johnson did not approve of all the changes others made to his plane, but he could do little about it. As the Cold War intensified, it became clear that the United States needed a way to look deep into Russian territory. East of the Ural Mountains, where the Russians conducted their nuclear research and developed their planes and missiles, the United States did not even have an accurate topographical map, much less a way to obtain information on military capabilities.

The Air Force issued a quiet request for a fast, high-altitude plane that could fly over Russia and bring back photographs of secret Communist bases. Johnson first toyed with modifying the F-104, but it lacked range and would be too difficult to fly long missions. In 1954, he sent the Air Force a proposal to build an airplane that could fly a distance of 4,000 miles above 70,000 feet. It would be slower than the Air Force expected, but at that altitude it would be well above Russian air defenses. The Air Force didn't believe Johnson could do it. They doubted that any jet engine could operate at that altitude and instead commissioned a competition among manufacturers to choose the best piping design.

President Eisenhower approved a $35 million contract with the winner of the contest. Johnson and his team at Skunk Works went into overdrive. In mid-November 1954 he met with the government advisory council on what was then called the CL-282 project. Ten days later, he formed the team to design the ship. On December 2, the first 12 engineers began designing the aircraft's systems and the first design drawings were completed and sent to the workshop for fabrication the next day. A week later, the drawings were complete and by the end of the year he had won the contract and frozen the design. Wind tunnel testing was completed in March and first flight took place on August 4, 1955.

In less than a year, from dream to first flight, Kelly Johnson and Skunk Works had designed and built a type of brand new plane. The U-2 had a sort of patched-up quality, to be sure. The first ones reduced weight by omitting the ejection seat, and the wing balance wheels fell off at takeoff to lose a few more kilos. Engineers were still making changes to the ship in the summer of 1956, when a young pilot named Francis GaryPowers saw his first U-2 parked on a taxiway at a secret base in Nevada. It wasn't built to last, he said years later.

Powers was among the pilots who flew spy missions over the heart of Russia in the U-2, and for years he was out of reach of the Soviets. The planes routinely returned with photographs showing Russian fighters four miles below them entering battle but unable to fly high enough to fire. However, over time the Russians improved their air defenses and when Powers was shot down in 1960, Johnson was already working on his next-generation spy plane. Johnson, where the U-2s flew with apparent impunity, had returned to the government to propose a plane that could fly 10,000 feet higher and four times faster than the subsonic U-2.

Johnson said years later that building an airplane that flew at Mach 3.2 was the most difficult thing Skunk Works had ever done. Everything about the plane, Johnson said, had to be invented. In 1960, the Air Force gave Johnson the go-ahead to develop the A-12, an aircraft that failed as an interceptor but paved the way for its slightly larger sibling, the SR-71 Blackbird. Constructed of titanium, which is lightweight and able to tolerate the 500-degree temperatures that built up as the plane tore through the atmosphere at more than three times the speed of sound, the Blackbirds looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

The launch was the day Johnson was most proud of. It was, he said, the smoothest test flight he had ever experienced. Johnson, who had never been much of a talker, insisted that he didn't mind not being able to talk about his perfect plane. If I can talk about it, it means it is outdated. But years later, when news of the SR-71 leaked and the Air Force stopped denying its existence, he reveled in his race from New York to London, a distance of nearly 3,500 miles in less than two hours. And before the Blackbirds were retired in March 1990, an SR-71 flew across the US coast in 68 minutes.

Kelly Johnson retired from Lockheed in 1975. Even then he was present at the skunk plant. His 14 rules for effective program management are gospel out there and are taught in some of the world's top business schools. Johnson even consulted with Lockheed during the development of the F-117 stealth fighter. Even as an old man he said that there would come a time when airplanes would no longer be relevant. People didn't want to travel for business, he said, because they could sit at their desks and talk to people in Europe on videophones. And on the battlefield, manned aircraft were no longer cost-effective in the missile era.

Even if it hasn't happened yet, don't bet against it. I think his greatest contribution was in the vision that he had for Skunk Works, Lockheed, American Aviation, and his ability to translate that vision into something that other people embraced, believed in, and wanted to work on. . By far his greatest contribution was his ability to get other people to commit to his dream. Kelly Johnson died shortly before Christmas in 1990. Aviation, the art of aviation, began with the dreamers, the inventors, and the daredevils who dared to defy gravity. The journey of aviation was fueled by pioneers like the Wright brothers, whose first flight marked a historic milestone.

The role of aircraft in the world wars was groundbreaking and drastically changed war strategies. This began a technological development in aviation that transformed the simplistic wings of a biplane into the thunderous roar of jet engines. Let's travel through the eras of aviation. Behind all the great planes there were great minds. These visionaries, like Sir Frank Whittle, the innovator of the turbojet engine, redefined air travel. Then there's Kelly Johnson of Skunk Works, the genius behind the SR-71 Blackbird. His designs combined speed, stealth and power, creating machines that dominated the skies. The contributions of these pioneers have left an indelible mark on the canvas of aviation, shaped the course of history, and inspired generations of engineers and aviators.

Each era in aviation history gave rise to extraordinary aircraft, each with its unique functions and roles. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a marvel of speed and stealth. The F-105 Thunderchief, a supersonic fighter-bomber, was vital in the Vietnam War. The P-51 Mustang, a long-range fighter, was essential in World War II. The P-47 Thunderbolt, a heavy fighter, was used extensively in the same war. The A-10 Thunderbolt II, Warthog, is an icon of close air support. The Messerschmitt ME-262 marked a leap forward in aviation technology. Each of these revolutionaries was instrumental in their times and their legacy still resonates today.

In addition to the game-changers, there are those who have transcended their practical roles to become icons. The Concorde was not just an airplane, it was a supersonic symbol of luxury and speed. The B-52 Stratofortress, a strategic bomber, is an icon of power and resilience. These magnificent machines and others like them have become much more than just airplanes. They are enduring icons that encapsulate the bold spirit, relentless innovation and limitless ambition that define the world of aviation. For more amazing aerial footage and to join us on this incredible journey, check out Dronescape's YouTube channel. If you liked this video remember to like and subscribe.

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