Reading
I never liked to read as a child, and I never read much when I was enlisted. It wasn’t until I started thinking about commissioning that I started to read seriously. I don’t know if there is a direct correlation between the two but I assume there was. Reading is what helped me expand my thinking. When I started reading I began to realize that the world was larger than myself. I realized there are countless books out there filled with priceless knowledge, and all I had to do is reach out and grasp it. It was likely this revelation which helped me realize becoming an officer was the direction I needed to pursue.
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed
Several months ago I read the book Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos. Ben Rich was the director of Lockheed’s Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991. Skunk Works was Lockheed’s dedicated organization which created many top secret projects at the time such as the Lockheed U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 Nighthawk. It was a fascinating and informative read. Here are three things I liked about the book.
On a similar side-note, here is a funny account narrated by a SR-71 Blackbird pilot, Major Brian Shul, USAF (Ret.)
Personal
I love reading memoirs because they are personal. For the same reason that I want this blog to have a personal touch, I appreciate when authors share their personal account of their own life experiences. A man by the name of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was the Vice President of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects (ADP) in 1958. ADP became the “The Skunk Works” and became famous in the aerospace industry for consistently developing breaking edge aircraft. After Johnson retired in 1975 he was succeeded by the author Ben Rich, but remained at the Skunk Works as a consultant.
By the time Rich took over, Kelly Johnson was a legend in the aerospace industry. Johnson took a very old-school approach to his leadership and it was evident in how he led the Skunk Works until he retired. The book described a very interesting dynamic of how Rich kept the organization on the breaking edge of technology while evolving it from the old-school way of thinking. Rich explained how there were fundamental principles of Kelly’s that he didn’t change, while other aspects he had to change due to the evolving political culture. He concludes the book by describing a touching account of his friendship with Kelly and how the aerospace industry subtly thanked Kelly for what he did.
Engineering
I have worked with civilian engineers in the Air Force for about ten years. The programs I have been involved with have been in the latter stages of their life-cycle; it was my job as an operator to keep them running by clicking the buttons and opening work orders when something broke. As a space guy I am much closer to the development stages of the programs I am involved with. Instead of just keeping them running, I play a very small role in finalizing the development to make the end product better for the final stages of the program. The Skunk Works was (and still is) at the opposite side of the spectrum. They were the ones who took an idea, developed it into a plan, created a prototype, and produced the final product. For me personally, it was fascinating to discover how this worked.
To make it even better, Rich led the Skunk Works when the aerospace industry was still in the prime of technological development. This was during the cold war when advances such as stealth technology or breaking edge reconnaissance aircraft were crucial to maintaining the military advantage. Rich explains how projects were conceived and the role each engineer played in the development of complex projects. He further explained some of the challenges they faced with the Lockheed U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 Nighthawk programs, and how they overcame them.
I perceived his account of the period as every engineer’s dream; it was a time free from government bureaucracy. The Skunk Works were given a general contract and they were free to develop the project as they saw fit. Engineers would shape the sheet metal and weld it together in an attempt to fine tune the efficiency of the aircraft. At the higher level, Skunk Works had a reputation of meeting their deadlines. If they failed to deliver on a project, they returned the government’s money. It was filled with refreshing examples of government contracts which worked vs. the horror stories you hear about today. As I advance in my own career and will likely play a role in future Air Force programs, it was an invaluable perspective.
Technological Advantage
While the Skunk Works was on the breaking edge of aerospace technology, they were in the unique position to provide aircraft which were key to U.S. advantage during the cold war. It was fascinating to see the relationship between a contractor and the different branches of our government. For example, after the Skunk Works built state of the art aircraft, politics was often involved at the presidential level to determine how they were used. In the case of the Lockheed U-2, the primary customer was initially the CIA. For the SR-71 Blackbird, the primary customer was the Air Force. It was interesting to hear stories about how this panned out at the highest levels of our government. It was also interesting to hear about the role of the Air Force with intelligence gathering missions. If a spy plane was constructed to collect intelligence over foreign soil, who should fly it? The Air Force flies planes, does that mean the missions should be flown by Air Force pilots? Or should they just train CIA pilots? These are all questions I never thought about before I read the book.
Audible
I typically live about 30-45 minutes from base which means I spend a lot of time commuting. One of the ways I occupy my time is by listening to audiobooks. I know I said I started “reading” books but to be honest, most of the books I have read in the past few years have been by listening to the audiobook.
I’ll probably do a dedicated post on Audible, but for now I will take a second to note that I did indeed listen to the Audible version of this audiobook. The person who narrates the book can make or break an audiobook. This book was narrated by Pete Larkin, and he did a great job capturing the emotion behind the stories written by Rich. Here are the Audible links:
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
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