Read Online Skunk Works A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed Audible Audio Edition Ben R Rich Leo Janos Pete Larkin Hachette Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 12 hours and 8 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Hachette Audio Audible.com Release Date July 14, 2015 Language English, English ASIN B011M8DBI6

Skunk Works A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed Audible Audio Edition Ben R Rich Leo Janos Pete Larkin Hachette Audio Books Reviews

• A fabulous accounting of, not only the development of the F-117 Stealth fighter, but also the extensive history and details surrounding the U-2 high Altitude photo recon flyer, as well as the SR-71 Blackbird. Lots of anecdotes, as well as personal observations by actual pilots and high government officials, regarding the efficacy and impact of these revolutionary aircraft. If you have any interest in the behind-the-scenes development of bleeding-edge technology, this book is a gem. I read it when it first came out, and finally realized I could no longer locate my original copy, so, I purchased this replacement. It was everything I remembered. Contains some good black and white photos, as well as enough numbers to be impressive. (SR-71 on it's final Record-setting flight, covered the entire the continental US with a single, continuous, sonic boom).
  Primarily focusing on the F-117 Stealth, it has sizable portions devoted to the U-2, and the SR-71 Mach 3 Spy Planes. Truly incredible developments in the World of Aviation.
  A great read.
• Mr. Rich gives a unique perspective on the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunkworks and it's equally legendary manager. From the narrative you get a really good feel for the culture of the place and why it was so successful. My goal in reading this book was to get practical tips for building successful teams and I think I got some ideas
  (1) Eliminate bureaucracy
  (2) Prefer having a small with high average talent to a larger less talented team
  (3) Make sure different functions are physically next to each and communicate incessantly
  (4) Shield the team from external pressure
  (5) Challenge the team with "impossible" problems that get talented people excited.
  
  These are all things that can help a small talented team far outperform a larger team with a much bigger budget.
• The author of the book,Ben Rich led the Skunk Works design team after Clarence Kelly Johnson retired in 1975. Ben talks about the development of Have Blue which would later become the F-117 Nighthawk or the Stealth Fighter. The book also talks about the U-2 spy plane and its being shot down over the Soviet Union. It also tells how Clarence Kelly Johnson gave Francis Gary Powers, the pilot shot down in the U-2 incident, a job at Lockheed working on the U-2, which Powers accepted. The next plane that is talked about in length is the famous SR-71 Blackbird and its development. To date, the SR-71 is the only air breathing jet plane to have flown at Mach 3 speeds. Sure,the X-15 was faster but the X-15 used rocket propulsion instead of jet power The D-21 drone is also talked about briefly. The D-21 was a drone built by Lockheed to be launched from a modified A-12 but this was scrapped after one of the drones collided with the mothership M-21 at launch, causing the loss of the drone, aircraft, and one of the two crew. The project was later revived and the D-21 would be launched from B-52 bombers but it was cancelled again because of lack of success as no drones were recovered with their photographs. The book talks briefly about the Sea Shadow. The Sea Shadow was a ship built by Lockheed to determine how to develop stealth for a ship. The book has events in Ben's life like the passing of Kelly Johnson as well as the passing of Ben's wife Faye. Ben Rich died in 1995 of cancer but the Skunk Works still lives on today. This book is a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about the Skunk Works, its people and the aircraft it created
• SO. GOOD. As an engineer, I found this book to be fascinating. It's basically a narrative about several skunk works projects like the U-2 and F117 interspersed with tons of insane and interesting side stories by people involved (mostly test pilots).
  
  Here's one example. One engineer was formulating a new fuel for the U-2 that would work in the high altitude engine. The fuel was called LF something or other, and there was a running joke that that stood for "Lighter Fluid" due to it's awful smell. Chemically it was actually more similar to one of the main ingredients in the bug spray "Flit", which was popular at the time. The year they put the (still very top-secret) U2 into service, there was an unexplained nationwide shortage of bug-spray.
• "Skunk Works" is the popular moniker of Lockheed Martin's top, top secret aircraft aircraft program for the US government. This book is written by the second director of this program, Ben Rich. The book's primary focus is the U-2, F-117A, and last but not least the SR-71. A ship for the Navy, and a drone program are briefly covered also. Ben Rich is credited for developing and building "stealth" into military assets. Primarily aircraft. After Francis Gary Powers was shot down piloting a U-2 over Soviet Russia, it quickly became apparent that a faster, higher flying and stealthy aircraft was needed. Hence the SR-71. It can travel in the atmosphere at a height of nearly 90,000 feet. It can cruise at well over Mach 3, and has a Radar profile of about a ball-bearing (thus "Stealthy"). This book is fascinating and gives you a first-person account of these extraordinary aircraft. The F-117 flew over the center of Baghdad, without fighter escorts; and dropped 2,000 lb. bombs during the Iraq war. The U-2 is the only one out of the three that is still flying missions. As a matter of fact, a U-2 just recently crashed in California.