Kelly Johnson is known for a lot of things. He was the lead designer on several of Lockheed’s greatest aircraft in the Cold War, as well as being the first leader of Lockheed’s infamous Skunk Works division.
His work was instrumental in preventing a Soviet win during the Cold War. His work thrust the aviation industry several decades into the future, going from traveling only a couple of hundred miles per hour to several times the speed of sound!
Before Lockheed
Kelly Johnson was born on February 27 1910 in Ishpeming, Michigan, a remote mining town. His parents were Swedish immigrants from Malmo. His father, ran a construction company and his mother was a homemaker.
He was one of seven children, as well as the child of an immigrant, finances were naturally quite tight. This taught Johnson to be hard working as well as to conserve cash- both things that would serve him well at Lockheed.
At the age of only 13, Johnson was designing his own aircraft. One of these designs won him a prize of several hundred dollars. Many of these designs later influenced Johnson’s designs at Lockheed.
In 1928, Johnson graduated from Flint Central High School. Following his graduation, he enrolled at Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College) where he graduated a few years later.
Following his graduation from Flint Junior College, Johnson enrolled at the University of Michigan. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering and later a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
As a child, he was bullied due to his name being “Clarence”. Other boys used to gang up on him and call him “Clara”. One day, he got tired of being called “Clara” and tripped one of the other boys, breaking his leg.
He told this boy that his was not “Clara” and if he persisted, he do it again. From that day on, the boy and his friends stopped calling him “Clara”, instead calling him “Kelly” after a popular song at the time.
Lockheed
Whilst at University, Johnson helped out on the wind tunnel testing of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Lockheed’s answer to the Boeing 247. He did this in the hopes of earning a little money as well as a job after university.
During one of the wind tunnel tests, Johnson discovered a flaw with the Electra’s directional stability. His professor told him it was negligible and chose to only report the positives to Lockheed.
Following his graduation in 1933, Johnson was offered and subsequently took a job at Lockheed. This job was as a tool designer, earning $83 ($1,600) per month. However, he didn’t remain as a tool designer for long…
Shortly following this, Kelly Johnson met Hall Hibbard. Here, he managed to convince him that the Model 10 was unstable, with Johnson leading the tail’s redesign. Due to this, the Model 10 was a major success.
Hall Hibbard told the Lockheed management about Johnson’s contributions. As such, by the end of 1933, Lockheed promoted Johnson to Aeronautical Engineer, before becoming the chief research engineer in 1938.
In 1952, Johnson became the chief engineer of Lockheed’s plant in Burbank, California. In 1956, he became Vice President of the Research and Development division, where he was the lead designer on several aircraft.
Skunk Works
In 1958, Kelly Johnson was appointed the Vice President of Advanced Development Projects (ADP). This was Lockheed’s secretive division, designing the aircraft of the future.
The ADP offices stank of plastic- due to the nearby plastic factory. This resulted in Irv Culver, answering the internal phone lines as “Skonk Works” in reference to a comic strip in the local newspaper.
Eventually, the local newspaper caught on to that name. As such, the Lockheed management ordered Kelly Johnson to rename the division to “Skunk Works” in order to avoid legal issues.
Here, Johnson became the lead engineer on several of Skunk Works most successful and futuristic projects. Johnson worked on almost all of Lockheed’s jet aircraft between the 1950’s and 1970’s.
In the later years, many of these aircraft were to do with the concept of stealth. Johnson contributed much to the early stealth designs of the F-117 and SR-71, as well as the high altitude spy plane, the U-2.
Johnson also helped on the construction of several air bases during his time at the Skunk Works, most notably, the one at Groom Lake, Nevada, now known as Area 51. Here, the SR-71, F-117 and U-2 were all tested by the US military.
For his work in the Skunk Works division, Lockheed promoted Johnson to its board of directors in 1964, where he’d serve until 1980. In 1969, Johnson was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President for his work.
Johnson officially retired from Lockheed in 1975, where he was succeeded by his close friend, Ben Rich. Despite this, Johnson spent a lot of his free time consulting on new Lockheed aircraft, until his death in 1990.
Aircraft
Between 1933 and 1975, Johnson worked on most of Lockheed’s aircraft. Although, he contributed the most to:
P-38 Lightning
During the 1930’s, Lockheed, as with most other aircraft manufacturers, strived to make faster and more agile aircraft. In February 1937, the US Army Air Corps wanted a fighter-bomber that didn’t require a fighter escort.
Lockheed tasked Johnson with creating the perfect fighter-bomber that would decimate the German and Japanese forces. Johnson delivered an aircraft that could travel faster than 400 km/h, with a superior range.
However, this wasn’t easy, especially given the role and the other specifications the P-38 needed to have. Johnson borrowed the idea of the design from the German Focke-Wulf Fw 189 as well as the Northrop P-61.
Johnson also pushed the limits of service ceilings at the time, giving it a service ceiling of 44,000 ft, one of the highest for any aircraft. This was all in an era before pressurization, meaning it was very chilly.
This aircraft later became one of the best aircraft of WWII, flying the longest sortie in the entire war. Both Imperial Japanese Navy and Luftwaffe pilots were afraid of this aircraft due to its incredible speed.
On one of these sorties, a P-38 attacked a Japanese Navy air convoy. Due to the P-38’s incredible speed and maneuverability, one of these P-38s shot down the aircraft carrying Isoroku Yamamoto, killing him.
Constellation / C-121C
Following the success of the P-38, Lockheed tasked Kelly Johnson with working on a family of airliners that could replace the earlier Lockheed Model 18 Lodestars. This airliner would go on to be one of Lockheed’s most successful projects.
In 1939, TWA, at the behest of Howard Hughes, commissioned Lockheed to build an airliner that was faster than anything on the market. This airliner also had to fly 3,500 mi (5,600 km), well beyond the capabilities of any aircraft in 1939.
Using what Johnson had pioneered on the P-38, especially speed, Johnson led a group of engineers, including the famous Hall Hibbard and Willis Hawkins. The result was an airliner better than Howard Hughes could’ve asked for.
The Constellation was the first aircraft with pressurization, which made the cabin much quieter. This also enabled the Constellation to fly higher, and therefore faster than most contemporary aircraft.
Following Eisenhower becoming president, he chose two Lockheed Constellations to enter service as the first ever “Air Force One“. This certainly helped Johnson’s career and reputation in the industry.
Lockheed elected not to enter the jet airliner market following the introduction of the first jet airliners. Instead, Johnson was tasked with developing new military aircraft.
F-104 Starfighter
The Korean War saw first generation F-86 Sabres and MiG-15s fighting one another. Lockheed wanted to find out what pilots wanted for a second generation jet fighter. As such, they sent Johnson to South Korea to ask.
Johnson found that most F-86 pilots believed that the MiG-15 was superior. This was because the F-86 was more complex and larger than the MiG-15, which made it harder to operate during dogfights.
The majority of the F-86 pilots wanted an aircraft that was much simpler, smaller and was faster than contemporary Soviet jets. When Johnson returned to the US, he began working on a jet to fit what the F-86 pilots wanted.
Johnson designed the F-104 to be both faster and simpler than the previous generation of jet fighters. This aircraft also flew higher than any other jet before it. Just what the F-86 pilots had asked for.
Upon introduction, the F-104 was used in large quantities, to supplement the North American F-100 in USAF service. The F-104 was first introduced in 1958, and served until 2008, one of the longest of any aircraft!
Due to Johnson designing the F-104 to be better than any other aircraft, many other countries were interested in the F-104. At one point in time, the F-104 was operated by 15 different militaries.
U-2
The attack on Pearl Habour by the Japanese in 1941 took the US by surprise. After WWII, the Germans were no longer the enemy, but the US was skeptical of the Soviets. As such, they wanted an aircraft that could spy on them.
Lockheed tasked Kelly Johnson with designing an aircraft that fit the specifications laid out by the US military. Almost all major US aircraft manufacturers submitted designs to the US military.
One of the main specifications for the aircraft was its height. Due to Johnson’s previous experiences pushing how high an aircraft could fly, Johnson worked extensively on pushing the aircraft’s service ceiling.
By the end of it, Johnson and his team had designed the aircraft that would become the U-2. This aircraft could fly at 80,000 ft (24,000 m), far out of the reach of Soviet radars and interceptors of the time.
Initially the USAF didn’t like the design (mostly because Lockheed submitted it without asking for it). However, the US military was pressured into the sale by the CIA who preferred the aircraft for their own missions.
Although initially hesitant, the USAF grew to rely on the U-2, eventually becoming an almost indestructible tool. All because Johnson had designed the U-2 to fly higher than any other jet in history!
SR-71 Blackbird
Following the introduction of the U-2, both the USAF and CIA loved the aircraft. However, the 1960 U-2 incident highlighted to the USAF and CIA that the U-2 wasn’t invincible and needed something to prevent that.
Arming U-2s wasn’t an option- this would decrease the service ceiling of the U-2 and make it easier for Soviet radars to detect. As such, the CIA contracted Lockheed to develop a new, undetectable spy plane.
Lockheed contracted Johnson, then head of Lockheed Skunk Works, to develop the U-2s replacement. Johnson soon realized that arming the aircraft was nearly impossible, so chose another route: speed.
Johnson and his team developed the A-12 for the CIA. During the 1964 Presidential Election, Republican Barry Goldwater and Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson were having a televised debate.
Here, Goldwater accused Lyndon Johnson of allowing the Soviets to out compete the US. As such, LBJ decided to reveal the A-12 program and the fact that the USAF was implementing a variant of the A-12, called the SR-71.
Kelly Johnson had designed the fly higher than the U-2, at 85,000 ft (26,000 m). Instead of giving the SR-71 weapons, Johnson designed the SR-71 to travel at Mach 3.32, making it the fastest aircraft ever.
Other Works
Kelly Johnson worked on several of Lockheed’s projects between the 1930’s and the 1980’s. He worked on almost all of Lockheed’s projects in this time, either as an engineer, consultant or was the lead engineer.
Some of his not so famous works include:
- Model 9D Orion
- Model 10 Electra
- Model 12 Electra Junior
- Model 14 Super Electra
- Model 18 Lodestar
- PV-1 Ventura
- F-80 Shooting Star
- T-33
- TV-2
- P2V Neptune
- XF-90
- F-94 Starfire
- X-7
- F-104 Starfighter
- F-117A Nighthawk
- C-130 Hercules
- Lockheed JetStar/C-140
Management Style
During the 1960’s, the US Navy implemented something now known as the KISS principles. This principle, an acronym of “Keep It Simple Stupid” was pioneered by Johnson at Lockheed.
With many Lockheed aircraft entering service with the US military, engineers used it with test pilots, who then taught US Navy pilots. This subsequently became used throughout the US Navy and US military in general.
Johnson lived by the simple motto: “Be quick, be quiet, and be on time.” This influenced his management style at Lockheed, which was subsequently adopted by several other members of the Lockheed management.
Many of these people subsequently became executives at Lockheed Martin. Many of the principles that Johnson implemented have since become a standard in the industry, and for Lockheed Martin in particular.
Johnson ran the Skunk Works with what was known as “Kelly’s 14 Rules“. These were based on Johnson’s personal work ethics and experiences. These were so successful that Skunk Works still use them today.
The main tenants of his management are: efficiency; reliability and cost-effectiveness. By that, his employees should never delay a contract, or overrun on costs, and/or never deliver a product that is subpar.
Awards
Kelly Johnson spent over 50 years in the industry, designing some of the worlds most ambitious aircraft. Naturally, Johnson received his fair share of awards for these designs.
In total, Johnson was awarded a whopping 52 awards! Whilst this works out at just over one a year for his entire career, naturally, some years were better than others. In 1964, Johnson was awarded 6 awards, and five in 1965.
Johnson’s work awarded him almost every major aviation award possible. He has received the Collier Trophy twice, for his works on the YF-12 (a variant of the SR-71) and the F-117 Nighthawk.
In 1940, the Society of American Engineers (now SAE) awarded Johnson the Wright Brothers Medal. 35 years later, in 1975, Johnson was awarded the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for his service to military aircraft design.
Johnson has been awarded the Theodore von Karman Award, twice, for his aircraft designs. In 1970 Johnson was awarded the Spirit of St. Louis Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Since his death, Johnson has frequently been called one of the most influential aviators of the 20th century. Outlets that have called him this include: International Aviation HQ, Aviation Week and Flying Magazine.
Legacy
Kelly Johnson left an impact on both Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) and aircraft design. These include:
Lockheed
Kelly Johnson had spent his entire career working for Lockheed. Nearing the time of his retirement, Johnson was a legend at Lockheed, with people dying to having a conversation with him.
In 1983, Lockheed formally recognized Johnson’s 50 years of service to the company. The Lockheed Rye Canyon Research and Development Center in Santa Clarita was renamed, the Kelly Johnson Research and Development Center in his honor.
In 1995, Lockheed merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin, the present incarnation of the company. A lot of Lockheed Martin’s company slang has its origins with Johnson, or are about his impeccable skills.
Many of the specialized sub-divisions in the Skunk Works that Johnson set up during the 1960’s and 1970’s are still going strong. Many of these sub-divisions are working on Lockheed Martin’s next generation fighters!
Aircraft Design
Johnson is perhaps best known for his contributions to aircraft design. You could argue, that without Kelly Johnson, there might not have been stealth aircraft, and if there were, at least not to the level available today.
Whilst at Lockheed, Johnson pioneered stealth technology, with some claiming he invented it. Today, Lockheed Martin is still at the forefront of stealth technology, mostly due to Johnson’s earlier work.
Johnson’s work on the Constellation was stored for several years, until Lockheed decided to develop the L-1011 TriStar. Although it was a commercial failure, it was a technological marvel.
Many of the systems Johnson pioneered on the Constellation were refined on the L-1011. Today, these are commonplace on almost all airliners, including those designed by both Airbus and Boeing.
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