Clarence L. Johnson - Kelly: More Than My Share of It All

Portrait of a reflective man: Clarence L. Kelly Johnson.

1985 by Smithsonian Institution
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging
in Publication Data

Johnson, Clarence L.
More than my share.

1. Johnson, Clarence L. 2. Aeronautical
engineersUnited StatesBiography.
3. Aeronautics, MilitaryResearchUnited
States. 4. Lockheed airplanes.
I. Smith, Maggie. II. Title.
UG626.2.J62A36 1985 629.13;00924
[B] 84-600316
eISBN: 978-1-58834-360-4
ISBN: 978-0-87474-564-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-0-87474-491-0 (pb)
This is an electronic edition (ISBN 978-1-58834-360-4) of the original cloth edition.

Book design by Christopher Jones

www.smithsonianbooks.com

v3.1

To Nancy

M ANY OF YOU , exclusive of true aviation buffs, who pick up this book may wonder who is Kelly Johnson? Simply to say that he is one of the most honored and highly successful aeronautical engineers, designers, and builders of aircraft of his or any other time is a fact that is only partially documented by some fifty awards and honors appended to this story. Webster defines genius as extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity. Though Kelly would deny it, the description fits him to a T.

Aviation, however, is not all or perhaps even the most important element of this story. It is an essential ingredient and backdrop to the unique and insightful story of the man himself that covers a broad spectrum of interest to a wide range of readers. While the story is understated, the reader should be aware of the engineers penchant for letting the facts, without emphasis or embellishment, speak for themselves.

I first met Kelly in September of 1945, and later had the distinct pleasure, privilegeand educationof working with him and the Skunk Works on an almost daily basis for eleven-plus years from 1955 through 1966. This carried us from almost the inception of the U-2, which incidentally was one of the great bargains the American taxpayer ever realized, to the YF-12, the interceptor that should have been built but wasnt, and the first four years of the SR-71, the almost unbelievable Black Birdamong other projects. It was a unique and productive experience for me and most regrettably one that may never be repeated for this country. Simply put, Kellys real legacy is not nearly so much what he has accomplished, but much more how it was done. That is, generally outsideand in many cases in spite ofthe so-called regular system.

The U-2 and SR-71 are two examples of Skunk Works programs that came in on schedule and under contract costs. Still, despite disclaimers, the Skunk Works, Kellys brainchildonce described by Sen. Sam Nunn as a truly unique national asset and former Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard as a national treasureto all intents and purposes has ceased to exist. This is an inexcusable and needless loss for the American taxpayer. Thoughtful readers will question the why of this, as well they should.

This and a great deal more is here in the story of an extraordinary man who certainly has had more than his share of it all.

Leo P. Geary

Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.)

Denver, Colo., 1984

C LARENCE L. KELLY JOHNSON is the designer of the worlds highest-performance aircraftthe big bold Blackbirds, the SR-71 and YF-12that were flying secretly at three times the speed of sound while other experts still were insisting that it was not feasible; and the graceful, glider-like U-2, which can attain altitudes admitted to be above 80,000 feet.

He designed Americas first operational jet fighter, the F-80 Shooting Star. His dramatic twin-boomed P-38 Lightning fighter-interceptor of World War II was the first aircraft to encounter the phenomenon of compressibility as the wings leading edge built up supersonic air turbulence. He has contributed to the design of more than 40 aircraft, more than half being his original design.

He holds every aircraft design award in the industry, some for the second and third time: the National Medal of Science; the National Security Medal; and the Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor the President of the United States can bestow.

His Skunk Works at Lockheedmore formally, Advanced Development Projectsis recognized worldwide as unique in its record for turning out breakthrough designs in minimal time and with maximum security. Be quick, be quiet, be on time, are Kellys watchwords.

When the Russians in 1960 exhibited to the public in Red Square the wreckage of the aircraft they billed as the U-2 in which they had downed Francis Gary Powers, Kellys response to press query when shown the photo was typically direct and dramatic: Hell, no, the aircraft designer barked. Thats no U-2.

With wife Nancy Johnson, during 1983s presentation by President Ronald Reagan of the National Security Medal.

The Russians had downed the U-2, untouchable for years at its high altitude on reconnaissance flights over Russian territory; but Kelly blew their act. A designer who went into the factory and participated in every phase of design and development as well as production, he recognized immediately that the mangled parts the Russians had displayed were not from any U-2.

Controversy is nothing new to this much honored engineer.

In his first day as a just-graduated engineer on the job that was to last 44 years, he told his employers that the new, all-metal aircraft with which they planned to challenge the air transport field was unstable! While such instability was commonly accepted in aircraft of the 1930s, the young engineer stubbornly refused to accede to the view of the professors with whom he had performed wind tunnel tests on the model at the University of Michigan. They were willing to accept the imperfections. Kelly was not. He was right, of course. The reworked result was the first in the long line of twin-tailed Lockheed transports that would make the companys name known around the world in the 1930s and 40s. This characteristic behavior soon earned him the nickname, the Old Goat, among the Lockheed engineering staff.

Kelly always held to his principles.

He advised the U.S. Navy in the early 50s that a vertically-rising aircraft for which his company had a development contract was unsafe, with the limited engine power then available, and should be abandoned.

He refused to go ahead with a hydrogen-powered aircraftahead of its time in the late 50sand he turned back a development contract after initial work indicated the plane would be a wide-bodied dog, in the words of his successor at ADP.

He returned to the U.S. government approximately $2 million saved on the $20 million U-2 contract, having produced an extra six aircraft for the same money intended to cover 20 aircraft.

I have known what I wanted to do ever since I was 12, Johnson says.

Now officially retired, he continues in an advisory capacity at Lockheed, where he maintains an office in the Skunk Works. He still works to a busy schedule, though not always now beginning at his once customary 6 a.m., the better to communicate with East Coast military offices operating with a three-hour headstart.