And pocket protector. And Scotch tape on eyeglass frames. TR
---------------------------------------- *From: *RWM--- via Mifnet <[email protected]> *To: *[email protected] *CC: *[email protected] <[email protected]> *Date: *2026-05-19T12:01:34Z *Subject: *[Mifnet đ° 76229] Re: This looks like an interesting read > In the pencil, paper, and slide rule era. > > - Bob Mann > > Office contact: +1-516-944-0900 > >> On May 19, 2026, at 07:35, Kathryn Creedy via Mifnet >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> ï»ż >> The storied life of Kelly Johnson. >> >> Cheers -- kathryn >> >> >> 1. >> Books >> 2. [https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books?mod=breadcrumb]Bookshelf >> [https://www.wsj.com/news/types/bookshelf?mod=breadcrumb]Follow >> *âThe Impossible Factoryâ Review: Reconnaissance at 70,000 Feet* >> >> *The U-2 stopped flying over Russia after one was shot down in 1960. But the >> plane remained an asset for U.S. intelligence.* >> >> >> By Mark Yost >> Updated May 18, 2026 5:17 pm ET >> 16 >> [https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-impossible-factory-review-reconnaissance-at-70-000-feet-b29c89c8?mod=itp_wsj&mod=djemITP_h#comments_sector]---------------------------------------- >> Gift unlocked article >> ---------------------------------------- >> Listen >> (7 min) >> [Image] >> >> On May 1, 1954, the Soviet Union unveiled a new bomber, the Myasishchev M-4 >> Hammer. It was a plane the U.S. knew almost nothing about, other than it >> could carry nuclear weapons. With human intelligence almost impossible from >> inside Russia, there was only one thing to do: The U.S. had to build a spy >> plane that could fly over the Soviet Union at 70,000 feet, above air >> defenses, take high-resolution photos of military installations, and do so >> without being detected. The result was the U-2 spy plane. >> >> GRAB A COPY >> >> The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the >> Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine >> >> [Image] >> >> This and other secret projects are detailed in Josh Deanâs âThe Impossible >> Factory.â Mr. Deanâwhose other books include âThe Taking of K-129,â about a >> CIA plot to steal a Russian submarineâfollows the career of Kelly Johnson, >> an engineer at Lockheed Martin, through the clandestine world of top-secret >> and groundbreaking weapons development. >> >> Born Clarence Johnson in Michiganâs Upper Peninsula in 1910, Johnson studied >> aeronautics at the University of Michigan and spent time in wind tunnels >> learning about locomotive and automobile design. After earning his >> bachelorâs and masterâs degrees, he headed to California and landed a job at >> Lockheed. Rising quickly, Johnson oversaw the development of Howard Hughesâs >> Constellation, a plane that revolutionized commercial air travel with >> hydraulically assisted power controls, a pressurized cabin that allowed the >> aircraft to fly at 20,000 feetâabove most weatherâand a top speed of 350 >> miles an hour. >> >> Next up was the P-38 Lightning, one of the most successful fighter planes of >> World War II. Johnson was the one who came up with the idea for flaps to fix >> the planeâs wobble and potential crashing during high-speed dives. He also >> headed up the team for the experimental XP-80, an early American jet built >> in response to the Nazisâ Messerschmitt Me 262. It was on this project that >> the company first used the term Skunk Works to describe, in Mr. Deanâs >> words, âa thriving, rapidly iterating division that rewrote rules for >> design, for management, and for doing business; that trained many of the >> centuryâs most audacious aerospace engineers; and that created both the >> fastest plane ever flown and the stealth fighter.â >> >> It was exactly this kind of outfit that the U.S. needed to build the U-2, >> which was developed for the CIA, not the Air Force, because President Dwight >> D. Eisenhower worried that a military aircraft violating Soviet airspace >> would be seen as an act of war. >> >> In December 1954 Johnson assembled a small team of âskunksâ to begin work on >> this new high-altitude reconnaissance plane. In an early 23-page memo, >> Johnson described the aircraft he called the Angel (because it was going to >> fly so high). As Mr. Dean tells us, it âwould have a maximum speed of Mach >> 0.8 (460 knots) in level flight, a ceiling of 73,100 feetâan absurd altitude >> that had only been reached at this point by research balloons and a few >> highly experimental one-off aircraft,â to be âdelivered to an >> as-yet-unchosen test siteâ by Dec. 1, 1955. (That site, conspiracy theorists >> will be happy to know, was Area 51.) >> >> The U-2 flew its first mission over Soviet airspace on July 4, 1956. Johnson >> estimated that â95% of our hard information on the missiles in Russia came >> from the take of that plane.â Learning that the Soviets werenât as capable >> as weâd thought lowered global tensions. >> >> In 1960 a U-2 was shot down over Russia. Francis Gary Powers, the pilot, was >> captured by the Soviets and for two years was used as a Cold War bargaining >> chip. The U-2 stopped flying missions over Russia as a result, but, we are >> told, its âutility as an intelligence platform continued to be an asset for >> the CIA and the U.S. military.â It provided valuable intelligence in October >> 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, confirming that the Russians were, >> indeed, building missile bases there. >> >> By the time Powersâs U-2 was shot down, Johnson was already on to his next >> project, the even more successful SR-71 Blackbirdâanother high-altitude >> reconnaissance planeâthat flew higher, faster and farther than the U-2. >> >> The biggest challenge with the SR-71âthe best-known version of the A12âweâre >> told, was the heat generated when flying faster than 2,000 mph (roughly Mach >> 3). The skin of the plane would need to withstand temperatures up to 800 >> degrees Fahrenheit at top speed, and zero degreesâthe external >> temperatureâwhen the plane came to lower altitudes and slower speeds. >> Johnson and his team chose to build the planeâs exterior with titanium, but >> that was a problem, too. The worldâs largest producer of titanium was the >> Soviet Union, and the Soviets werenât about to sell the material to the U.S. >> to build a plane to spy on them. âThe CIA used a network of shell companies, >> working through Third World countries, to purchase the ore,â Mr. Dean >> writes. âAccording to one former pilot, the Soviets thought they were >> selling these large quantities for the manufacture of pizza ovens.â >> >> When they werenât battling the Soviets, Johnson and his team were battling >> the Pentagon bureaucracy. With the SR-71, the Air Force, taking over >> high-altitude reconnaissance from the CIA, insisted that markings and >> insignias be painted on the all-black planeâa ridiculous request. Mr. Dean >> recounts Johnsonâs objection: âThe surface of the Blackbird at Mach 3 >> reached 600 degrees, which,â as Johnson pointed out, âis roughly the >> temperature of an oven broiler. Paint a piece of metal and put it in the >> broiler,â Johnson and his chief thermodynamicist told the bureaucrats. âSee >> what happens to the paint.â >> >> Many in the Defense Department didnât realize that Johnsonâs streamlined, >> entrepreneurial management style at the Skunk Works was the reason it >> produced results, often at lower costs than other more-audited defense >> programs. As Mr. Dean points out, in the age of sky-high weapons prices and >> cost-overruns, each U-2 cost less than $1 million, or about $12 million >> today. >> >> As Gen. Leo Geary of the Air Force Special Projects Office later said, every >> one of the Skunk Works projects overseen by Johnson operated outside the >> usual Pentagon procurement process and thus had âtwo things in common. All >> were eminently successful and all were done outside the system. Now, if that >> doesnât tell us something, I donât know what does. This is the legacy that >> Kelly has really left us.â >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> Kathryn Creedy >> PHONE # 321 405 4395 >> US-Eastern Time Zone >> *Visit me on LinkedIn[https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbcreedy/] * >> <image007.gif> >> * >> * >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Revised: 20250507 >> >> You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. >> >> The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't >> exactly cost-free. 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