Posted on 10/30/2003 6:41:40 AM PST by BenLurkin
Legendary aircraft designer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson was a visionary not only in the exotic aircraft produced by his top-secret "Skunk Works," but in the environment he created to foster such works as the Blackbird family of aircraft.
"His way was to be quick, be quiet and be on time," said Rogers Smith, a former NASA research pilot who flew the SR-71.
Smith and fellow NASA research pilot Edward Schneider spoke about Johnson and his famed Blackbird at a recent Society of Experimental Test Pilots' symposium in Los Angeles.
"Kelly Johnson is my hero," Smith said. "He actually made 'better, faster, cheaper' work."
Johnson joined Lockheed Corp. in 1933, where he informed those already there the Electra airplane was not designed right. He took it upon himself to fix it.
"He was a tough guy all his life," Smith said.
The Skunk Works was born in 1943 when Johnson assembled a team of engineers behind closed doors to design and develop the P-80 Shooting Star, the Air Force's first truly operational jet fighter. Given a 180-day contract to complete the job, Johnson's team finished in 143 days.
Johnson continued his on-time, under-budget creed with later projects, including the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.
"One of the great bargains of all time in the aviation world is the U-2," Smith said.
Johnson's team built 26 of the aircraft on a 20-aircraft contract, and still came in $2 million under budget, Smith said. The revolutionary SR-71 came in $19 million under budget.
Johnson's projects succeeded due in large part to his leadership and the processes he developed and implemented.
His philosophy is summed up in his 14 rules, which have stood the test of time.
Among his rules is a single manager working with a small project office and limiting access to others. Adding to this tight control are monthly cost reviews and responsibility for vendors.
To keep the process simple, Johnson called for simplified drawing releases and a minimum number of reports.
Number 12, mutual trust, is "something that seems to be missing today," Smith said.
Topping it all off is number 14: "Reward good performance."
According to Smith and Schneider, today's aerospace development process has strayed from Johnson's ideal in that those in charge are more concerned with management - defined as doing things right - than leadership - defined as doing the right things.
Instead, developers today take the "Las Vegas approach," which gambles on getting it right the first time, with no contingencies for failure, even cost-effective ones.
Among the lessons that can be learned from Johnson's successes is to have the ability to adapt to situations as they arise.
Johnson also showed that projects work best with small, skilled teams of motivated people.
"You've got to get the right people, and they are the key to success," Smith said.
"Test early and often" should be the rule, as development is a discovery process, and one that should also learn from past history.
Perhaps the aircraft most closely associated with Johnson and his Skunk Works in the public's mind is the SR-71 Blackbird.
Now retired from service, the Blackbird fleet provided a high-speed - more than three times the speed of sound - and high-altitude reconnaissance platform for more than 25 years.
"It was done literally in the slide-rule age," before modern computers, Schneider said.
Following its Air Force duty, the SR-71 moved on to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base for use as a research aircraft. That is where Smith and Schneider gained their Blackbird piloting experience.
"It was a great ride," Schneider said. "SR crews describe the performance of the airplane as scintillating."
The SR-71 was designed especially for blistering speed, in order to outrace any defenders that might come after it.
"It is the only airplane I've ever flown at Mach 3.1 and would increase (the speed) to Mach 3.2 to save fuel," Schneider said. "The faster you go, the faster you can go, as long as you can handle the heat."
The speed of the SR-71 meant pilots had to pay close attention to flying the aircraft. While the views from nearly 80,000 feet could be spectacular - imagine seeing the Rocky and Cascade mountains at the same time - "looks out the window came in 10- to 15-second sneak peeks," he said.
I did not know that the SR-71 came in under budget. That is incredible, considering the technology and revolutionary design that went into that jet. Heck, we had to buy the titanium for it from the Russians because we didn't have enough in the U.S. (surreptitiously)!!
Working with ADP was the best job an engineer can have, IMNSHO, though I don't miss the security hoops.
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