A great article, thanks for posting!
And for the less informed who might stumble across this thread, Kelly Johnson went on to design the famous U-2 reconnisance plane, which provided the U.S. with the capability to overfly the Soviet Union in the late 1950’s with near impunity (although the late Francis Gary Powers might take issue with that claim), and I believe it was a U-2 that provided the U.S. with proof of Soviet missiles in Cuba in ‘62.
And of course it was a team of P-38 fighters that took out Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, just our way of saying “sayonara Isoroku, and thanks.”
I hope this P-38 makes it back to the U.S. and to a full restoration.
Johnson also designed the SR-71 Blackbird before retiring and turning the Skunk Works over to Ben Rich.
"Pop goes the weasel."
The high altitude U-2 photos lacked the detail to definitively prove that the Soviets were installing missiles in Cuba. The definitive proof was provided by Marine Corps and Navy pilots flying low level missions in RF-8s. The Cubans also shot down a U-2 killing Rudolph Anderson
Don't forget that it was also Kelly Johnson and "The Skunk Works" that also designed the SR-71, and many other "black ops" aircraft, most of which we've never heard of.
My uncle (an aeronautical engineer with McDonnell/Douglass and later Boeing knew Kelly Johnson, and he was in awe of the man.
Mark
It will most likely end up at Duxford in the UK.