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THE JET AGE RESERVE MODEL COLLECTION

 
 
   
 

LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT

 
 
   
 

Click here for an introduction to the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection and future display information

 
 
   
  KELLY JOHNSON: LOCKHEED DESIGNER & AMERICAN HERO  
 
   
  "Be Quick, Be Quiet, Be On Time" was the credo of the aeronautical innovator who founded Lockheed's super secret "Skunk Works" and designed the SR-71 Blackbird – the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft.


Johnson played a leading role in more than forty aircraft designs and his achievements over almost six decades captured every major aviation design award - and the highest civilian honours of the U.S. government.

 
 
   
  As a student in Michigan in 1929 Johnson worked with the University wind tunnel on the design of a Union Pacific streamlined train and Studebaker automobiles. Graduating during the Depression in 1932 and failing to join the Army Air Corps, he drove to California to look for work and in 1933 joined the Lockheed company – which had pinned its hopes on a new twin engined airliner. Johnson’s first job was to redesign the tailplane of what became the Model 10 Electra and evolved into the Hudson maritime bomber.  
 
   
  As a student in Michigan in 1929 Johnson worked with the University wind tunnel on the design of a Union Pacific streamlined train and Studebaker automobiles. Graduating during the Depression in 1932 and failing to join the Army Air Corps, he drove to California to look for work and in 1933 joined the Lockheed company – which had pinned its hopes on a new twin engined airliner. Johnson’s first job was to redesign the tailplane of what became the Model 10 Electra and evolved into the Hudson maritime bomber.  
 
   
  In 1937 Lockheed won a U.S. Army Air Corps competition for a twin-engined fighter with the XP-38 prototype. The twin-boomed aircraft was the forerunner of the legendary P- 38 Lightning, with speeds of more than 400 mph. As the P-38 approached the speed of sound during its development, the aircraft encountered the problem of compressibility. Following wind tunnel tests, Johnson made design changes enabling the P-38 to cope with the problem that was still to face engineers and pilots in the future. The P-38, the fastest and most manoeuvrable fighter of its day, fought on every front of World War II, and the two leading American aces won their victories flying Lightnings. Lockheed built almost 10,000 P-38s for the United States and Britain.  
 
   
  In 1937 Lockheed won a U.S. Army Air Corps competition for a twin-engined fighter with the XP-38 prototype. The twin-boomed aircraft was the forerunner of the legendary P- 38 Lightning, with speeds of more than 400 mph. As the P-38 approached the speed of sound during its development, the aircraft encountered the problem of compressibility. Following wind tunnel tests, Johnson made design changes enabling the P-38 to cope with the problem that was still to face engineers and pilots in the future. The P-38, the fastest and most manoeuvrable fighter of its day, fought on every front of World War II, and the two leading American aces won their victories flying Lightnings. Lockheed built almost 10,000 P-38s for the United States and Britain.  
 
   
  A Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and T-33 trainer in USAF Thunderbirds display team markings are prepared for flight at Muroc Dry Lake in California  
 
   
  A Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and T-33 trainer in USAF Thunderbirds display team markings are prepared for an early morning flight at Muroc Dry Lake in California  
 
   
The famous Skunk Works originated in 1943 when the U.S. Army Air Corps asked Lockheed to hurriedly design a fighter around a British De Havilland jet engine in the wake of disturbing reports that the Nazis had flown their own high-speed jet fighter in the skies over Europe. Under an agreement negotiated by Johnson, Lockheed was to deliver a prototype jet aircraft within only ninety days. With the approval of Lockheed President Robert E. Gross, Johnson pirated personnel from other projects and forged a team of twenty-three engineers and 103 shop mechanics working in a small assembly shed at Lockheed in Burbank. Lockheed top management gave Johnson a free hand in the shaping of the team and the aircraft they developed.


This Advanced Development Projects organization completed the prototype Johnson-designed XP-80 jet aircraft in 143 days. The aircraft made its first flight on January 8, 1944, at Muroc Dry Lake, California. It was the forerunner of the F-80 Shooting Star, the first U.S. fighter to exceed 500 mph and America's first operational jet fighter. Although World War II ended before the P-80 could see combat, the aircraft proved itself during the Korean War in 1950 when the Shooting Star won history's first manned all-jet battle.


Johnson's Skunk Works and the way it operated were firmly established at Lockheed. Among Johnson's military aircraft from the Skunk Works following the Shooting Star were the T- 33 trainer, the aerial "schoolroom" responsible for teaching more pilots to fly jets than any other plane; the record-setting 1,300-mph F-104 Starfighter (pictured above), the first operational airplane to fly twice the speed of sound in level flight; and the P2V Neptune antisubmarine patrol plane, which established a nonstop distance record of 11,235 miles in 1946.

 

Johnson's Skunk Works and the way it operated were firmly established at Lockheed. Among Johnson's military aircraft from the Skunk Works following the Shooting Star were the T- 33 trainer, the aerial "schoolroom" responsible for teaching more pilots to fly jets than any other plane; the record-setting 1,300-mph F-104 Starfighter (pictured above), the first operational airplane to fly twice the speed of sound in level flight; and the P2V Neptune antisubmarine patrol plane, which established a nonstop distance record of 11,235 miles in 1946.


Johnson also played a major role in the development of the Constellation, which started out as a commercial airliner design, then was taken over by the military during World War II as a transport, and once again was a pace-setting commercial airliner after the war in addition to a number of military versions produced by Lockheed. But far bigger challenges were in store.

 

In urgent need of a reconnaissance aircraft that could safely fly high over the Soviet Union to photograph missile and other military operations and return with the valuable data, the U.S. government again turned to Johnson and the Skunk Works. In 1955 came the long-winged U-2 jet, above, which could fly above 70,000 feet with a range of 4,000 miles on its U.S. Air Force missions. The U-2 was also a money saver. Johnson returned to the U.S. government approximately $2 million saved on the $20 million U-2 contract, producing an extra six planes for the same money intended to cover twenty aircraft.

In urgent need of a reconnaissance aircraft that could safely fly high over the Soviet Union to photograph missile and other military operations and return with the valuable data, the U.S. government again turned to Johnson and the Skunk Works. In 1955 came the long-winged U-2 jet, above, which could fly above 70,000 feet with a range of 4,000 miles on its U.S. Air Force missions. The U-2 was also a money saver. Johnson returned to the U.S. government approximately $2 million saved on the $20 million U-2 contract, producing an extra six planes for the same money intended to cover twenty aircraft.

Although the destruction over the USSR of the U2 flown by Gary Powers in 1960 showed that the type was not invulnerable to surface to air missiles, U2s continued to be used over the Balkans in the 1990s and are still flying over Afghanistan in 2013.  From 13 miles up, a U2 can collect phone and radio transmissions blocked by the mountainous terrain while its cameras can take detailed pictures of potential trouble spots.


Advanced U-2 versions, including the Air Force TR-1 and the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft, were developed. With improvements to the U-2 reaching their limit, radically new reconnaissance aircraft were on Kelly Johnson's drawing boards in the late 1950s: the family of titanium Blackbirds, culminating a few years later in the SR-71, below..

 
   
  Technologically ahead of their time, Johnson's Blackbirds were in the skies in the early 1960s: the A-12's first flight was in 1962; the YF-12A in 1963; and the SR-71 in 1964. With in-flight refuelling, the SR-71 attained global range. SR-71 Blackbirds went on in the 1970s to chalk up records for speed (2,193 mph), altitude (85,069 feet), a trans-Atlantic mark of one hour, fifty-four minutes, on a 3,470-mile flight from New York to London; and a world speed record of three hours, forty-seven minutes on a 5,463-mile flight from London to Los Angeles. In March 1990, the year the Air Force retired the Blackbirds from service, an SR-71 streaked across the United States in a record sixty-eight minutes on the 2,400-mile flight coast to coast.  
 
   
 
In January 1960 the U.S. Air Force gave the Skunk Works the go-ahead for the design, manufacture, and testing of twelve A-12s. "The aircraft that were to become the Blackbirds were the first to use the 'stealth' technology we developed for radar avoidance," Johnson said.


High speed was another prime objective for the Blackbirds. As he continued:
"The idea of attaining and staying at Mach 3.2 (more than three times the speed of sound) over long flights was the toughest job the Skunk Works ever had and the most difficult of my career".


Aircraft operating at those speeds would require development of special fuels, structural materials, manufacturing tools and techniques, hydraulic fluid, fuel tank sealants, paints, plastics, wiring, and connecting plugs. Everything about the aircraft had to be invented.


But it all came together. Technologically ahead of their time, Johnson's Blackbirds were in the skies in the early 1960s: the A-12's first flight was in 1962; the YF-12A in 1963; and the SR-71 in 1964. With in-flight refuelling, the SR-71 attained global range. SR-71 Blackbirds went on in the 1970s to chalk up records for speed (2,193 mph), altitude (85,069 feet), a trans-Atlantic mark of one hour, fifty-four minutes, on a 3,470-mile flight from New York to London; and a world speed record of three hours, forty-seven minutes on a 5,463-mile flight from London to Los Angeles. In March 1990, the year the Air Force retired the Blackbirds from service, an SR-71 streaked across the United States in a record sixty-eight minutes on the 2,400-mile flight coast to coast.


When Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson died in 1990, his SR-71 Blackbird, which first flew almost thirty years before, was still the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft. The secret of Kelly Johnson's success was really no secret. He was not only one of the world's foremost designers, but he was an innovative manager who gave people who worked for him challenges to constantly create better products.


"Our aim," he said, "is to get results cheaper, sooner, and better through application of common sense to tough problems. If it works, don't fix it."


"Reduce reports and other paperwork to a minimum."


"Keep it simple, stupid - KISS -is our constant reminder."


Johnson instinctively knew how to select people for his organization. He knew how to get the most out of the fewest people and how to get the job done well. He let his managers run their programs with a minimum of interference. He not only gave managers the authority but also the responsibility.


As a man of high integrity himself, Johnson expected complete honesty from the people of the Skunk Works. Mistakes were allowed, but they were to be brought to his attention immediately. And Kelly also expected recommendations to correct mistakes.


He was firmly convinced of the importance of being honest with people, not just telling them what they wanted to hear. He emphasized the necessity of good communication, urging us always to ask a lot of questions.


One of Kelly's challenges to employees was a standing 25-cent bet against anyone who wanted to differ with him. It was not the quarter, of course, but the distinction of winning it from the boss, Kelly said. "It's another incentive. And I've lost a few quarters, too," he admitted. But not often, it must be noted.


Said President Lyndon Johnson when he presented the National Medal of Science to Johnson at the White House in 1966:
"Kelly Johnson and the products of his famous Skunk Works epitomize the highest and finest goal of our society - the goal of excellence. His record of design achievement in aviation is both incomparable and virtually incredible. Any one of his many aeroplane designs would have honoured any individual's career".


And what a collection of honours!


1937
Lawrence Sperry Award, presented by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) for "important improvements of aeronautical design of high speed commercial aircraft" for development of the Fowler flap on Model 14. Presented annually "for outstanding achievement in aeronautics by young men."


1941
The Wright Brothers Medal, presented by the Society of Automotive Engineers for work on control problems of four-engine airplanes.
1956


The Sylvanus Albert Reed Award, presented by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, for "design and rapid development of high-performance subsonic and supersonic aircraft."

1959
Corecipient of the Collier Trophy as designer of the airframe of the F-104 Starfighter, sharing the honor with General Electric (engine) and U.S. Air Force (flight records). The F-104 was designated the previous year's "greatest achievement in aviation in America."


1960
The General Hap Arnold Gold Medal, presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for design of the U-2 high-altitude research plane.


1963
The Theodore von Karman Award, presented by the Air Force Association for designing and directing development of the U-2, "thus providing the Free World with one of its most valuable instruments in the defense of freedom."

1964
The Medal of Freedom, presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson in ceremonies at the White House. The highest civilian honor the President can bestow, this medal recognizes "significant contributions to the quality of American life." Kelly Johnson was cited for his advancement of aeronautics.


The Award of Achievement, presented by the National Aviation Club of Washington, D.C., for "outstanding achievement in airplane design and development over many years, including such models as the Constellation, P-80, F-104, JetStar, the U-2 and climaxed by the metallurgical and performance breakthroughs of the A-11 (YF-12A)."
The Collier Trophy (his second), following his work on the 2,000-mph YF-12A interceptor. Johnson's achievement for the previous year was called the greatest in American aviation.


The Theodore von Karman Award (his second), presented by the Air Force Association for his work with the A-11 (YF-12A) interceptor.


Honorary degree of doctor of engineering, University of Michigan.
Honorary degree of doctor of science, University of Southern California.
Honorary degree of doctor of laws, University of California at Los Angeles.

1965 San Fernando Valley Engineer of the Year, so designated by the San Fernando, California, Valley Engineers' Council.


Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

1966
The Sylvanus Albert Reed Award (his second), given by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics "in recognition of notable contributions to the aerospace sciences resulting from experimental or theoretical investigations."
National Medal of Science, presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House.
The Thomas D. White National Defense Award, presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.


1967
Elected an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

1968
Elected a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

1969
The General William Mitchell Memorial Award, presented by the Aviators Post 743 of the American Legion at Biltmore Hotel, Wings Club, February 14.

1970
The Spirit of St. Louis Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
On behalf of Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects facility, which Johnson directed until his retirement in 1975, he accepted the first Engineering Materials Achievement Award of the American Society of Metals. Lockheed's ADP program "took titanium out of the development phase into full production for aircraft application."
The Engineering Merit Award presented by the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering, Beverly Hills, California.
Honored by the Air Force Association, Washington, D.C., for Johnson's design of the P-38 Lightning.

1971
The Sixth Annual Founders Medal of the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his fundamental contributions to engineering.

1972
The Silver Knight Award by the Lockheed Management Club of California for his contributions to Lockheed's success.
The first "Clarence L. Johnson Award" by the Society of Flight Test Engineers for his contributions to aviation and flight test engineering.

1973
Civilian Kitty Hawk Memorial Award by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce for outstanding contributions to the field of aviation.

1974
The Air Force Exceptional Service Award for his many outstanding contributions to the U.S. Air Force from 1933 to 1974. Presented by Secretary of the Air Force John McLucas.
Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, for his outstanding contributions to aviation.

1975
Awarded the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for vital and enduring contributions over a period of forty years to the design and development of military and commercial aircraft.

1978
Sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, "A Salute to Kelly Johnson" night--an hour-long multimedia presentation of his career highlights.

1980
Bernt Balchen Trophy, the highest award of the New York State Air Force Association, presented annually to "an individual of national prominence whose contribution to the field of aviation has been unique, extensive or of great significance."

1981
The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, presented by Defense Secretary Harold Brown.
Elected a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers for "his abilities to motivate a small staff to work within a tight time frame and budget in creating revolutionary aircraft designs."


The "Kelly Johnson Blackbird Achievement Trophy" was created by the USAF to "recognize the individual or group who has made the most significant contribution to the U-2, SR-71 or TR-1 program since the previous annual reunion."
The Daniel Guggenheim Medal "for his brilliant design of a wide range of pacesetting, commercial, combat and reconnaissance aircraft, and for his innovative management techniques that developed these aircraft in record time at minimum cost."

1982
Meritorious Service to Aviation Award from the National Business Aircraft Association, recognizing his designs of more than forty aircraft, including the world's first business jet, the JetStar.

1983
The Howard Hughes Memorial Award for 1982, presented by the Aero Club of Southern California in joint sponsorship with the Marina City Club. Recipient is recognized as a leader in aviation who has devoted a major portion of his life to the pursuit of aviation as a science and an art.
The National Security Medal, presented by President Ronald Reagan for exceptional meritorious service in a position of high responsibility and for outstanding contribution to the national security of the nation.

1984
Appointed Royal Designer for Industry, an honor originally established in 1936 by the British Royal Society of Arts recognizing designers who have attained eminence, efficiency, and visual excellence in creative design for industry. Limited to 100 recipients, Johnson was the seventy-second to receive the appointment. Diplomas are issued under the authority of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts.

1985
Honored by the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum with an exhibit recognizing him as one of the founding fathers of the jet age. The exhibit ran for one year and was viewed by an estimated 16 million people.
Installed in the American Institute of Aeronautics's "1985 Aerospace Pioneer Hall of Fame," honoring him for his distinguished career in aerospace.

1986
Recognized by titanium producers association for the "earliest large-scale use of titanium in an aircraft primary structure."

1987
The Lord Medal for "Leadership in Wealth Creation," for "contributions to the development of products that add to the civilized aspects of human societies."
1

988
The National Medal of Technology for "outstanding achievements in the design of a series of commercial, military and reconnaissance aircraft that have incorporated a wide range of technological advancements."
Inducted into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame in recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the field of aviation.

1990
National Air and Space Museum Trophy from the Smithsonian Institution "in recognition of extraordinary service in aviation, space science, and technology" and for the SR-71, a "past achievement that has contributed significantly to advancing aerospace activities."

1991
National Management Association Hall of Fame.


Kelly Johnson also received forty-four U.S. patents. Some of the more important ones are listed below.
1939
Design for Airplane Model 27 (D-116,094).
1940
Design for Airplane Model P-38 (D-119,714).
1943
Anti-Icing Duct for Model 12 and P-38 (2,320,870).
1946
Design for Airplane Model P-80 (D-143,822).
1947
Auxiliary Fuel Tank for Model P-80 (2,421,699).
1954
Airplane Design for Model C-130 (D-172,969).
1956
Afterburning Means for Turbo-Jet Engines (2,771,740).
Airplane Design for Model F-104 (D-179,348).
1957
Airplane with Variable Swept Wings (2,794,608).
Landing Drag Flap and Lift Spoiler (2,791,385).
1958
Jet Utility Transport (D-183,657).
1959
Turbine Engine Blow-Out Preventer (2,870,684).
1960
Aircraft Propulsion Systems (Jet Flap) (2,928,627).
1961
Airplane Design for Model JetStar (D-191,243).

 
 
   
 

he Jet Age Reserve Model Collection's two dioramas displaying Lockheed aircraft at the Cheltenham GWR Modeller's Group Exhibition for CLIC Sargeant at St Margaret's Hall, Cheltenham in October 2005

 
 
   
  The Jet Age Reserve Model Collection's two dioramas displaying Lockheed aircraft at the Cheltenham GWR Modeller's Group Exhibition for CLIC Sargeant at St Margaret's Hall, Cheltenham in October 2005  
 
   
  Click on picture for more about the Western Maryland Railway and other aspects of the Railway Operating Department