The extraordinary true story of Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks division—the center of radical innovation that designed the greatest airplanes of the 20th century—and the visionary who made it all possible.
“An inspiring lesson in the world of innovation, embodying the essence of true innovation, in terms of form, content, and even smell.”
Ashley Vance, New York Times bestselling author.The story begins with a humble warehouse in Burbank, California, and a charismatic young engineer named Kelly Johnson*.
In 1938, Johnson, then a recent graduate of the University of Michigan's engineering school, had the idea of creating a small, flexible, innovative engineering shop capable of helping the American war machine innovate at a faster pace.By 1943, as the United States entered World War II and pursued new technology, Advanced Development Projects, later nicknamed "Skank Works", was born. During Johnson's forty-seven years at Lockheed Martin, Skunk Works developed no fewer than six aircraft that would have been the pinnacle of anyone else's accomplishments. Among them was the P-38 Lightning, which outperformed Axis pilots in Europe and the Pacific. The XP-80, the first combat aircraftAmerican, which actually contributed to the Allied victory in World War II. and the Constellation, the first pressurized cabin airliner, which revolutionized commercial air travel. and the U-2 spy plane, which was able to reach an astonishing altitude of 70,000 feet, enabling it to carry out dangerous secret missions in Soviet airspace during the height of the Cold War.Perhaps the most famous of all, the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most distinctive and iconic aircraft of all time. But the Jets were only part of Kelly Johnson's legacy, there was also his management style that would shape organizations for decades to come. Under his leadership, SkinkWorks' structure — flat management, no bureaucracy, and breakneck speed — quickly became a role model for nurturing innovation and would eventually fuel Silicon Valley's agile startups. Half a century agoMark Zuckerberg coined the slogan “Move fast and break the rules,” and Kelly Johnson was embodying that mantra — while helping the Department of Defense secure the fate of the free world.
