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Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed Paperback - 1996
by Leo Janos; Ben R. Rich
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About this book
SKUNK WORKS is the true story, told for the first time, of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the story of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a high-stakes drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds. SKUNK WORKS is dramatic and immediate. Direct from the cockpits of these astonishing aircraft - U-2 spy-plane, SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 Stealth Fighter. It is a tribute to genius in the unrelenting contest for mastery of the skies.
Reader reviews for Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
Review summary
Readers praised Ben Rich’s insider history of Lockheed’s Skunk Works for its accessible voice and vivid engineering detail on the U-2, SR-71, and early stealth projects. The management lessons—especially Kelly Johnson’s rules—resonated, drawing parallels to modern startup culture. The book’s strengths are pilot and engineer anecdotes and clear explanations of technical challenges. Critiques centered on political digressions, 1960s–80s business filler, reconstructed dialogue, and a jumbled timeline, with some wishing for deeper technical rigor. Overall, it appealed most to aviation and engineering enthusiasts despite ambivalence about the military-industrial backdrop.
Readers say this book is:
insightfulaccessibleengineering-focusedcompellingunevennostalgicmanagement-orientedpolitically mixedchronology-muddledless technical than expectedWrite a review for this book
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From the publisher
First line
It's August 1979 on the scorching Nevada desert, where Marines armed with ground-to-air Hawk missiles are trying to score a "kill" against my new airplane, an experimental prototype code-named Have Blue.
From the rear cover
Skunk Works is the true story, told for the first time, of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the story of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a high-stakes drama of cold war confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
Details
- Title Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- Author Leo Janos; Ben R. Rich
- Binding Paperback
- Edition 1st Pbk. Ed
- Pages 400
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Little, Brown Paperbacks, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
- Publication date 1996-02-01
- Illustrated Yes
- Features Index
- ISBN 9780316743006 / 0316743003
- Weight 0.8 lbs (0.36 kg)
- Dimensions 8.3 x 5.58 x 1.08 in (21.08 x 14.17 x 2.74 cm)
- Category Biography / Autobiography
- Library of Congress subjects Aeronautics, Military - Research - United, Aeronautics - Research - United States -
- Dewey Decimal Code B
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