Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, a Lockheed aviation legend, wanted to design an airplane “that use conventional engines and fuel, but still be able to outrace any missile.” That compelled him to play a major role in designing 40 renowned aircraft, one of which is the Lockheed SR-71.
Building the SR-71, which was popularly known as Blackbird but often called Sled or Habu by its crew, was not an easy task. Johnson had to invent it from scratch, from the design, the technology, to the materials. Despite the odds, he and his team were able to reduce the cost of some of SR-71’s major parts and design the aircraft’s many advanced concepts. Later, the SR-71 was one of the first
aircrafts to be designed to reduce radar cross section. Though it had a large radar signature to be tracked, the SR-71’s defense was high speed and operating altitude. Its standard evasive action was to simply accelerate speed if a surface-to-missile launch is detected. It is this kind of story that placed Johnson in the annals of aircraft design. That success may also be attributed to his childhood passion for designing airplanes since he started reading Tom Swift novels like “Tom Swift and his Airplane” and “Tom Swift and his Submarine”. Born in 1910, seven
years after the Wright Brothers made their first successful flight, Johnson designed his first airplane which he called “Merlin 1, Battle Plane”. He also finished schooling through scholarships and odd jobs like dishwashing and working as teaching assistant. Starting out as a tool designer for Lockheed in 1933, he went on to serve the company for 50 years. He officially retired from Lockheed in 1975 but “continued as a consultant to the Skunk Works and the Lockheed projects.” As a tribute, the Lockheed Rye Canyon Research facility was renamed Kelly Johnson Research and
Development Center in 1983. In his lifetime as an
aeronautical engineer, 1932-1984, Kelly was recognized for his unique contributions to aerospace development. He died on December 21, 1990after an illness of many years. He left the aerospace development industry with an indelible mark on the design of 40 world renowned aircrafts. Among these aircrafts are the F-80, the first production jet in the US, double sonic F-104 Starfighter, U-2, 2,000 MPH YF-12A, and of course, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
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