Kelly Johnson (engineer)

Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson (February 27, 1910 – December 21, 1990) was an American Engineer at Lockheed Martin. He helped make planes, for example the SR-71 Blackbird and the P-38. He worked at the skunkworks at Lockheed Martin. There, with Ben Rich, "The Father of Stealth," they made the Blackbird. The SR-71 had a top speed of 2193 mph or mach 3+. It flew at 80,000 ft above the ground, the only plane to fly that high.

Death

Johnson died at the age of 80 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after physical deterioration and the advancement of senility, caused by the hardening of his arteries connecting to his brain.

Kelly Johnson (engineer) Media

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  Kelly Johnson and Gary Powers in front of a U-2.

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  Kelly Johnson participated in the design of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, testing a model with a single vertical stabilizer in the wind tunnel of the University of Michigan.

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  A design of the Lockheed A-3 (Mach 3 ramjet), sketch from Johnson's notebook

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  Kelly Johnson with an early variant of the U-2.

Other websites

• Clarence Leonard (Kelly) Johnson.
• Kelly Johnson's rules Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine for Skunk Works aircraft.
• "Lord of the Skunk Works Archived 2012-11-15 at the Wayback Machine," from Air Force Magazine.
• Kelly Johnson at Find a Grave
• "Control Boosters" a 1946 Flight article by Johnson