The Original Skunk Works

Long before Agile and Lean became buzzwords, a scrappy group of aerospace engineers at Lockheed's Skunk Works were using similar practices to produce some of the most amazing aircraft ever built. The famous U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-117A Stealth Fighter are among the incredible planes the engineers at Skunk Works produced under impossibly tight deadlines and very limited budgets.

What can we learn from the stories of these amazing planes and the engineers who built them? Let's go back to our roots and get some tips on our own processes from some of the original experts.

Transcript

1. Skunk Works The Original Nickolas Means @nmeans http://nickol.as/
7. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson
8. Lockheed P-38 Lightning
9. Messerschmitt Me 262
10. DeHavilland H.1B Goblin
12. * Not the actual Skunk Works circus tent.
15. Lockheed XP-80
16. Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
17. Yalta Conference, February 1945
18. Kapustin Yar, USSR
20. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
21. Lockheed U-2
29. Lockheed U-2S
33. Lockheed A-12
42. Sustained Altitude: 85,069 feet July 28, 1976
43. Sustained Speed: 2193.2 mph July 28, 1976
44. .22 Rifle Bullet: 2046 mph SR-71 Blackbird: 2193 mph
45. Concorde: 2:52 SR-71 Blackbird: 1:55 New York to London
46. SR-71 Blackbird: 1:04 Los Angeles to Washington
47. Your Car: 5:16:00 SR-71 Blackbird: 0:08:32 St. Louis to Cincinatti
48. Kelly Johnson
49. Ben Rich
50. Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star
51. Soviet SA-5 Missile
57. Lockheed Have Blue
60. Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter
61. Lockheed F117-A Stealth Fighter
64. F-117 Stealth Fighter Have Blue
65. A-12 Blackbird SR-71 Blackbird
66. Use a small number of good people.
69. The the decision lies with whoever is on the spot.
70. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.
72. There shall be but one object – to get a good airplane built on time.
76. Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter
78. Skunk Works The Original Nickolas Means @nmeans http://nickol.as/