DaveKamp
Titanium
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
- Location
- LeClaire, Ia
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Happy Kelly Johnson Day!
- Thread starter DaveKamp
- Start date
- Replies 19
- Views 5,565
johnoder
Diamond
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2004
- Location
- Houston, TX USA
Then there is fellow LAC employee - predecessor Richard A. von Hake - that you never hear of. He helped move LAC from the wooden Vega days to modern times - from the dusty little shop adjacent the intersection of Empire Ave and San Fernando Rd. to massive multi-plant situations of WW2
SIP6A
Titanium
- Joined
- May 29, 2003
- Location
- Temperance, Michigan
Michigan boy that did good.
MCritchley
Stainless
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2007
- Location
- Brooklyn WI
Thanks for the reminder!
I try to follow most of his 14 rules.
I try to follow most of his 14 rules.
handsome devil
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Location
- Bonduel, Wi
Tough act to follow. Just watched a fairly long video just yesterday on the P-38 Lightning from design to end of WW2 history. Thought he sounded familiar. Most would be happy to design one good airplane. I liked rule 15. Sounds like an experienced military contractor. Hi Dave. Regards, John.
Limy Sami
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
Quite a guy.
Having been raised on our own greats - Mitchel, Chadwick, Wallace, DeHavilland and Camm et al, I'd not heard of Kelly Johnson until now.
Thankyou
Having been raised on our own greats - Mitchel, Chadwick, Wallace, DeHavilland and Camm et al, I'd not heard of Kelly Johnson until now.
Thankyou
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SAG 180
Titanium
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2007
- Location
- Cairns, Qld, Australia
Don't forget Frank Whittle and Stanley Hooker.
EmGo
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
Jeeze, Sami ... if there's any one airplane that should knock your socks off, it's the SR-71.
Bill Clinton is an asshole !!!
Limy Sami
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
I'd heard of the SR71 (and that was some tool
) but not Kelly Johnson, and I knew they flew from Mildenhall - which is only about 40 miles from me with all sorts of military aircraft regular visitors overhead, (my all time fave being the A10 Warthog tankbuster)
rcoope
Stainless
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2010
- Location
- Vancouver Canada
Also don't forget his successor Ben Rich and his excellent book Sunkworks, which should be read on Kelly Johnson day, which by the way, should be a national holiday.
rcoope
Stainless
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2010
- Location
- Vancouver Canada
This for me is the most important Kelly Johnson principle, which is why it is on this plaque in the room with the U-2 that is entirely dedicated to Johnson at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. This is fundamentally a plea to have a society that respects each other across the economic spectrum. If you don't have that respect, you cannot do complicated things in engineering and manufacturing or anywhere else in the economy. If people from different trades or position in the company don't appreciate each others expertise, the company will decline and fail. See Forces of Production or any of several books on the British aircraft industry for all kinds of infuriating examples companies class warring themselves into oblivion. One reason I like coming to Practical Machinist is that there is a respect for knowledge and experience regardless of job description, which is why there are so many engineers, even physicists, shop managers and owners contributing to and learning from machinists here.
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EmGo
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
A10 is like a Frazier, punch him all you like and he doesn't notice, but the SR-71 is an Ali ... shoot at them and they just put the pedal down, outrace the missile
Speaking of Mildenhall, look up 'Brian Shull, slowest SR-71 flight', you'll get a kick out of it.
Limy Sami
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
A10 is like a Frazier, punch him all you like and he doesn't notice, but the SR-71 is an Ali ... shoot at them and they just put the pedal down, outrace the missile
Speaking of Mildenhall, look up 'Brian Shull, slowest SR-71 flight', you'll get a kick out of it.
Thanks EG - that's a hoot
9100
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2004
- Location
- Webster Groves, MO
One of my favorite SR71 stories is the time the Air Force sent one to photograph the damage after bombing Khadafi's camp. Over the mediterranean the back seater reported SAM launches. they calculated that they could cross the target before the SAMs got there, so they put on full power and continued. After they got the pictures and were starting a turn tighter than a SAM could make, leaving them to crash in the desert, the back seater said "don't you think you should cut the power back?" In the excitement, the pilot had forgotten. They cut the engines over Sicily but still overshot their refueling tanker over Gibraltar. Everything about that airplane is unreal.
Bill
Bill
Larry Dickman
Titanium
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2014
- Location
- Temecula, Ca
and to think it was all done with slide rules.
makes it even more amazing
makes it even more amazing
There's an SR71 about 1/4 mile from my house in a museum. There's several plaques with interesting facts around it and one of the cameras is opened up where you can touch it if nobodies looking.
LA to DC in 64 minutes. Hard to comprehend that.
Limy Sami
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
MCritchley
Stainless
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2007
- Location
- Brooklyn WI
Great book, i highly recommend it!
DaveKamp
Titanium
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
- Location
- LeClaire, Ia
Thank you for all chiming in... I feel much better knowing that Kelly is hero to more than just me. ;-)
