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I'm really enjoying 'Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed' currently. I found it really interesting that their stealth aircraft model was so
by anfractuosity 7y ago
I'm really enjoying 'Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed' currently.
I found it really interesting that their stealth aircraft model was so good, they had to redesign the poles it sat on.
Also it talks about a Russian paper they used based on maxwells equations, that allowed them to calculate the reflected RF from 2D surfaces, which I'm curious about finding.
- dharmab 7y agoI think my favorite story is how they transported the A-12 prototype to Nevada for testing. They sent a team a few weeks in advance to find all the road signs their wide trailer would hit, cut them into two and bolt them back together. On the day of the move, they sent trucks ahead to disassemble the signs so the trailer could pass. They also had to negotiate a large cash bribe when a bus driver clipped a truck in their convoy to prevent any insurance report from being filed.
- geocrasher 7y agoThat's Ben Rich's book, right? I have read it twice, and it's pretty incredible. And the amount of details he's had to leave out (such as creating a hybrid turbojet/ramjet engine nacelle or a top speed of around Mach 4) is also interesting. As an aside, I got to see (and surreptitiously touch!) an A12 in Seattle at the Museum of Flight recently, and it was just incredible.