In the late 1980s the management of Lockheed
cooperation reached a decision to vacate the huge factory complex in Burbank. Where aircraft
had been built for over 60 years. The time had come to move the aircraft work to more
modern facilities elsewhere. By 1990 people and equipment were gone from many obsolete
buildings that had covered more than 300 acres. These included the structures where in 1928
Alan Lockheed and a small group of employees began making wooden airplanes in buildings
once occupied by makers of China and glassware. It was on this site four years later that
the current Lockheed Corporation was born. Lockheed's announcement that most of the
buildings would soon be torn down stirred memories among many who had known the
company in its early years. One of them was Harvey Kristen who had joined the company
soon after it moved to Burbank from Hollywood. As a teenage student from Pasadena
Kristen took a temporary job at Lockheed in 1928 and stayed on for nearly half
a century until his retirement in 1974. Working in many branches of the company
Kristen was an eyewitness to events that took the firm from a fledgling in Burbank
to a giant of the Aerospace industry. This is where it all began our
first day at work at Lockheed. To my rear was San Fernando Road and Empire
Avenue. To my right the Mission Glass Company. To the left the China Factory behind this
venerable brick wall. The China Company had become a very important part of the Lockheed
complex utilized for fabrication and sub-assembly. When Christian joined Lockheed Aircraft
Company it had only 80 employees. Some working in this building that had
belonged to the Empire China Company. They were building the Vega doing
monoplanes made of Sitka spruce. and almost in its entirety. Well since the fuselage,
the empennage, the wing, everything but the landing gear and the power plant were made of Sitka spruce.
We use principally... high qualified cabinet makers. And these men were extremely proficient in
following um layout drawings, engineering drawings precisely. They made temporary tooling of wood to
make ribs to form ribs to form the airfoil of the wing. They had a mold that made the diaphragms of
bulkheads which by the way were made of almost 20 to 30 laminations of Sitka Spruce. And I must add
that at this point, this is important. A piece of Sitkus bruised quarter by three quarter by 24
inch long. 8 annular growth strings to the inch. Free of all rosin or leaks hold 24 000 PSI.
Laminated into a bulkhead. it pulled a hundred and twenty thousand PSI. Which is the equivalent
of some pretty high grade chromolympton of Steel. Didn't know that at the time but we found
out later that that Spruce airplane had the qualities and the strengths of many many
medals but had the flexibility of a spruce tree. Leading the small group of airplane Builders
was a man whose name would become famous in the industry. Alan Lockheed. Alan and his
brother Malcolm and Victor were in on the original group with their chief designer a
man well-known man Jack Northrup. Who was the outstanding uh creator of the monocoque fuselage
and the type of airplane that the Lockheed Vega and other models turned out to be. A man named
Tony Stadelman who came from Czechoslovakia by way of the middle west turned out
to be the factory man. The Builder. The man who could take all of Northrup's
designs and create them into an airplane. Uh these men I just mentioned were the principles
of the Lockheed company that came to Burbank. Production of the Vega and other wooden aircraft at Burbank was threatened in 1929 when
the American economy went into a tailspin. The Lockheed company was struggling to maintain
its Workforce and its capacity which was minimal. And Alan Lockheed was approached by a group
from Detroit who formed Detroit aircraft who had hoped someday to become the General Motors of
the air and Lockheed was one of their acquisitions. Along with Ryan aircraft Parks air College
and Evans Pump Company Etc... but they no more than established themselves as the new owners of
Detroit aircraft bringing their Executives to our company. And Along came a very very very difficult
time known as the depression. The Great Depression. So Detroit Aircraft found themselves over
extended financially and they went into bankruptcy. In co incident to that a far-sighted individual who
was a former or was a Detroit aircraft executive and general manager this plant representative
named Carl B squire. Worked with local people through the title insurance Trust Company and
were able to put the Lockheed company into receivership under California law. Prohibiting then
the company to be sold off piecemeal and disappear as a name as an asset of the Detroit Aircraft
Company. There were only three people in the entire company during the title insurance Trust
Company and California receivership. Carl B Squire who stayed here from the Detroit organization
as general manager for them became the uh the head man of representing the receivers. A chap
named Ronald King was the bookkeeper. And a fellow named Harv Kristen was the factory man Handling
minor repairs shipping spare parts. Providing spare parts. Bringing in crews as necessary by Mr
Squire's orders and the customer's agreement to do major repairs. We kept the plant open on an
on-call basis and we paid by the way not by checks but by cash envelopes. By the hour. By the
job. In June of 1932 a small group of investors headed by Robert Gross including Cyril Chappellet,
Carl Squire, a Mr. Ryan and a Larry Ames and Walter Varney of Lavarney Speedline. They were able
to put together a forty thousand dollars which seemed to be an appropriate bid at the time for
the company. There were others that attempted to consolidate and and beat bidders but did not quite
make it. Therefore on the day of the Court sale Mr Carl Squire who was going to represent those of
us that were at the factory suggested that I might go down and witness the sale. We took the Lockheed
truck, I took the Lockheed truck. We drove down sat in the rear of the courtroom very
inconspicuously and observed the following. When Robert Gross presented the Forty thousand
dollar check to the judge the judge turned to him before closing the sale and said "young man I hope
you know what you're doing." Then Mr Robert Gross said "yes sir!" most enthusiastically. And with that
the judge hit the gamble on the desk and sold was a statement and that concluded the sale out of
receivership but the beginning of our wonderful company that we have today. You know there was an
era in the aviation world when it took a Lockheed to beat a Lockheed. And when better airplanes
were built we said Lockheed and will build it. And that's when the Vega brought the good
name Lockheed into the limelight as the most reliable best performing, highest cruising speed ,
best fuel consumption airplane flying in its day. Famous pilots. Wiley Post who flew around the
world on two occasions. Once with a navigator and once alone. And then broke the record for
high altitude performance with a flying suit of its day. The Forerunner of today's astronaut
suits by making a little red vega that normally cruise at 150 miles an hour cruise at 350
from our Southern California to the East Coast. Other than Wiley there were famous pilots such
as Roscoe Turner who flew for Gilmore oil company. He was a flamboyant type of a pilot
but he brought great credit to our airplanes both the Vega and the air express. Which became
the Earl Gilmore Oil Company airplane. Where he as his mascot carried the Lion Gilmore. Other
Pilots such as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who flew the Pacific in a Lockheed Altair. and
then there was the Magyar brothers who flew the Justice for Hungary from New York to Budapest.
Bringing to the attention of the world their freedom for Hungry. Well Jimmy Doolittle came to us as
a bit of a hero because he had made the first blind flying Landing in Dayton Ohio under
a hood. Had never been done before. Complete landing without sight of the terrafirmer. When
Jimmy Doolittle acquired his Lockheed Orion, a derivative of the old original Vega design, he
was the research pilot for the Shell Oil Company. By 1934 the company had made the management
decision to proceed with this new Electra model 10. And it was built in the primarily assembled
primarily in the hangars that were left here by the old original Lockheed Detroit Aircraft company.
Final assembly if you please outside of the hangars because the hangers are not big enough to
take on the wings of the airplane and the assembly. From there they proceeded to our own little
flight line along this railroad strip not yet anything but a dirt runway. And from there the
initial Electra flew and was tested and accepted. Our then Chief test pilot Marshall Headel and a
pilot on loan from the Boeing company. The reports on this new twin engine all metal version of the
Lockheed airplane began to come back from Michigan recommending the abandonment of the single fin and
rudder in the heading of the double tail. The twin fins and rudders. For directional stability.
For single engine out performance. And that was accepted on the spot and as a result
of that decision that became the hallmark of the model 10 Electra with double tail. And it was
recommended by none other than Clarence L. Johnson. Who very shortly became the chief
aerodynamics of our present company. During the 1930s a very interesting and famous
pilots came by to evaluate our Electra because of its very very high performance characteristics.
And especially its single engine performance and its long range. Ameila Earhart was another one of
those famous and wonderful persons that we got so well acquainted with because when Ameila came to
acquire her first little red Vega as she called it. She put on a pair of Lockheed coveralls and
went out in the shop and worked next to the woodworkers and the cabinet makers and then the
final assembly and went out on the flight line as part of the crew. And was a most gracious lady
and a most appreciative lady because she knew when she blew her airplane almost every nut and bolt of
any importance as it was assembled her confidence factor was improved immensely by the fact that she
was a part of the building of her little red Vega. Then naturally we were so proud of her because she flew the Atlantic alone and
was quickly named "Lady Lindy." When she flew The Atlantics she of
course landed in Londonderry Ireland and the people of course the word most
gracious and most appreciative of her wonderful accomplishment. Later on in years to come
we had another great experience with Amelia. When she came out who personally become involved just
as she did on the Vega with her model 10 E Electra that it was very specially built for her because
she was going to carry approximately 1100 gallons of fuel. She was going to have special navigation
equipment. And in the process of building her airplane once again she put on coveralls and
it became especially involved in what we called our QEC, our power plant installations. In fact, I
can recall her help plumbing and uh and the the engine installation because she wanted to know
firsthand how and where the fuel, the electrical power, everything, came from in the power of the
airplane. Knowing full well that with two engines you'd need them both with a heavy load takeoff
that she was about to make on the round the world flight. In other words once again Amelia became
part of our crew. Part of us in the process of building an airplane. Another demonstration
of a great pioneer and a wonderful lady. Then there was Charles Lindbergh and his wife
Anne who frequented our place daily almost during the process of the building of their Sirius. We
built it of course as a fixed gear land plane. But knowing in the final analysis that he was going to
do a root survey of the Pacific for Pan-American. But that's Sirius that he and Anne Morrow Lindberg
acquired was very special because we put a canopy on we put things on to protect them
from the elements because Ann became his navigator and His radio operator. Just think of it. Here's a
lady that just never had had an experience like that until she married this wonderful pilot. This
wonderful fellow Lindberg. They eventually of course put floats on the airplane. And testing that
airplane which we'd never put floats on before was quite a unique experience. Again the
center of gravity, fuel loading, and the takeoff characteristics of a sea plane. So different than
a land plane. Caused us to go through some very interesting uh we call them high taxis. And of
course to get a a float up on the step you almost have to have a turbulent sea. A smooth sea gets you
nowhere. Lindbergh knew that and they used to go ahead of him when he tested with a high-speed
boat to create the turbulence in the waves of the water in the wake of the boat to help him get
the vacuum under the broken under the steps of his floats. What an experience it was for us because we
had never built a low Wing Sirius seaplane before. Yet another wonderful experience was to have
this great pioneer most enthusiastic Aviation man named Howard Hughes come to our plant with
a little Boeing P-12 and asked Kelly Johnson and our engineers and Mr. gross if we could
modify it and turn it into a high-speed racer. It turned out that it was my good fortune to be in
charge of that project. And we had a no holds bar latitude. We could get anything anywhere we wanted
at any time. We stripped the fabric down to the bare tubular skeleton. And with a little skill and
special engineering we were able to make it into a monocoque type-shaped fuselage with sheet metal.
Streamline it. Put streamlined gear landing gear on. Add a terrifically heavy-duty uh high-powered
power plant. Compensate for the center of gravity for Howard. And we accomplished that in weeks not
months. And following that we had the great experience of Howard selecting the super Electro. We call
it the model 14. The fly around the world. And of course that took special handling with regard
to fuel consumption, fuel capacity, navigation gear, navigation equipment. And in 14 days plus I believe
it was. He made the round the world flight and very successfully demonstrated that the transport
equipment commercial transport equipment was able to make some of these extended
hops under controlled conditions. In the 1930's before Lockheed had any facilities
at the nearby commercial airport in Burbank.The company did all of its flying from a dirt Runway
between Empire Avenue and the railroad tracks. This is the site of the original 2000 foot
dirt Runway. Gopher holes and all. It's from this very Runway that the famous Winnie May
of Wiley Post. Amelia Earhart's little red Vega. Sir Charles kingford Smith's Altair. Lindberg's
Sirius. All of them flew from this very Runway. In the late 30s war broke out in Europe. The
British had an urgent need for new aircraft. Lockheed offered to build a new bomber. during
that period we had expanded the design of the Electra into what we call the model 14. Which
was an enlarged mid semi-midwing version of a twin engine, two-tail airplane. And at that
particular time the British were interested in getting support in the form of a patrol airplane
to protect the coast of all of the British Isles. They came to the United States and reviewed the
designs of our aircraft and others. Competitors. They chose the model 14 which we in a 24-hour
period under Kelly Johnson's supervision converted into a mock-up of a Hudson bomber. And this is
the very very important area of the original Lockheed as we know it today. this is where Robert
gross's executives presided in their offices. We knew his mahogany row. Also this very spot and
through a switchboard right up in that corner came the word from London England from
Cortland Gross to Robert and his team that the Hudson bomber contract up to that time
the largest contract ever given to anyone in the United States, was consummated. When we received
that order immediately we had a procurement program established that was second to none.
With the organizations such as the aluminum company America and the engine manufacturers
because 200 Hudson bombers in One initial order never had come to any company uh in that
quantity before on a schedule that was so uniquely developed to meet a British requirements. and the next requirement became "where are we going to build all these airplanes?" So the company
could only expand in one direction because Burbank was on the East and that was it. so Westward we
came. We closed off a street called Lincoln Avenue and moved all the way up to Buena Vista which
is a offshoot of San Fernando Road and Turkey Crossing. Where the little plant first started.
As production accelerated and we were beginning to accumulate airplanes in our test
area... and by the way our test strip was the old dirt Runway at B1. We did not have a paved runway.
No lights. No traffic control. We were the traffic controlled by way of the pilot houses we
called it. Right at the edge of that little runway at Burbank. And that's where the Hudson
started his first testing and his first flying. You know during the midpoint
or as we became quite well established on our Hudson line along come a design competition
that Kelly Johnson entered for Lockheed. Turned out that it became Lightning the twin-tailed
P-38. So what we did is we divided the assembly line into a Hudson line and a P-38 line and
started the P-38 line down through the same general overall Assembly Building paralleling
the Hudson bomber. The rate of the P-38 was slow and accelerating initially but we got it up to
where many p-38s a day came off that line even faster production schedule than the Hudson.
The P-38 program probably accelerated faster than any line in the area. We got to a point
where we were able to roll a P-38 in an hour but we had control over the condition of those
airplanes to the extent that you could pick any airplane and decide what the status was. And bring
it up to flight status immediately upon receipt of whatever the requirements were that were
missing in the assembly line. We had absolute control. The result was very few, very few
runoff failures or test flight failures. We had a quality control by pride of workmanship
and by a group of people who knew by experience on the Hudson Line how to handle the accelerated
program on the P-38. So the Hudson program became a very very invaluable or valuable program for
developing our skills to take on a dual assembly line at the time. The Hudson and the P-38 required
no end of additional skills in piloting our airplanes than we brought in some very very famous
people who maybe at the time were not but became so important to the Air Force and to ourselves. To
name but a few... Milo Burcham who had flown with a group in a Boeing P-12 at air shows and had the
skills that came with aerobatics and acrobatics and knew how to recover an airplane from that's
fighting conditions that you deliberately put the airplane through. So Milo became a very key figure.
When Tony LeVier came on board little did we know that he was to bring that very unique skill. To Tony
the Impossible was just a little more difficult. Tony was able to do things with the
P-38 as was his partner "Fish" Salmon who became famous also. They literally
flew test flights monitoring each other confirming each other's results. Which was
a rather unique condition. Tony would take a P-38 up and ring it out go into a flat spin
do the impossible recoveries to satisfy Kelly. To confirm that not just one man could do
it. Fish Salmon would go up and repeat the performance all the while Milo who
was cheif pilot at a time was biting his fingernails hoping these two fellas had
detangled. Because sometimes they go up and literally do what we used to call
combat type maneuvers with each other. Right about the time that the P-38 and Hudson
were going full swing there was a need for second sources of some very prominent and very
important airplanes and one of them was the B-17. So all of a sudden there became a
subsidiary that had already started in the old China Factory at what we call the
old Lockheed company as a design group with Max Sharp and a few important people that came from
the Stearman company. this fully owned subsidiary was known as the Vega company. Very proudly
because the Vega in his early days as you know made the name Lockheed quite famous. So as the Vega
company came into being as the second source for the B-17 program designed by the Boeing Company
it became the number one second source. The other source being Tulsa Oklahoma run by the Douglas
company. The Vega company built literally again built the facility around the assembly lines as
they developed and the fabrication shops developed. Expanded as the airplanes were being built
and assembled literally built the buildings over the workforce. This excellent facility
of its day built on the Southeast corner of the airport was to become the home of the Vega
company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed. One of the unique things about the Vega company
was when the Boeing Company had a challenge that would come from the Air Force to modify a B-17
the request would go out to the two subsidiaries. The first chin turret to protect the nose of the
gunner in the nose of the airplane in the crew was a Vega installation. And I remember well
going to the Long Beach staging area where we took our P-38s and Hudson's that were flowing
into the Pacific Theater. The Hudson to Australia the P-38s into the General Kenney's worker task
force. that when a B-17 showed up at Long Beach with a chin turret on it, you watched the
ferry command. They'd come out and walk up and down that line and when they saw a chin turret
on the airplane that was their baby because not a one had to be ditched in the drink. The Vega B-17
line as we knew it was built in the facilities adjacent to Hollywood Way and literally in a
facility that wrapped itself around the then Lockheed Air Terminal. And they successfully
produced well over 2,000 B-17s on schedule to the latest Air Force requirements with a
quality standards that made them second to none. You know about that time Pearl Harbor you
know the scare of the submarine off of Galetea. There was a scare that came across the entire West
Coast. Shipbuilders, airplane builders, anybody that was vital to the defense program had to have the
ultimate of protection. And somebody came up with the idea of camouflaging our plants. And you know
this was quite an experience because once again all the trusses and all the cables and all the
support structure had to be built over our heads as we were building airplanes. And the part that
was so darn messy was the fact that they used chicken wire as we called it to stretch over these
buttresses and cables and so forth over our plant. And then what did they do but blow feathers with
an adhesive waterproof adhesive onto these wires so we were picking chicken feathers out of our
airplanes out of our hair. All at the time we were building airplanes but believe it or not when we
found out through aerial shots of what our plant looked like from the air we suddenly discovered
we were a little community of houses and business buildings that somehow or other that they can
give away only that we detected was the fact that a railroad track ended and began in the middle of
this little community that was called camouflage. Right in the middle of this
intense production program our great Kelly came up with another dream. Because
suddenly they'd become available in England of engine designed by Mr. Whittle. It was called
The Whittle Turbine. And while that was going on Kelly had already designed on paper how he was
going to apply that little engine and that thrust to an airplane.That airplane became known as
Lulu-belle. It was built in tents. It was built in little buildings that suddenly became vacated,
available and then became secured and fenced off. And suddenly out of that little complex came
drawings. We who were building the production airplanes suddenly became aware of a drawing
that would come out for a forging in a park that had a peculiar name like McCormick Deering
tractor. Had no relationship to an airplane. To keep the design secretive.Aand when that went out
to a forging company or whoever it was that made that component they were put in a position of
not needing to know and that was the key. unless you had a need to know you didn't ask questions.
You didn't become involved. So as Kelly built Lulu-Belle in a record of 143 days, towed it up
to then Muroc dry lake, now Edwards Air Force Base. And again here comes that wonderful guy Milo
Burcham who was elected to make the first flight in Lulu-belle.Lulu-belle flew, was very successful. The
thing that Milo said, "gosh it Maneuvers well, it's fast, and it gives you a feeling of confidence. The Flight of the XP-80 in 1944
launched Lockheed into the jet age. This design would evolve into America's first
production jet fighter, the Air Force shooting star. While the first flights were being made
a new building was under construction on Empire Avenue where the Skunk Works
team would begin production of P-80s. This is the famous cotton shed. They all been
patterned after the Cottondale storage places of the South. It was where the YP-80s were built which
were the Forerunner of the production version the P-80 shooting star. In the middle of the YP-80
project it became a very special assignment secretively we were to put
slipper tanks out of the wingtips. The wingtip fuel tanks gave the P-80 enough range
for combat missions. The Burbank plant built over 1,000 P-80s. In the 1950s they served in the
Korean War and elsewhere around the world. Just before World War II Lockheed had designed
a large new transport. It was given a name that would become widely known. The name Constellation
became a famous name in our company and we always named our airplanes after stars or constellations
of stars. And the Sirius was a star. The Vega was a star. The Altair was a star. And Along comes
the need for a bright and shiny new airplane that was that had the benefit of all those that
had gone before and it became a Constellation. And its nickname was the Connie. It was one
of those unique experiences were a customer naturally those days had to be found for their
first group. Well the customer turned out to be TWA owned by none other than at that time our friend
Howard Hughes. So as Kelly Johnson and his design staff and Robert and Carl and Gross and Howard
Hughes would meet they would draw and submit ideas of what the configuration should look like.
Well one interesting experience... and this is a factual experience. The first design that come up was a
typical very straightforward cigar-shaped fuselage and it had a multiple tail but it didn't look like
what the Connie turned out to be. Mr. gross looked at that airplane as at Howard and the rest. And
it was a very efficient looking straightforward design. Every section of that fuselage was identical.
It was ideal for production. But Mr. Gross says that airplane doesn't look like it really wants to fly
freely. Why don't we do this... He walked up to the blackboard and he drew a couple lines that looked
like a side view of a dolphin. And Kelly looked at that and Howard looked at that, and they said "wow!"
If we do that technically the fuselage becomes an airfoil because your shape is like the wing rib
of an airplane wing. So all of a sudden right then and there in spite of the need for standardized
production we had a multiple shape design that of course had made new bulkheads at every
station and made it a little complex initially. But oh how it contributed to the reputation of
that airplane. The first constellations came off the Burbank assembly lines during World
War II and served as military transports. At War's end commercial airlines would
begin ordering constellations. Eventually they would be in passenger
service around the world. To see it in the air was to
see the most graceful airplane. And that Connie became the the flagship of
Pan-American, Eastern Airlines, Chicago and Southern that became Delta and many airlines in
the European theater. Even Qantas Airlines down in the South Pacific they put drop tanks dip tanks
on the wing. Extended their range and made it look almost like a version of a of a military airplane
but it had still had the grace of a Connie in it. That airplane was in a commercial sense
the airplane that took us into the next and the next and the next generation of Lockheed airplanes.
The military constellation assembly line was one of many production lines that operated
simultaneously at Burbank during World War II. Employment grew by the tens of thousands to meet
wartime schedules. The employment grew so fast keeping head count was a near impossibility
for us in the factory area. In fact it wasn't our responsibility. We made the demand the
requirement the Personnel Department brought them in and trained them. We certified them as
being ready to go. We had a last word to say he's ready or send it back for a little more. Give them
a little more help. But in that process all of a sudden including our outlying plants as far away
as Bakersfield, Beverly Hills believe it or not. The old Ford motor plant called B2. The old Willys-
Overland plant in Maywood where we made our drop tanks for our P-38s. All of those airplanes and
all of those that called for the maximum effort on personnel and training. At that point we passed
well over the 90 000 mark. In fact some of our people will insist that we did reach the hundred
thousand mark. Conservatively speaking I would say 90 000 plus. From a little company that
remember started in 1928 with 80 people. Many women joined the wartime workforce. Yes oh,
the women came into Lockheed. They reached a peak of almost 40 percent of our production workforce.
They particularly adapted well to precision work. Their fingers were more nimble. We were all thumbs.
They could put an instrument panel together. They could assemble wiring bundles to install as
a unit into the airplanes. They could assemble hydraulic units very precisely. They adapted so
beautifully and we we brought that term out at the Vega company called "Rosie the Riveter." But
believe it or not Rosie the Riveter was a symbol but the riveting was one of many many skills that
they brought to our company. During the war the company's Burbank facilities had expanded to cover
several hundred acres. Factory buildings spread for half a mile east and west of the old China Company
quarters at Empire Avenue and San Fernando Road. A mile to the West another factory complex had
been created for B-17 and constellation production. By 1945 the Burbank factories had built almost
19 000 combat aircraft for America and her allies. When the war was over Lockheed continued
production of Constellations in commercial airline as well as military versions. The company and its
Vegas subsidiary also began designing new aircraft including one for the Navy's anti-submarine
patrol missions. it was named the Neptune. They wanted it to be compact, not cumbersome.
Small by comparison. So they come up with the idea that it would be a two engine airplane with
a tremendous fuel capacity to stay on station. And yet have the ability to carry the payload
that was required. And it had to have some unique features never before installed. For instance,
it required a magnetometer that heretofore had been used in the oil industry to find and
locate oil fields. Which was a device that was attached to the airplane it looked like
a stinger. And so they need to be Neptune was the second breath you might say of the
beginning of the very successful career of the Vega airplane company and its contributions to the
services. In another version, Operation High Jump South Pole Expedition. Suddenly we got
the request to develop a ski airplane. Well it would come out that it wasn't just
one it was the sequence of ski airplanes. Backup airplanes where the Navy was going to
go to the South Pole and do some exploratory work. Another very important contribution that p2b
was paid to the Navy and to our services into our country was the fact that it demonstrated
that it had the ability to stay airborne for hours beyond any aircraft up to that point.To
demonstrate that a commander took an airplane and designated the "Truculent Turtle." What a name for
an airplane that performed like the P2V. He flew that airplane non-stop from Australia to Columbus
Ohio. And incidentally when he landed he played it safe. He had enough fuel on board he could have
gone to what, to the Navy base in Washington DC. During 16 years starting in 1946 the Burbank
Plant built more than one thousand Neptunes in many versions. The P-2 also was built by
the Japanese under license from Lockheed. The factory buildings expanded in the
1940s to produce a variety of aircraft types. Including one that would become the
biggest airplane ever built in Burbank. Its assembly would require Lockheed's
largest building in Burbank. In the mid-1940s Lockheed was fortunate
enough to be contacted by the Navy to develop a here before never designed or built
aircraft known as The Constitution. It required a very special Hangar. We called it
The Constitution hanger because it had to have a clearance for that rin on that constitution of
six stories. The cockpit in fact was three stories above the ground. This facility hereafter
was known as The Constitution Hangar. Designed to take off at a maximum weight at 92
tons The Constitution needed turbine engines. Because turbines were not yet available,
the two prototypes began their test line with piston engines of 3 000 horsepower
each. The mission was to transport Navy personnel and air equipment, as well as a
senior officer, in an airborne command post. It took the initial first number, uh serial number
one, to Patuxent River. And to the amazement of the Navy test pilots in the program down at Pax River,
this airplane did things that no other airplane had ever done. And why? Because for the lack of the
turbine engines we installed Jato bottles integral to the wing. And we could take that airplane off
the ground with the equivalent of five engines in power. Each of those jato bottles developed
a thousand pounds of thrust for 14 seconds. And when you put 16 Turbo valves. Eight on each
side, a thousand pounds each. Suddenly, you had 16 000 pounds of Jato thrust. Lack of
power kept the Constitution from Full production but the prototypes were forerunners of huge
jet transports that would fly 20 years later. By the mid-1950s turboprop engines
were available. Lockheed began producing a new commercial airliner. The L-188
Electra using Allison T56 engines. It is a unique engine because it was a turbo prop
with a gearbox but it had two speeds. It had a ground idle and it had a cruise. So our L-188 known
as the Electra and our C-130 known as Hercules. The Hercules being developed in the Skunk Works
almost parallel to the Electra. They developed in our production line. Of course also been
demonstrated through our flight Engineering Group which was closely tied to our Skunk Works
operation because we were using the same power plants. We come up with this unique development
where we could give to the airline commercially an airplane that could get in out of facilities
that no other, even reciprocating engine in some instances, could handle. Because of its unique
ability to use maximum power with a constant speed engine. So the L-188 became a forerunner of
course of the pure jet airplane. And Airlines like American and Eastern flew that airplane and
and got maximum performance out of the airplane. The arrival of the pure Jets brought an
end to Electra production after only 170 sales. But the basic design
would still lead to a new Naval Patrol aircraft that would
remain in production for decades. As the transition from turboprop to Pure Jets come
along and the Electra line had served its purpose during that transition period. We had an airframe.
We had a hull, so to speak that had many potentials. And we had a power plant that had
obvious pros. And it became the Navy version of the L-188 which is
known as the P-3 Orion or the P-3 ASW aircraft. Lockheed built more than 500 P-3s at Burbank
before production was moved to other facilities. The Orion became the principal maritime
patrol aircraft of a dozen nations. At Burbank new ideas led to additional designs
that were built at other Lockheed facilities. The skunkworks P-80 fighter evolved into
a two-seat trainer the T-33. Over 5 000 were built at Palmdale
for Air Forces worldwide. In the 1950s a need for a long-range
very high altitude reconnaissance aircraft inspired Kelly Johnson
and his team to design the U2. There was an airplane that had to be able to
develop an ability to go out of the range of then-known missiles altitude wise. And have a
range of fuel consumption wise that was more extensive than even our long-range ASW type
airplanes, that were designed for long range. So they come up with a unique airplane with
a very slim glider type. Soaring glider type wing with a bicycle landing gear. A couple of
outbreakers. A very reliable power plant. And a set of instrumentation that could sense and do a
reconnaissance job that had never been done before. Working closely with Johnson on the
U2 and later on other Key Programs was Ben Rich, who was to become head of
the Skunk Works when Johnson retired. America's first Mach 2 fighter also
emerged from the Skunk Works in the 50s. Over 700 starfighters were built
at Palmdale and two thousand more were produced by Foreign manufacturers. In Italy
production continued through the 1970s. By the early 60s the huge Constitution Hangar
at the Burbank Airport was shrouded in Skunk work secrecy. Inside a radically new aircraft
was taking shape. Fabricated mainly of titanium much later it would be revealed to
the world as the SR-71 Blackbird. In 26 years of service with the Air Force SR-71s
gathered reconnaissance data while flying over troubled spots at altitudes above 80 000
feet and speeds over 2 000 miles per hour. The Blackbirds set world records
for Speed and altitude that Designer Kelly Johnson predicted would be long lasting. I think it'll be a long long time before we
have an airplane that has higher performance than the SR-71. Because the need for it is not
there in terms of the fact that we can have satellites circling the earth in 90 minutes. And
we do not have to go any faster than what we go with this one right here. And it'd be very
very expensive to go Mach 4 or faster. So we may be seeing here the highest speed military
airplane that there will be around for a long time. In 1969 Lockheed received a Navy contract to
develop a new anti-submarine Patrol aircraft that would operate from carriers. Production soon began
at Burbank. Coincident to the production of the P-3 and as a parallel and a new development came an
onboard. Carrier type 2 engine and a submarine warfare airplane that had multiple missions even
beyond the basic ASW. As a tanker as a support aircraft for the PS3 Fleet.Which accompanied
the carriers. That airplane is in operation today and with modifications has been updated
to concurrent requirements of the Navy. And will be known as the first ASW type
Lockheed built carrier airplane. In the 1970s we came into the wide-bodied
jet field with a high capacity L-1011 Tristar. A airplane that was so far ahead of its
competition design wise and capability wise that it became another Hallmark of Lockheed
achievement.I was uh fabricated sub-assembled in Burbank. The assembly line and the delivery
operation was at Palmdale in a new facility built primarily for L-1011 production. The airplane
even today is in use in various parts of the world. And you hear of it having new duties
to perform by new operators, new challenges, and it'll be around for a
long time as a as a standard. The last airplane Lockheed built at the Burbank
plant was completed in 1990. It was an F-117A stealth fighter. Produced in secrecy like many
of his predecessors, by the Skunk Works. Know this stealth fighter as it turns out will be the
very last complete total designed, fabricated, built, assembled airplane on our Burbank property. It will
have for its lifetime the signature of Ben Rich endorsed by Kelly Johnson by a strange coincidence.
I must add that the wingspan of that little F-117A stealth fighter is exactly the same wingspan of
the original Lockheed Vega. 42 feet. Just to harken back to the Genesis of Lockheed, the incubator
days of the old plywood Vega. And I'm sure Ben would acknowledge that the chain of development
and the heritage of Lockheed has inspired him as it is all of us. To continue to come forward with
the best that there is that Lockheed has to offer. Within months after production was completed, Air Force stealth Fighters were flying
combat missions in the Middle East. Writing another chapter in Lockheed's
development of advanced Airborne technology. Among the facilities vacated in 1991 was one built
in 1941, that was used for decades as headquarters. This building just across the street from
the airport, served as the headquarters the home, and the Heart of Lockheed. It was first
or initially occupied by the Vega company followed by the Lockheed California company.Then
the corporate headquarters and finally is the home of the Lockheed Aeronautical Systems
company. This building was the headquarters of our pioneering chairman of the board. Robert
Ellsworth Gross. Robert Gross was a great visionary. He saw the potential in the future of
our company. He was followed then by his brother Cortlandt. Who for Robert Gross always gave
credit to for the man that got the job done. Cortlandt then was followed by an outstanding
young man who came to us from outside the company. His name was Daniel J Haughton. Dan brought a broad
experience in leadership and his strengths that came naturally to Dan. Bringing people
together to execute a common project or objective. Then he was followed by a man from
outside the industry Robert haack. He carried us through a very difficult transition
period. He saw the strengths in our company. And he pointed out to us those areas where
we could be even stronger. Roy Anderson came to us with a financial background out of
Stanford University. Roy brought to us his abilities to select and develop
people and put a team together. Roy then was followed by the last chairman
of the board to occupy this now famous building. His name is Larry Kitchen a fighting Marine. Larry
didn't know how to use or spell the word quit. Larry was a man who got the job done and whom put
the team together and developed a common objective. Corporate headquarters moved from
Burbank to a new location in 1986 and soon decisions would be made to vacate the
once bustling manufacturing buildings as well. Change it goes beyond our changing of our
product. It goes beyond the changing of our facility requirements to keep up with technology.
Therefore when we restructure our company to meet the changing times. And the ambient environment or
conditions we work under both the contractually both market-wise and most in our
product lines. We must be sure that to survive as a viable company, ready to take on new and
yet unknown responsibilities, will require us to accept change as gracefully as we can. Knowing
that in some instances it could be a hardship. On other instances and these are the ones I like
to think about they create new opportunities. I'm reminded of one statement that goes
with just what's happening today in our restructuring of our company and our facilities.
It's Robert gross's statement. He said early on.. "when you work in the field of the air
you instinctively look up not down. You instinctively look ahead not back. You look
ahead where the horizons are absolutely unlimited." And looking ahead is what we must do today
and accept change. And accept the need to grow and to take advantage of The Changing Times
and the opportunities they make available to us. Harvey Kristen returned to the old plant site for
a last look at the vacant buildings where Robert Gross had his original office at Lockheed .
These 50 years of association with our dear Lockheed has been an adventure in friendships
and relationships of the greats of our company and the greats who flew our airplanes. This then
teenager will cherish those memories forever. He decided he wanted to design aircraft when
he was 12 years old after reading Tom Swift. and his airplane. He designed his first plane
before he'd ever seen one in person. When he first applied for a job at Lockheed the company
turned him down flat. He got his Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering and returned and was
rewarded for his persistence with an 83 dollar a month job as a tool designer. By the time
his career at Lockheed ended 47 years later he had built the most important aircraft
research and design facility in the world. There in Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works he
and the team he led revolutionized Aviation. For 30 years it was impossible to see a
significant display of American aircraft without seeing something Kelly Johnson had
designed. Whether it was a fighter, bomber, transport passenger liner, or even a spy plane, the
odds were that he had designed at least part of it. Without question he is the greatest aircraft
designer in history. He is Clarence Kelly Johnson. Clarence Kelly Johnson was born in the town
of Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on February 27 1910. The son of Swedish immigrants he
got his Irish nickname from schoolmates after he stood up to the school bully. He had been dealing
with some of the kids at the school calling him Clara since his first name was Clarence and he
finally had his fill of it and decided to take reprisals on one of the bullies. And after he was
finished the kids in the schoolyard decided that he could no longer be a Clara and instead they
were going to find some more appropriate name. And since Irishmen were known at that time for their
pugilistic skill they decided to dub him "Kelly." He designed his first airplane which he called
the Merlin Battle plane as a 12 year old and it won him a prize at school. He knew then that
was what he wanted to do with his life. He paid five dollars for his first flight. A
three-minute trip in a biplane that ended badly when the plane's engine conked out at 700 feet.
When he got older he worked in construction down at the Buick Factory and saved his money. He took his
savings to a flight school and asked to be taught to fly. The flight instructor a cash-strapped
Barnstormer refused Johnson's money and told the young man to spend it on College. Johnson
enrolled at the University of Michigan just before the stock market crash in 1929 and supported
himself washing dishes in fraternity houses. As an assistant in the Aeronautical Engineering
Department he worked with the school's wind tunnel. The school allowed him to rent the
tunnel out when it wasn't in use. Johnson charged 35 dollars an hour and helped
design a new streamlined Studebaker model. He graduated in 1932 and tried to enlist
in the Army Air corps but was refused. He returned to Michigan for his master's degree
and among other things used the Michigan wind tunnel to help design aerodynamic
racing cars for the Indianapolis 500. In 1933 he went to work for Lockheed in
California as an 83 a month tool designer. Lockheed at the time was a deeply troubled
company it had just emerged from bankruptcy and had bet its future on the Electra. A two-engine
transport. When Johnson arrived in Burbank his boss asked him what he thought of the plane. Johnson
looked and said it would be unstable and that he did not trust Lockheed's wind tunnel test.
Chief engineer Haul Hibbard sent Johnson back to Michigan with the model of the Electra and a
mandate to do his own study in his own wind tunnel. See if you can do better, Hibbard told him. He did.
After 72 tunnel tests Johnson came up with a newly designed flap system and traded the Electra's
single stabilizer for a twin Tale. Those changes stabilized the Electra and helped make it one
of the most successful airplanes of its time. Johnson returned to Lockheed a full enginee..
Assigned as the model 10 electors flight test engineer he at last started flying on a regular
basis. He befriended Amelia Earhart and advised her on several of her missions. She flew in Electra
and Johnson advised her on techniques of fuel mixing to help her get the best performance out
of her plane. He continued to work on updates to the Electra through Electra model 14 and was
soon attracting attention outside of Lockheed. In 1937 he won the Sperry award for outstanding
achievements in Aeronautics by a young man. That same year Congress passed the Neutrality Act.
That law was designed to keep the United States out of World War II. At the same time those in
the military had become convinced that American involvement in the war was inevitable. They
threw as many of their precious dollars as they could into the design of new equipment.
Lockheed won the competition to build a new fighter with a plane designed by Johnson. The
XP-38. With two engines and a double fuselage it was an unconventional aircraft that had its
share of problems. Particularly its high-speed and tight maneuvering sometimes created forces so
great that they shattered the plane in midair. Once again Johnson went back to his wind
tunnel and after making a few changes to the plane's design. It passed Army Air corps
muster and was ordered into limited production. Johnson the designer was 27 years old. In the late 1930s
Lockheed came back from bankruptcy largely on the strength of its commercial aircraft. The Electra
in particular had built a profitable customer base. But if Lockheed was going to grow it was going
to have to build a successful military aircraft business. The P-38 was a start. Though when the Army
Air Force first awarded the contract, no one knew how many thousands of planes would eventually
be built. In 1938 with Europe on the brink of War the British set a purchasing commission to
the United States in search of military aircraft. Particularly a long-distance Coastal Patrol
bomber that could be used to hunt submarines. The commission scheduled to visit several
aircraft manufacturers did not originally intend to visit Lockheed. Their schedule changed at the
last minute and Lockheed was invited to make a presentation with only five days to prepare. During
the five days of preparation for the Brits Johnson showed what he was destined to become famous for
the ability to make something entirely new out of existing components and to manage a project to
completion with a ruthless eye to the deadline. He himself lived by The Credo "be quick, be quiet beyond time."
He was somebody who believed very much in getting good people and giving them the ability
to do what they do best. He also believed in minimizing the number of people working on any one
project. In only five days Johnson and his crew not only redesigned the Electra to fit the needs of
the Royal Air Force. They also built from scratch a full-scale wooden model of the Plane. A civilian
transport converted into a median bomber. The Brits were amazed. They were so impressed by Johnson
and his crew they invited Lockheed Executives to England to confer with the Air Ministry.
Johnson went along. At the meetings the British changed the design specifications necessitating a
complete redesign of the aircraft. Johnson locked himself in a London hotel room and at only 72
hours completed the engineering drawings. The British were once again amazed and Lockheed got
the contract. But not before the British expressed their hesitancy about working with an engineer as
young and inexperienced as the 28 year old Johnson. Lockheed reassured the air Minister who ordered
200 of what became known as the Hudson bomber. It was the largest single order of aircraft
ever received by an American manufacturer. And upon the party's return to the United States
Lockheed promoted Johnson to chief engineer. In 1939 the Congress significantly increased
the defense budget and P-38 started rolling off the line in record numbers. During this period
Johnson truly mastered the art of manufacturing streamlining production processes and developing
an entirely new job, the program manager. Now a staple of manufacturing, the program manager
is a person far down the chain of command who has working control of a project. If that all seems
a bit heavy on the business administration in a discussion of aircraft, consider this... Johnson
believed that outstanding aircraft designed and manufactured quickly were inevitably the product
of a single visionary. That Visionary was usually of course Johnson. He was not someone who believed
in development via committee. He was also somebody who hated lengthy reports and normally limited
any report that was sent to him to 20 pages. He believed in brevity. He believed in Clarity and he
believed in get giving people the tools necessary to get the job done. In 1943 Lockheed put Johnson
in charge of advanced products research. Setting him up on a plot of land on the outskirts of
Burbank California. Johnson called his new kingdom The Skunk Works after the still in a cartoon strip
Little Abner that was responsible for the making of a mysterious and Powerful Brew called Skonk
Works. In the Little Abner cartoon there was a potent mystery Elixir known as Kickapoo joy juice.
And Kickapoo joy juice was made at the Skunk Works or Skonk Works as it was called in the comic strip.
Through a variety of things that were thrown into a giant mixture among them skunks old shoes and
things like that. And the nickname was applied to the Lockheed operation because indeed it was
a mystery Elixir nobody was quite sure what was going on in there. But they knew that a lot of
things were being thrown into it and that Kelly Johnson was pulling a lot of people from various
locations in order to create something interesting. The job of the Skunk Works was to quickly, cheaply
and secretly develop advanced aircraft that could help win the war. Its first assignment was the P-80
shooting star. The first American jet. Intelligence had determined the Germans were far along in their
development of Jets. And the not So secret fear of the Army Air Force was that the Nazis would deploy
their jets in large numbers before the war in Europe had ended. The effect on the Allied bombing
campaign would have been horrendous. The Allies propeller driven fighters would have been almost
useless against the jet-powered fighter. Kelly Johnson in his efforts to oversee those operations
would pull people from other projects and would go about trying to get a minimum number of the very
best people and put them on the project, give them minimal supervision but let them, trust them, to
be able to do the jobs that they're chosen to do. After setting up the Skunk Works and recruiting
his team Johnson went to work on the P-80. Lockheed's contract with the Army Air
Force gave him an incredibly short schedule. 180 days, Johnson went on a binge
of designing and set his team to work on various critical paths and had the Prototype
ready for testing 37 days ahead of schedule. In five months Lockheed had designed and built the
first American jet. They hauled it from Burbank to Muroc Air base in the California desert for
testing. Fearful that there might be spies in the surrounding hills they disguise the jet
during transport with a plywood propeller. Johnson said years later that when he rolled out
a new plane for testing there was only one thing he thought about. What have I forgotten?
In the case of the P-80 despite the short design and construction cycle, he hadn't forgotten
much. It was a beautiful aircraft faster and more agile than anything in the American
Arsenal. The war ended before it saw combat but it evolved into the T-33. One of the best
and longest lived jet trainers in history. When the war ended however, there were
those who questioned whether the Skunk Works had a role to fill. After World War
I the business of Aviation had shrunk almost to non-existent. After World War II many
people expected that it would again. But there were two basic differences between
the ends of the wars. First, the United States was engaged in the world after World War II in
a way it wasn't after World War I. No one could reasonably expect the world's only nuclear power
to go back into hibernation. And second, before the war ended it became clear that the post-war
world would require a strong and ready military. Because when the day the Japanese surrendered
the world separated into two groups of allies. Those in the Communist East under the control of
Joseph Stalin and those in the Democratic West. World War II was over but the cold war was
just beginning. Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works were just about to become the most
important aircraft developers in the world. Over the course of his career Kelly
Johnson designed more than 40 aircraft. His most prolific period by far was in
the 1950s. That was a decade of tremendous technological advance achieved in an
atmosphere of never-ending crisis. And there was no better place for aeronautical
Engineers to work than the Skunk Works. Johnson designed and built The Constellation. The
most elegant aircraft of its time and a plane that served effectively in both civilian and military
roles. He experimented unsuccessfully with vertical takeoff and Landing aircraft with the idea that
they could operate from relatively small ships. He designed the F-104 Starfighter. At 1300 miles an
hour the fastest aircraft ever flown at the time. It was a sometimes fussy plane to fly and at more
than Mach 2 there wasn't a lot of room for error. It was adapted around the world to a number of
difficult tasks including carrying nuclear weapons. Johnson didn't approve of all the modifications
others were making to his plane but could do little about them. As the Cold War heated up it
became clear that the United States needed a way to peer deep into Russian territory. East of the
Ural mountains where the Russians did their atomic research and where they developed their aircraft
and missiles. The United States didn't even have an accurate topographical map let alone a way
of getting information on Military capabilities. The Air Force put out a quiet request
for a fast high altitude plane that could overfly Russia and bring back
pictures of the Communist secret bases. Johnson at first toyed with modifying the
F-104, but it lacked the range and would be too difficult to fly on Long missions. In
1954 he sent the Air Force a proposal to build a plane that could fly at a range of 4 000 miles above seventy thousand feet. It would be slower than the Air Force had hoped but at that
altitude would be high above Russian air defenses. The Air Force didn't believe Johnson could do
it. They doubted any jet engine would work at that altitude and instead ordered a competition
between manufacturers for the best biplane design. President Eisenhower approved a 35 million
dollar contract with the Competition winner. Johnson and his Skunk Works team went
into overdrive in mid-november 1954 he met with a government Advisory board on
what was then called the CL-282 project. Ten days later he formed the team to
design the craft. On December 2nd the first 12 Engineers went to work designing the
aircraft systems. And the first design drawings were completed and released to the shop
for manufacture the next day. A week later the drawings were complete. And by the end of the
year he'd won the contract and frozen the design. Wind tunnel testing completed in March. The first
plane finished in July and the first flight took place on August 4th 1955. In less than a year from
pipe dream to first flight, Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works had designed and built a completely
new kind of airplane. The U2 had something of a patched together quality to be sure. The first
one, cut weight by leaving out the ejection seat and the balancing wheels on the wings dropped
off a takeoff to lose a few more pounds. The engineers were still making modifications on
the craft in the summer of 1956 when a young pilot named Francis Gary Powers saw his first U2
parked on the taxiway at a secret base in Nevada. It had not been built to last he said years later.
Powers was among the pilots who flew spy missions over the Russian Heartland in the U2. And for
years it was safely out of range of the Soviets. The planes routinely returned with photographs
showing Russian Fighters four miles below them. Coming up for a fight but unable to
fly high enough to get a shot off. Eventually however the Russians improved
their air defenses and by the time Powers was shot down in 1960 Johnson was already
at work on his next Generation spy plane. Johnson with the U2's flying with seeming
impunity had gone back to the government to propose a plane that could fly ten thousand feet
higher and four times as fast as the subsonic U2. Building a plane that would cruise at Mach 3.2
Johnson said years later, was the hardest thing the Skunk Works ever did. Everything about
the plane Johnson said had to be invented. In 1960 the Air Force gave the go-ahead for
Johnson to develop the A-12. A plane that didn't succeed as an Interceptor but paved the way for
its slightly larger sister the SR-71 Blackbird. Built out of titanium which is light and could
tolerate the 500 degree temperatures that built up as the plane sliced through the atmosphere at
more than three times the speed of sound. The Black- birds were like something out of a science fiction
movie. The rollout was Johnson's proudest day and it was he said the smoothest
test flight he'd ever been through. Johnson who had never been much of a talker
insisted that he was not bothered by the fact that he couldn't talk about his perfect airplane. If I
can talk about it he'd like to say it's obsolete. But years later when word of the SR-71 had
leaked out and the Air Force had stopped denying its existence he took joy in its
racing from New York to London. A distance of almost 3 500 miles in less than two
hours. And before the Blackbirds were retired in March 1990, an SR-71 flew across
the United States Coast to Coast in 68 minutes. Kelly Johnson retired from Lockheed in 1975. Even then he was a presence at the Skunk Works.
His 14 rules of effective program management are gospel there and are taught in some of
the leading Business Schools in the world. Johnson even consulted with Lockheed during the
development of the F-117 Stealth fighter. As an old man he said that there would come a time when
aircraft were no longer relevant. People wouldn't travel for business he said because they could
sit at their desks and talk to people in Europe by video phone. And on the battlefield manned
aircraft were no longer cost effective in an age of missiles. Though it hasn't happened yet don't
bet against it. I think his greatest contribution was in the vision that he had for the skunk
works for Lockheed, for American Aviation. And in his ability to translate that vision into
something that other people embraced and believed in and wanted to work toward. To a great extent his
greatest contribution was his ability to get other people to commit to his dream. Kelly Johnson
died just before Christmas in 1990.
