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Kelly Johnson Research Paper

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“Keep it simple, stupid”, was a phrase that Kelly Johnson followed. It means that things, such as military systems or equipment, work better if kept things nice and simple. How Clarence “Kelly” Johnson changed aeronautics, he had a part in designing things such as the F-117 Stealth Fighter and the SR-71 Blackbird, as well as U-2 spy plane, and the famed Model 10 Electra, the plane that Amelia Earhart flew on her attempted flight around the world. Kelly Johnson was born in a small town in Michigan called Ishpeming, born of parents of Swedish descent on February 27, 1910. He won his first airplane design prize at age 13, and he went to Mott Community college, and then to University of Michigan, to receive a Bachelor and Master’s Degree, How he ended up with the name Kelly, it was said that he broke a kids leg in grade school after being made fun of in grade school, thus the kids there decided to take the name of a popular song and attach it to him. …show more content…

However, his professor submitted the design to Lockheed where it was picked up. There, Kelly Johnson began working his way up, while working on the Model 10 Electra, eventually creating the perfect design. Actually, the name of Lockheed’s, now Lockheed Martin’s secret development sector, Skunk Works, came from one of the engineers under Kelly Johnson. As there was a vile smelling plastic factory nearby the Skunk Works, the engineer, Irv Culver, began answering the phone with “Skonk Works!”, but when the name got leaked, they changed the name in order to not be possibly sued by a comic strip

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