Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich
(New York: Back Bay, 1996), 372
- U-2 fuel caused a national bug spray shortage
- the Russians supplied titanium for the SR-71
- they aimed to be 80% correct in their calculations instead of perfect, which saved on schedule and overruns
- about business school: “2/3 of HBS is BS”
- his counter offer from Kelly Johnson when Northrop recruited him
- Kelly: “don’t build an airplane you don’t believe in; don’t prostitute yourself for bucks”
- a Skunk Works type organization needs generalists who are open to non-conventional approaches
- SR-71 was originally called the RS-71