Ben R. Rich's 'Skunk Works': An Inside Look at the Legendary Lockheed Martin Program by Leo Janos

Alberto Villa: Nothing else to add apart of the title of this review

Spain on Aug 29, 2023

Jukka Liimatta: The amount of interview and research done for this book is massive, and the information is well presented and organised. I read through this at full speed, didn't disappoint.

United States on Aug 08, 2023

Ubaldo Alvarez: Incredible insight into some of Lockheed's great minds of the early Skunkworks days.

United States on Jul 31, 2023

Andrea Quintavalle: Eccezionale, si scoprono cose che per un appassionato di aeronautica sono incredibili. Scorre bene anche se in inglese. Da comprare.

Italy on Jul 17, 2023

Max: Great stuff. Right up there with Blind Mans Bluff. You won't be disappointed.

Canada on Jun 24, 2023

Beth: My son works for Lockheed found this book fascinating. Recommend!

United States on Jun 22, 2023

MIT_girl: This book provides interesting details on several spy planes built by Lockheed from 60-s to mid-90s. IT talks about the organization that built the planes (Skunk Works division of Lockheed), and the challenges that it faced in doing so. Enormous amounts of money the US government spent on developing those planes will open your eyes - the amounts are mentioned in the book, and are simply extraordinary.
Because the book is written by a retired director of this organization, it is not impartial - it has a lot of statements where the author takes all the credit himself and blames others when things fail, and many statements glorifying many aspects of the organization as a whole. He also took many pages to give his two cents on every subject where he felt like his onion was not heard enough - along with describing why "actually" some of the contracts have been lost, some failures happened, etc.
I knew little about spy airplanes, and learned a lot from this book.

United States on Jun 16, 2023

Andrea Gatti: Ben Rich was a great storyteller, his first hand account is an amazing view inside the Skunk Works activities. Not all can be written but this book is enough to understand the vision of a different industrial organisation and a way of teamwork that is an unicum. It describes also the feeling of the Cold War and the challenges in creating some of the most incredible solutions in aerospace engineering.

Italy on Apr 21, 2023

Muttley: I seldom write reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book... While it covers the production years of the F117 and Blackbird the book is just that - it's about the staff and production of those aircraft rather than the aircraft themselves per se.
The book is also littered with other viewpoints other than the author's.
At the end of it, you appreciate that these highly specialised aircraft probably wouldn't have been created outside of the Skunk Works environment.
You also realise some of the US military procurement strategies are truly staggering in their arrogance and stupidity - something only someone on the inside could appreciate and document.
Overall a really interesting memoir about a golden era of ground-breaking aircraft production by someone rightly proud of their achievements.

United Kingdom on Mar 18, 2023

waltinusa@yahoo.com: This is the detailed exciting story of how revolutionary aeronautical technology was created and changed aeronautical warfare. 

 It is also a handbook on how high energy strong-willed, technology visionaries like like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Lockheed's Kelly Johnson function as managers. The technology evolution is extraordinary and the lessons about managing in a futuristic high tech environment are outstanding. 

Chapter 16 on conclusions, is a detailed very specific list of procurement process changes that are necessary If great technology is going to be able to continue to override the political self-interest of individuals in the procurement process. 

On page 308 the equation describing the Harvard (HBS) summer certificate programs for technology companies says (2/3 of HBS=BS). But as we know, with two variables, two equations are necessary. The second equation in my personal opinion, having been in the courses, should be (1/3 of HBS=Ag), students must sort the BS from the Ag for themselves.

United States on Sep 05, 2022