Clarence Johnson
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"Kelly Johnson" redirects here. For other uses, see Kelly Johnson (disambiguation).
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson (February 27, 1910 - December 21, 1990) was an aircraft engineer and aeronautical innovator — widely considered one of the most talented and prolific aircraft design-engineers. Johnson worked for Lockheed for more than four decades, playing a leading role in the design of over forty aircraft.
Born to immigrant Swedish parents in the remote mining town of Ishpeming, Michigan, Johnson designed his first aircraft, for which he won a prize, before he was thirteen. He worked his way through school, first at Flint Junior College, and then at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. While a student at the University of Michigan, he conducted a wind tunnel test for Lockheed of their proposed twin-engined Lockheed L-10 Electra airliner. His findings showed that the aircraft did not have adequate directional stability and he proposed adding a "H" tail. Lockheed did incorporate this change and the aircraft was a success. This helped bring Johnson to the attention of the management at Lockheed.
With a master's degree under his belt, Johnson joined the Lockheed Company in 1933 as a tool designer at a salary of $83 a month. After assignments as flight test engineer, stress analyst, aerodynamicist, and weight engineer, he became chief research engineer in 1938. In 1952 Johnson was appointed chief engineer of Lockheed's Burbank, California plant, which later became the Lockheed-California Company. In 1956 he was chosen for the post of Vice President of Research and Development.
Johnson became Vice President of Advanced Development Projects (ADP) in 1958. The first ADP offices were nearly uninhabitable; the stench from a nearby plastic factory was so vile one of the engineers began answering the phone "skonk works!" (Big Barnsmell's Skonk Works – spelled with an "o" – was where Kickapoo Joy Juice was brewed in the comic strip L'il Abner by Al Capp.)
Johnson's famed 'down-to-brass-tacks' management style was summed up by his motto, "Be quick, be quiet, and be on time."
He joined Lockheed's board of directors in 1964, becoming a senior vice president of the corporation in 1969. He officially retired from Lockheed in 1975 but continued as a consultant at the Skunk Works. He was eventually succeeded by Ben Rich, and left the Lockheed Board of Directors in 1980. In June of 1983 the Lockheed Rye Canyon Research facility was renamed Kelly Johnson Research and Development Center, Lockheed-California Company, in honor of Johnson's 50 years of service to the company.
Kelly Johnson was first married to Althea Louise Young in 1937, who died in December 1969. His second marriage was in May 1971 to MaryEllen Elberta Meade of New York, who died on October 13, 1980, at 38 years of age. Johnson then married Nancy Powers Horrigan in November 1980.
Johnson wrote an autobiography titled Kelly: More Than My Share of it All, ISBN 0-87474-491-1, first published in 1985.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson died at the age of 80 at St Joseph Medical Center, after an illness that lasted for several years. He is buried at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Aircraft contributions
Kelly Johnson contributed to the design of the following Lockheed aircraft:
- Orion 9D
- Model 10
- Model 12 Electra/XC-35/C-36/Y1C-37
- Model 14 Super Electra
- Model 18 Lodestar
- PV-1 Ventura/B-37
- P-38 Lightning
- Constellation/Super Constellation
- F-80 Shooting Star
- T-33/TV-2 trainers
- P2V Neptune
- XF-90
- F-94 Starfire
- X-7
- F-104 Starfighter
- C-130 Hercules
- U-2
- Blackbird family: A-12, YF-12, SR-71, M-21, and D-21
- JetStar/C-140
- Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne
- See also: List of Lockheed aircraft
[edit] Further reading
- Johnson, Clarence L. "Kelly"; Maggie Smith. (1985) Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 0-87474-564-0
- Rich, Ben; Leo Janos. (1996) Skunk Works. Little, Brown & Company, ISBN 0-316-74300-3
