Chapter 4 concludes the story of the F-117 with several stories from pilots of the F-117 and different missions it was involved in. It isn’t a dry list of problems and their solutions but instead uses it to explain the Skunkworks style, character, and Kelly’s 14 rules (Reproduced in the next section). It continues on in chapter 2 and 3 with the story of building Have Blue and then turning it into the F-117. Well, it actually starts with the design of Have Blue, the prototype for the F-117. Instead, it starts with the most important plane he designed, the F-117 stealth fighter. Skunkworks is not a linear telling of Ben Rich’s time at Skunk Works. I look forward to reading this book again in the future when I’m well into my career to again see how my views on it change. These titans of aerospace now seem less like gods magically pulling advancements out of thin air and became something I could recognize from people I worked with.

Parts like how the funding for the U-2 was routed through a personal bank account to keep it secret, to having a massive fire next to hydrogen tanks on a commercial airport. Today, I’m still awed, but now at the behind the scenes and development portions. When I was a freshman I was awed at the SR-71 and the amazing feats it accomplished like flying above Mach 3. This wasn’t my first readthrough of Skunk Works, but the last time I had read it I was a freshman in my engineering degree and I wanted to see if it still holds up as well as I remembered. How my Views of the Book Changed Over Time I wish those firefighters the best of luck and to remain safe as they continue to fight the fire. Note on YosemiteĪs I’m writing this Yosemite was just shut down by the Ferguson Fire. Aside from a forest fire, the weather in Yosemite was gorgeous, the book was just that good. This wasn’t due to some unexpected downtime like being stuck in an airport or having a hike rained out in Yosemite. It was a week long trip and I finished it on the third day. My copy of Skunk Works is almost 400 pages long and I was expecting it to keep me busy until part way through the flight home.

He ended up leading the skunkworks and both championed and oversaw development of America’s first stealth fighter, the F-117. Ben Rich, the writer, started at skunkworks as an engineer and stayed there for the rest of his career working on planes from the U-2 to the SR-71. Skunkworks is an autobiographical account about one of America’s premier aerospace research and development labs, Skunkworks at Lockheed Martin. I brought Ben Rich’s Skunk Works with me as a way to entertain myself during the flight to California as well as during any downtime that might pop up on my trip. This last week I’ve been on vacation hiking in Yosemite.

Ben rich skunk works book