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Comment by cehrlich | Hacker News Reader

To anyone who is interested in this stuff I would strongly recommend the book “Skunk Works” by Ben Rich. Full of interesting history about stealth planes, and a masterclass on how to run a ragtag company.

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Also Kelly Johnsons book “More than my share of it all”. Kelly designed the SR71 and U2 and brought them in on time and under budget.

As a side note, Kelly Johnson really did have more than his share of it all. Head of Skunk Works, during which he had 2 wives who died from health issues over the course of 20 years. As someone with a partner who had years of health problems, I have no idea how you run something like Skunk Works and care for someone at the same time.

He had a ranch in Agoura, near the SSFL, which might have had an impact on them.

SSFL?

Nuclear meltdown covered up for decades.

It's not just about the meltdown. Rocketdyn also illegally disposed of toxic chemicals by burning and/or blowing them up.

Santa Susana Field Laboratory. It was picked up by Boeing when they acquired Rocketdyne and I had the pleasure(?) of visiting a few times. The building I visited was across the street from where the meltdown had occurred, but it had a separate history of some nuclear contamination. All of it had been allegedly cleaned up, except that we were all instructed to never use the running water for anything but flushing the toilet.

Boeing was pretty stupid to accept the SSFL as part of the Rocketdyne deal because they assumed liability for cleaning it up. Someday, if it ever gets cleaned up enough, the State of California will take over the land and make it into a public park.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laborator... reads like something straight out of 1970ies fatalistic scifi like Dark Star.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=SSFL

Also this documentary was made recently:

https://www.inthedarkofthevalley.com/

Yeah that’s right. He started a foundation to provide long term hospice care in a setting that would allow relatives to be with their loved ones for extended periods - based on his own experience. I’m not sure what happened to it - could not find with a quick Google. But it’s mentioned at the end of his book.

Could Lockheed ever be described as "ragtag"? Even with some independence it would still be a department of a huge company.

Yes. A wonderful read. So good I read it again!

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