There’s an enigmatic hint in their words: “Darkstar’s capabilities could be more than mere fiction. They could be reality…” Therefore, I found these four items from the book, (which I hadn't known or fully appreciated before reading the book,)particularly striking: And there’s more to the book than the story of technical achievements. For one thing, it includes some of the more interesting failures. We also get to hear the dramatic stories of men who flew these planes, like the U-2 pilot who accidentally flew into the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly sparking WW3, to the stealth bomber pilot whose bomb bay doors didn’t close after he dropped his payload in Iraq. With the doors open he was uncomfortably exposed to enemy radar, and he had to crank the doors shut by hand as a missile streaked towards him (once the doors were shut he became invisible again and the missile missed).

Most companies have a culture of extrinsic rewards (external motivators). Managers reward the behavior they want more of and punish the behavior they dislike. Skunk Works is one of those phrases which sets aviation fans' hearts a-flutter. The secretive engineering team from Burbank was responsible for some of the most incredible planes of all times. The SR-71 was built in the 1960s, and it remains the highest flying, fastest plane in aviation. It's a marvel of engineering built with slide rules.There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly. So, this is the 3rd time I read this book, and my review would have been different each time. I read it before I ever did any aircraft acquisition or flight test work, I read it while doing flight test, and now after having done program office work too. I fear we’ve lost the edge - and we’ve stood up a ton of “werx” organizations to emulate, but I’m not sure they hit the mark. So Kelly’s team rented a circus tent to work on the project and delivered the fighter in just 143 days. According to lore, the tent had a pungent smell because it was sitting adjacent to a plastics factory in Burbank. The name Skunk Works was born.

One of the glass cases features an unassuming briefcase. It’s the one Johnson used when visiting CIA headquarters to show an early model of what became the A-12, a predecessor of the SR-71.Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likeable man.' Damon Hill During the 1950's, information from CIA director Allen Dulles supplied to US citizens regarding Soviet military strength suggested a crushing military superiority of the Soviets over the US...Dulles' data at the time did not support his conclusions... The CIA's misinformation helped to create a climate of fear in the US-- at this time, polls showed a majority of Americans believed death in a nuclear war was a likelihood;