Kelly
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The interdependent feeling found among ranchers and farmers still, the same spirit of frontiersmen who knew they required each others’ help, sent a neighbor to the south of us to drive over with a truck bearing a water tank. He is a man we had yet to meet. The help was much appreciated but not needed. Firefighters with three helicopters and two water bombers arrived within minutes of being called and put out the fire within an hour.
There have been other fires in the area from this same source. The spark arresters on these machines are made of ordinary galvanized wire screening and burn out in about a month’s time. They meet the legal requirements, but obviously that is not good enough. I am designing new spark arresters of stainless steel for our equipment.
Another crop we harvest each year at the ranch is walnuts from about 40 trees. This is not a paying crop, though. It’s a Christmas present for friends.
It is out of the question to try to raise a vegetable garden, much as we should like to do so. There are too many gophers that we’ve never found a way to eliminate.
Our riding horses we take care of ourselves. I presented Nancy with a new Palomino, and she rides frequently. My own horse is ridden so seldom anymore that I have about given up that activity. I do not wish to be thrown and get a broken back at this time in my life.
I do spend a great deal of time rebuilding the machinery—keeping the trucks, tractors, and other equipment in condition. I still love working with machinery. I can spend as much time as I have in my shop. It is so well-equipped that we very seldom have to call on outside help. This has been a big part of my enthusiasm for the ranch—keeping all the equipment running. I think that without it, the expense of running the ranch would be about twice what it is.
Most of the major projects I’ve wanted to build on the ranch have been completed now. One of the first projects I undertook when I bought Star Lane was to build a combined dam and bridge over the creek that runs through the ranch. I had to decide whether to stress it for just a hay truck or a heavier load such as a Minuteman missile. The missile won out. Anything of that weight could safely be carried over the creeks on my ranch. Should the day ever come when weapons need to be dispersed from nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base, or elsewhere, Star Lane won’t be a bottleneck to their being deployed in the surrounding mountains.
My work always has been exciting to me and still is. Very serious study, while demanding, always has been a joy. I literally love aerodynamics, mathematics, physics, machinery—all the tools of my trade. I consider myself very fortunate to have lived my professional life doing exactly what I always wanted to do.
The fantasizing I did as a boy, imagining myself to be Tom Swift, I still do—but now as Jules Verne, stranded somewhere on an island with no ready-made means of escape. As I swim across the pool at the ranch or at home in Encino, I pose problems to myself. How would I make an airplane from absolute scratch? How would I find the ore, dig it up, smelt it? How make steel? How devise an engine, carburetor, ignition system? What could I build? Tractor? Ship? Or, not so isolated as Verne, what could I accomplish from scratch using only the tools at the ranch. The mental challenge is entertainment for me.
Not all of my heroes have been in fantasy, though. There are a few from real life. Dr. Charles Kettering, for many years in charge of research for General Motors, is one. I learned a great deal in just reading about him and how he operated, though I never met the man. He headed an excellent laboratory and made many important contributions—among them the electric starter for automobiles that made it easier for women to drive.
It took a hard crank to start the engine before that.
Thomas Edison is another of the men I most admire. He was such a prodigious inventor and so tenacious in pursuing a goal. He was not afraid to go off into untried areas, not afraid of criticism for doing so. He not only was interested in invention—e.g., the electric light bulb—but followed it to practicality.
My own life has come full circle. It’s a long way from the harsh climate of Northern Michigan to the luxuriant mountains and valleys of Southern California. But the same elements are there that I so loved in my boyhood. The ranch is my hideaway in the woods, the horses and dogs are my pets, the shop is my most enjoyed hobby, and, of course, my library is extensive. The same good things—just a lot fancier and more of them.
Once again I have a happy home life. Nancy and I divide our time between Encino and Star Lane. I continue to work several days each week at Lockheed and travel frequently to Washington for consultation on aerospace matters. Nancy accompanies me, and we enjoy the social exchange with many different people. Whenever we have time back in California, we spend a three-day weekend at the ranch.
It’s a quiet life there—usually golf at Alisal and dinner out on Friday. Nancy is a good cook and we enjoy the time to ourselves without help in the house. We have our live-in housekeeper, Carmen Loayza, in Encino and our two police dogs, Wolf and Prince. In the first year of our married life we spent a family Thanksgiving at the ranch and Christmas in Encino.
On the way to completing this book, I was detoured by Dr. Jerome Sacks for a triple bypass heart operation—my second. It had been nine years since the first.
The final chapter of my life is not yet written. But if God should call me tonight, I will have had more than my share of it all—poverty and wealth, struggle and success, obscurity and recognition, sickness and strength, sorrow and joy, happiness and love.
More than my share.
Appendix
Awards and Honors
1937 Lawrence Sperry Award, presented by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) for “important improvements of aeronautical design of high speed commercial aircraft”—for development of Fowler flap on Model 14. Presented annually “for outstanding achievement in aeronautics by young men.”
1941 The Wright Brothers Medal, presented by the Society of Automotive Engineers for work on control problems of four-engine airplanes.
1956 The Sylvanus Albert Reed Award, presented by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, for “design and rapid development of high-performance subsonic and supersonic aircraft.”
1959 Co-recipient of the Collier Trophy as designer of the airframe of the F-104 Starfighter, sharing the honor with General Electric (engine) and U.S. Air Force (flight records). The F-104 was designated the previous year’s “greatest achievement in aviation in America.”
1960 The General Hap Arnold Gold Medal, presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for design of the U-2 high-altitude research plane.
1963 The Theodore von Kármán Award, presented by the Air Force Association for designing and directing development of the U-2, “thus providing the Free World with one of its most valuable instruments in the defense of freedom.”
1964 The Medal of Freedom, presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson in ceremonies at the White House. The highest civil honor the President can bestow, this recognizes “significant contributions to the quality of American life.” Kelly Johnson was cited for his advancement of aeronautics.
1964 The Award of Achievement, presented by the National Aviation Club of Washington, D.C., for “outstanding achievement in airplane design and development over many years, including such models as the Constellation, P-80, F-104, JetStar, the U-2, and climaxed by the metallurgical and performance breakthroughs of the A-11 (YF-12A).
1964 The Collier Trophy (his second), following work on the 2,000-mph YF-12A interceptor. His achievement, for the previous year was called the greatest in American aviation.
1964 The Theodore von Kármán Award (his second), presented by the Air Force Association for his work with the A-11 (YF-12A) interceptor.
1964 Honorary degree of doctor of engineering, University of Michigan.
1964 Honorary degree of doctor of science, University of Southern California.
1964 Honorary degree of doctor of laws, University of California at Los Angeles.
1965 San Fernando
Valley Engineer of the Year, so designated by the San Fernando, California, Valley Engineers’ Council.
1965 Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
1965 Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
1966 The Sylvanus Albert Reed Award (his second), given by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics “in recognition of notable contributions to the aerospace sciences resulting from experimental or theoretical investigations.”
1966 National Medal of Science, presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House.
1966 The Thomas D. White National Defense Award, presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
1967 Elected Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
1968 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
1969 The General William Mitchell Memorial Award, presented by the Aviators Post 743 of the American Legion at Biltmore Hotel, Wings Club, February 14.
1970 Spirit of St. Louis Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
1970 On behalf of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects facility, which he directed until his retirement in 1975, accepted the first annual Engineering Materials Achievement Award of the American Society for Metals. The ADP program “took titanium out of the development phase into full production for aircraft application.”
1970 The Engineering Merit Award presented by the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering, Beverly Hills, Calif.
1970 Honored by the Air Force Association, Washington, D.C., for his design of the P-38 Lightning.
1971 Sixth Annual Founders Medal by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) at the Statler-Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C., in recognition of his fundamental contributions to engineering.
1972 The Silver Knight Award by the Lockheed Management Club of California at the Hollywood Palladium for his contributions to Lockheed’s success.
1973 The first “Clarence L. Johnson Award” by the Society of Flight Test engineers in Las Vegas, Nevada, for his contributions to aviation and flight-test engineering.
1973 Civilian Kitty Hawk Memorial Award by Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding contributions in the field of aviation.
1974 Air Force Exceptional Service Award for his many outstanding contributions to the United States Air Force, from 1933 to 1974. Presented by Secretary of Air Force John McLucas.
1974 Enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, for his outstanding contributions to aviation.
1975 The Central Intelligence Agency’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal for his work on reconnaissance systems, rarely awarded outside intelligence “club.”
1975 The Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for his vital and enduring contributions over a period of 40 years to the design and development of military and commercial aircraft.
1978 The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics presented “A Salute to Kelly Johnson” night—an hour-long, multi-media presentation of his career highlights.
1980 Bernt Balchen trophy, the highest award of the New York State Air Force Association, presented annually to “an individual of national prominence whose contribution to the field of aviation has been unique, extensive or of great significance.” It followed announcement of the SR-71.
1981 The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, presented by Defense Secretary Harold Brown.
1981 Honored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) through election to the Fellow grade of membership for “his abilities to motivate a small staff to work within a tight time frame and budget in creating revolutionary aircraft designs.”
1981 USAF creates “Kelly Johnson Blackbird Achievement Trophy” to “recognize the individual or group who has made the most significant contribution to the U-2, SR-71, or TR-1 program since the previous annual reunion.”
1981 Daniel Guggenheim Medal “for his brilliant design of a wide range of pace-setting, commercial, combat, and reconnaissance aircraft, and for his innovative management techniques which developed these aircraft in record time at minimum cost.”
1982 Meritorious Service to Aviation award from National Business Aircraft Association, recognizing design of more than 40 aircraft, including the world’s first business jet, the JetStar.
1983 The Aero Club of Southern California presented the Howard Hughes Memorial Award for 1982 to Mr. C. L. “Kelly” Johnson as a leader in aviation. The recipient must have devoted a major portion of his life to the pursuit of aviation as a science and as an art. Engraved on the medal, “His vision formed the concept, his courage forged the reality.”
1983 The National Security Medal was presented by President Ronald Reagan to Clarence L. Johnson for “outstanding contribution to the national intelligence effort.”
1984 Honorary Royal Designer for Industry (HonRDI), in recognition of achievements in aircraft design, conferred by The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures (sic) and Commerce, London.