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Clarence L. Johnson

Kelly: More Than My Share of It All Paperback – December 17, 1989

by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson (Author), Maggie Smith (Contributor)

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Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Smithsonian Books
Publication date

December 17, 1989
Dimensions

6 x 0.44 x 8.96 inches
ISBN-10

0874744911
ISBN-13

978-0874744910
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Reads like the autobiography of the American dream. . . A readable collection of the people and influences that touched his life and remarkable career. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal

“The highly objective autobiography of one of the real giants of the aerospace world, . . . written so clearly that the average person cannot only understand it but gets caught up in it.”—Aerospace Historian

“Fast-paced, very readable, and technically interesting. It covers a fifty-year span of American aviation without being a history book. . . What makes this book so valuable is Mr. Johnson's exposition of the mind-set to find the simplest, least expensive fix to each technological problem. . . . Recommended for all harried technologists and defense planners, it will encourage one's faith that a better way is possible.”—H. Lawrence Elman, National Defense

“A good look at a fascinating man who has led, and who continues to lead, a perfectly charmed life."—Air Force

About the Author

Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson was an aviation engineer best known for his work on the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird planes.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Smithsonian Books (December 17, 1989)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0874744911
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0874744910
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.44 x 8.96 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #172,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #57 in Aviation History (Books)
- #61 in History of Engineering & Technology
- #115 in History of Technology

Customer Reviews:
486 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

486 global ratings

5 star		79%
4 star		13%
3 star		6%
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Aage Jorgensen

Good book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 19, 2023

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Heard good things about Kelly, pleased to read this book, funny how similar people are within their circles.

If they'd find a way to go back in time, that'd be something.

Helpful

WV Heaven

A Man of His Time—Ahead of His Time

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 17, 2022

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"Kelly: More Than My Share of It All" is first and foremost INSPIRING!
C.L. Johnson is the embodiment of the American dream. His life proves Thomas Edison's "If a man can think it, he can achieve it." One quote from the book made an indelible impression, he said "In the battle for technology, it is not only what we do but what we do not do that will be important. Our defense can be endangered by actions we fail to take." This is a lesson every politician should brand into their psyche. Lastly, another quote from this book stuck, "If you can’t do it with brainpower, you can’t do it with manpower or overtime . . ."
One might assume this book is only about airplanes, but it is also about living life to its fullest.

One person found this helpful

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Dianne Roberts

A Good, Simple Autobiography of a Truly Great Aerospace Engineer

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 22, 2008

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Clarence "Kelly" Johnson is probably the most recognizable name in the Aerospace Industry, rising to an iconic level as the designer of or major engineer involved with aircraft from the P-38 Lightning to the F-104 Starfighter and from the Lockheed Constellation to the SR-71 blackbird. He is widely regarded as a supremely capable engineer and aircraft designer, if not, THE supreme figure of the aerospace design and engineering industry. One of his principles was to seek the simplest solution for any problem, and this autobiography fits squarely in that mold, being a taut, quick, and easy to read story of what was a truly amazing life.

Kelly was born into rural northern Michigan to a working class family in 1910, a very modest begining for a meteoric career, but one which would prove fundamental. His family left him with a solid work ethic and a drive for learning, which he married to an intense interest in aviation he found by age 12. Working early in construction taught him the value of practicality and gave him a good knowledge of machinery. Guided half by accident and half by design he attended the University of Michigan gaining an excellent engineering degree - where aerospace engineers had to first complete strings of courses in all other engineering fields and where one of the nation's first wind tunnels was located. For someone who has suffered through engineering school, particularly being up till 2:00AM for days in a row studying in the dorms with a 8:00AM class looming while it seemed like over 50% of the rest of the students were running through the halls drunkenly fondling each other with classes in hyphenated American studies no earlier than noon, Kelly's experiences in college were, sadly, reassuring. He did not drink, nor did he have any time left over from his studies to go on any more than two dates his entire time at U of M, and he also suffered from ulcers that would last his entire life. He loved his studies though and what he got was a strong foundation in physics and engineering, and the discipline and know-how to teach himself to stay abreast of aerospace technology for what would be aviation's heyday of seemingly daily major advances.

Kelly's career at Lockheed is relatively well known and I won't go into it in detail, although the book does satisfyingly so. What was best for me from this majority section of the book were the timeless lessons learned about how best to design aircraft, build an aerospace company, deal with customer, etc. compared to how these things normally go in real life in contrast. Throughout the book he is straightforward and to the point, never embellishing, never bragging. He does however find room for levity, especially with regards to trying to teach Howard Hughes how to fly the Connie, and also for his philosophy of what is important in life which is quite morally inspired and rests on good values.

What emerges from this book is a picture of a patriotic, hard working, dedicated, and brilliant man who attained his genius more through work ethic and common sense than what was surely a healthy dose of natural ability. Near the book's end are his predictions for the aerospace industry, circa 1985. Many did not come to pass (not foreseeing the fall of the Soviet Union he predicted laser and particle beam weapons being common by 2000), some did (the shift in commercial transportation from speed to economy and fuel efficiency), and some may still (his predictions of mostly unmanned combat aircraft.) Throughout the book you get a well worthwhile glimpse into the reasoning behind the design decisions he made and the reasons for his beliefs and predictions for aerospace, which become more interesting in the limelight of hindsight rather than less so.

A passionate advocate for ethics and direct, straightforward management in the aerospace industry Kelly has set an example worthy of emulation by today's engineers, designers and managers. Definitely recommended for workers in the aerospace industry, or aerospace history buffs.

39 people found this helpful

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Samuel M. Feldman

Accomplishing the impossible on time and under budget

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 6, 2014

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"More than My Share of it All" is the autobiography of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson the iconic and prolific chief Engineer and designer at Lockheed Aviation from 1933-1975. He contributed to the designs of more than 40 aircraft. He is only one of two designers to have won the Collier Trophy for greatest American aerospace achievement of the year twice. (The other was Glenn Curtiss.) A companion book is "Skunk Works: A Personal History of My Years at Lockheed" which is the autobiography of Ben Rich another Collier Trophy winner. It chronicles advanced development at Lockheed from 1950 - 1990.
Kelly Johnson was an organizational genius. His "Skunk Works" based on Kelly's fourteen points for overcoming bureaucratic inefficiency using a small team of highly skilled, self-motivated individuals is recognized universally as the preferred method for time-critical advanced research. These two books describe how Kelly - and then Ben - were able to deliver cutting edge aviation technology on-time and under budget. As a former aerospace engineer I consider these books required reading for anyone contemplating a career in aerospace. I would add one other book: "Quest for Performance" by former NACA scientist Lawrence Loftin, is a comprehensive history of aviation design for the non-technical reader. I have all three of these books in my Kindle library.
Johnson's book also provides insight into Kelly the man. He took personal responsibility for the fatal accidents that are inevitable when pushing boundaries. His deliberate demeanor clashed with the flamboyant Howard Hughes with whom he collaborated in the development of the Constellation. There is one encounter where Hughes took the controls during a checkout flight and nearly killed everyone onboard including Kelly. He never flew with Hughes again.
Kelly considers the SR-71 his crowning achievement. As an engineering triumph it has no equal. The SR-71 still holds the absolute speed and altitude records for air-breathing manned airplanes. His F-104 holds the low-altitude absolute speed record. It is unlikely that these records will be broken anytime soon.
Kelly Johnson was the consummate minimalist. His clean functional designs are aesthetically pleasing - some like the F-104, Constellation and SR-71 are breathtaking. As with living sculptures such as birds and whales an airplane's shape is dictated not by the whims of stylists but by the laws of physics.

11 people found this helpful

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Edward I Francis

Great autobiography

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 13, 2022

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Very insightful look into his life.

One person found this helpful

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Nestor

Do you want to know what is "Skunk Works"?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 31, 2018

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What is “Skunk Works”?
The “Skunk Works” is the Advanced Development Projects from Lockheed which has designed more than 40 aircraft. The main objectives of the “Skunk Works” organization are to make breakthrough designs in minimum time and maximum security. If you want to know what the “Skunk Works” is, how it did start and who did start it, what they are doing and above all how they are doing it, then this is the book you should read.
This book is an autobiography of Clarence L. Johnson known as "Kelly". He did start it all. He will tell you all the fantastic projects he has been working with and how and why he did create the “Skunk Works”.
Kelly has decided at the age of 12 to be an aircraft designer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1932 at the University of Michigan and he was hired at Lockheed (Burbank, California) in 1933 where he did spend his entire professional life. Kelly first works in tooling and wind-tunnel for the Electra aircraft. Then he did work on the P-38 and the Constellation (the first modern airliner).
After many years of working experience in Lockheed Kelly Johnson got the idea to “set up an experimental department where designers and shop artisans could work together closely in development of airplanes without the delays and complications of intermediate departments to handle administration, purchasing, and all the other support functions. I wanted a direct relationship between design engineer and mechanic and manufacturing. I decided to handle this new project just that way.”
In June 1943 the “Skunk Works” was born. It did start with 23 engineers only. Their first projects were the F-80 and the F-104 (where are the wings?) and it was followed by the very famous “spy” planes: the U-2 and the SR-71.
The main mottoes of Kelly Johnson are:
- Be quick, be quite, be on time.
- Keep it simple, stupid
- Those who design aircraft also should fly them – to keep a proper perspective.
But to really appreciate how Kelly Johnson did it you really have to read his book.
The book is also full of personal anecdotes (such as about Howard Hughes and others) and many technical anecdotes from which you will learn much.
Three of the last chapters of the book:
• It’s No Secret,
• Defending Ourselves,
• Technology and Tomorrow,
are still of particular interest today.
You will really enjoy the reading of that 210 pages book.
If you want to know more about the “Skunk Works” (and you will after reading that first book from Kelly Johnson) you should also read the book of Ben R. Rich & Leo Janos that is simply named “Skunk Works”. Ben Rich has started to work for the “Skunk Works” in 1955. He became later the assistant of Kelly Johnson and he became the boss of the “Skunk Works after Kelly took his retirement. The book from Ben Rich is very abundant in technical information and anecdotes. It is very well complemented by the texts of many witnesses that have work for or with the “Skunk Works” as well as many pilots and more. A very enjoyable and informative book of 400 pages.
As nice complement you should buy is the “The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs” by Steve Pace. It is a hardcover book of 256 pages with a 28 cm x 24 cm large format. The book contains a very large quantity of color photos and illustrations as well as a very informative text about all the aircraft that have been designed by the Lockheed “Skunk Works” and you will also find in it a short specification for each of the aircraft. A must have.

5 people found this helpful

Drawingboard82

A very enticing read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 2, 2013

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"More than my share of it all" is, simply, a very interesting book. I am normally a slow reader, but as an experienced Mechanical Engineer with an interest in military history, I read this book in a couple of hours. The mans life is and should continue to be an inspiration. He literally started with nothing, and ended up as a highly responsible and respected Engineer, who somehow found enough spare time to design his house and own two cattle ranches.

Equally, he faced more than his share of heartache, twice being widowed, and never having children. He succeeded in achieving in the 1950s and 1960s what is difficult today, confirming the belief of many engineers, that the technical challenges are only 1% of the work. The real challenge is the management structure.

My Three minor complaints are:

1: - Its a relatively short book, only 200 or so pages. This is not much to chronicle the life of an engineer as great as Kelly Johnson. For example, Justin Beiber can, allegedly, fill a similar number of pages on his career making teenage girls cry.

2: - It is written for a general rather than technical audience. This is doubtless of benefit to many readers, but for myself, I would have liked considerably more detail of the engineering and personal challenges faced.

3: - As he had obviously received support from a ghost writer, there were several technical mistakes in the text, most notably when describing the failure mechanism of a turbine disc - an area that I happen to be an expert on.

4 people found this helpful

T H Johnson

Excellent Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

A very interesting book covering the life of 'Kelly' Johnson. A bit short on technical detail but gives a good outline of the work covered in the Skunk Works. A remarkable individual with immense drive to resolve very difficult technical problems. Would recommend. Also see the Skunk Works book by Ben Rich which covers slightly more detail of the Works.

One person found this helpful

Waqar

Must read for aviation enthusiasts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

.
Interesting and inspiring content, about a remarkable life and a remarkable company.
The book is also well structured, each chapter has been enticingly put together .

Cornered

maybe unsurprising

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this book for placing the period in historical perspective. I had maybe hoped for a more technical perspective and less of the feeling that the interesting things were still somewhat censored/classified. Enjoyable read nevertheless

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