Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed: Ben R. Rich: 9780316743006: Amazon.com: Books

List Price: $18.99 Details

Save: $5.50 (29%)

No Import Fees Deposit & $9.10 Shipping to Canada Details

Delivery Thursday, October 20. Order within 23 hrs 58 mins

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, October 18

Deliver to Canada

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

[{"displayPrice":"$13.49","priceAmount":13.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"%2FyVjpR9My02jEOm2cfxfmh%2FMUFfZ%2Fbw3WybeVjoAUO1pnH%2FYQBbFuiQE2ybUHpsYJrhahqP%2B97s5kBSX59yjsjK8GrMI1OVQl%2FWneDDBdwkQetnKmYp6L1mcDOoP%2BfMejcNYuXFhL4o%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$8.74","priceAmount":8.74,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"74","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"jKnKocK0aOfzd4VSJoUcm4syj5vKHjWXOHY6ych6ZfoNh0XonoPMb%2Fds9JBeuo15Gm1R4tcogNxFGyDI0zmmqEQs2ieVdLN4jViLQYz8IECrk4s64s61glFKcG2b6sK6rbaZ%2FbFdQXTSeSJ4J0bTA03M0eoqd%2B5LAKzFLYNcfupdrH%2Fxoboj8IhPiXhbyfxM","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$13.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Returnable until Jan 31, 2023

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Delivery Friday, October 21. Order within 5 hrs 18 mins

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, October 18

Deliver to Canada

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by -OnTimeBooks-

Fulfilled by Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$15.45
+ $9.10 shipping

Sold by: First Snowball LLC

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 5 images

Follow the Authors

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 1996

by Ben R. Rich (Author)

2,121 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

"Please retry"

—

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

"Please retry"

$54.99

$2.31

"Please retry"

$9.69

$5.66

Paperback, Illustrated, February 1, 1996

$13.49

$12.59

$2.00

MP3 CD, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$27.97

—

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

View Kindle Edition

Enhance your purchase

This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies is "a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" (New York Times Book Review).

From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.

Here are up-close portraits of the maverick band of scientists and engineers who made the Skunk Works so renowned. Filled with telling personal anecdotes and high adventure, with narratives from the CIA and from Air Force pilots who flew the many classified, risky missions, this book is a riveting portrait of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the twentieth century.

"Thoroughly engrossing." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

Print length

372 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Back Bay Books
Publication date

February 1, 1996
Dimensions

5.58 x 1.08 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

9780316743006
ISBN-13

978-0316743006
See all details

Special offers and product promotions

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping. Register today

Frequently bought together

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

$13.49

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Kelly: More Than My Share of It All

$21.95

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

$45.49

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Choose items to buy together.

Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
453
Paperback
$21.95
$8.96 shipping
Richard H. Graham
655
Hardcover
$45.49
$12.89 shipping
James C. Goodall
111
Hardcover
$55.02
$14.04 shipping
Bob Gilliland
86
Hardcover
$17.89
$9.61 shipping
Sherry Sontag
2,578
Paperback
$16.79
$9.17 shipping
J. E. Gordon
1,532
Paperback
in Structural Engineering
$13.29
$9.25 shipping

Customer reviews

5 star		84%
4 star		12%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

waltinusa@yahoo.com

A detailed exciting true story of how revolutionary aeronautical technology was created

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2022

Verified Purchase

This is the detailed exciting story of how revolutionary aeronautical technology was created and changed aeronautical warfare.

It is also a handbook on how high energy strong-willed, technology visionaries like like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Lockheed's Kelly Johnson function as managers. The technology evolution is extraordinary and the lessons about managing in a futuristic high tech environment are outstanding.

Chapter 16 on conclusions, is a detailed very specific list of procurement process changes that are necessary If great technology is going to be able to continue to override the political self-interest of individuals in the procurement process.

On page 308 the equation describing the Harvard (HBS) summer certificate programs for technology companies says (2/3 of HBS=BS). But as we know, with two variables, two equations are necessary. The second equation in my personal opinion, having been in the courses, should be (1/3 of HBS=Ag), students must sort the BS from the Ag for themselves.

Great book, much better than expected!

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book was extremely well written. I have a general interest in aerospace stuff, but I wasn't expecting the different perspectives added in, by pilots, by politicians. I didn't expect the operational use examples of U-2s, SR-71s (or that it was RS-71 until the president said it wrong, so they had to change it). Fascinating, historical, gives one a sense of pride and danger at the risks those pilots took and take today. The end is clearly biased against the author's view of how procurement (and sustainment) should work, but it's a fair and supported perspective. Excellent book that I looked forward to getting back to and finished quickly.

Fascinating history

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

If you are interested in the back-story of how some of the most amazing aircraft were developed, this is the book for you. The fact that it’s written by the guy who was there validates the accuracy of the book

Outstanding look inside the group who changed aerial warfare forever

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

Informative, entertaining, and interesting all around. Ben Rich gives the lowdown behind the most groundbreaking aircraft of the 20th century.

An excellent history for aviation buffs!

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

An interesting history of one of our nation's most technologically advanced aerospace teams. From WWII to the present day, the Lockheed Skunk Works has been at the forefront of aviation design.

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2022

Verified Purchase

If you are interested in aviation tech you MUST have this book!

Well worth the money!

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

Good book with background on the Skunk Works, how it functioned with the government and about Kelly Johnson. I enjoyed it-would have liked a little more technical depth, but that's just me. Better than Kelly's book.

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

Pure intrigue from start to finish.

Top reviews from other countries

Blacknest

Fascinating book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

I didn't think I'd be very interested in this sort of book, but it was strongly recommended by a friend. It was an absolutely fascinating story - I can't believe what those pilots and engineers did, so long ago - and a testament to the brilliance of the program is that the U2s are still flying.
I have to comment on the way the book is structured - the events aren't presented in chronological order, but in a confusing series of hops back and forth in time. I'm reasonably certain that this wasn't the author's original intention - I suspect it was the publishers' attempt to jazz up what they thought might be a book of limited interest by pushing some exciting bits of narrative to the front. A shame, really.

One person found this helpful

Triksiklist

Fascinating behind the scenes look at the world's most secret aircraft manufacturer.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

I've long had a fascination with the Skunk Works, producers of the U2, and of course the legendary SR71 Mach 3+ spy plane. This is an account of the some times difficult struggle to overcome the prejudices and negativity of the beaurocrats especially when the skunk works wished to build the revolutionary stealth fighter, the F117. Fas

One person found this helpful

N. Tubby

Great history on how things can get done

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

A great read and a journey back in time to when life was simpler, there was less red tape and if you surrounded yourself with excellence, you could achieve the unimaginable in a very short space of time. (Caveating this heavily as the boss wrote the book and I’m quite sure the line workers pulled very long hours for little reward).

Purple

Book that's now 28 years old and STILL An AMAZING READ

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

Bought this as a sunbed holiday read, amazing read of what can be accumplished when project management and Buracracy are pushed to one side. Insight into the 1960s and 70s at skunk works and the thinking and technology that we still amaze at some 50-60 years later.

MR R A EMERY

Interesting to hear how these projects came about!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2021

Verified Purchase

On page 51 and I’m hooked. I’m not a reader and never have as I never find things that interest me enough. This has survived so far and is very interesting. Amazing to read about how these projects came about back in the day and how they run and hide them from public

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Get to Know Us

Make Money with Us

Amazon Payment Products

Let Us Help You

English $USD - U.S. Dollar United States

© 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates