The story of the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, more colorfully known as the “Skunk Works,” is something of a legend. It was responsible for numerous aircraft designs, highly classified research, and developed programs, and probably other things we may never know about.
It was where such famed aircraft as the U2 Dragon Lady, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-117 Nighthawk were all developed, and in near secrecy.
The History of Kelly Johnson
However, as the Skunk Works story isn’t just about the aircraft, it is also about the aviation engineers and visionaries who worked there, and one in particular, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. For those who would like to delve far deeper into how such forward-thinking military aircraft were conceived, and without needing to bone up on aviation concepts to understand the narrative, New York-based journalist, author, and podcaster Josh Dean has just the summer read.
Out this month is Dean’s new book The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America’s Innovation Machine (Dutton/Penguin Random House, New York, N.Y., 2026)
There have been past books written about the Skunk Works and Kelly Johnson, including Kelly’s own biography and another by Ben R. Rich, the operation’s head for more than two decades. Those offer the “official” versions of the story and it feels like the curtain is never fully pulled back.
Dean offers a more honest view of the Skunk Works, even as the author acknowledges that there weren’t many “Skunks” around who knew Kelly, and for a deep dive into the history of such a larger-than-life individual, that might seem like a lost opportunity. Instead, this book provides an honest look at the man and his creations, warts and all.
“Kelly Johnson absolutely loved his work, but the stress of it also wore on him,” writes Dean, who goes on to add that Kelly’s way of relaxing on his ranch was “building roads, constructing bars, and fixing tractors.”
Johnson was an engineer at heart, in his professional and his private life.
“There are few reports of Kelly Johnson sightseeing or golfing, though he did play the latter somewhat regularly,” Dean wrote.
A Man of His Time
It is safe to say that Kelly Johnson may have been someone who arrived at just the right moment in history. Had he been born a century earlier, he would have created a stealth ironclad warship instead of some of the most advanced aircraft of the 21st century?
“That’s a great question and one I’ve never even considered before,” Dean told ClearanceJobs. “This seems to be a guy who was just born with this giant, curious brain, and that, combined with a lot of confidence and swagger, translated into a person who, in my opinion, would have done great things no matter when he was born. Aviation just happened to capture his imagination when he was young and impressionable. I have no doubt he would have built the greatest Viking warship, too!”
Dean also acknowledged to ClearanceJobs that Kelly’s ego was not exactly small.
“He was well aware of his importance, both in the moment, and in the context of his era,” Dean explained. “So he kept records, and preserved everything important – going back to his childhood. Despite his hatred of paperwork, he did have to operate inside systems, and communicate with his buyers and clients, and enough time has passed that most of that paperwork is now declassified. His logs, both at work, and at home, were a tremendous asset. And many of the most important Skunks were asked to sit for oral history interviews while they were still alive, and those were incredibly helpful – both to fill in details and to get perspectives on Kelly from the outside.”
Enter the Skonk Works
The Impossible Factory clarifies how the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects came to be known by its now infamous nickname.
“Secrecy during World War II was so strict that engineers in Kelly’s group were forbidden from even identifying their department when the phone rang.” There was a single phone, Dean explains, which engineer Irv Culver answered, stating, “Skonk Works, inside man Culver.”
U.S. military officials who were calling were flustered, but word soon spread around the plant. “When it reached Kelly, he was not amused.” However, as Dean tells it, Johnson grew to accept the name, but Al Capp creator of the Li’l Abner cartoon strip from which Culver took the name, saw it as an infringement on his fictional Skonk Works.
“Capp notified Lockheed that Skonk Works was a copyrighted name,” which led Kelly, who wanted to avoid any publicity, changed the O to a U, and “thus was born one of the most famous names in engineering history.”
An Intriguing Topic
The Impossible Factory was not Josh Dean’s first book to explore a topic shrouded in history. He previously wrote The Taking of K-129: How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History.
“It’s a spin-off, of sorts, from the last book, but also it’s a much bigger book, in the sense that it covers far more history, more characters, and is certainly a more important story,” Dean told ClearanceJobs. “That was a towering achievement, but it’s pretty niche in a lot of ways. What it did do was get me fascinated with Cold War black ops, and introduced me to Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works – and it was something like an epiphany when the idea of making Kelly and his shop my next book was suggested to me, in passing.”
Dean also acknowledges covering the history of Kelly and the Skunk Works was a daunting undertaking.
“Less because of the secrecy and more because this guy lived a long time, and did so many things,” said Dean. “So many chapters of this story could have been books of their own. In fact, they have been books. There are many books about the U-2, and the Blackbird, and the F-117. But Kelly – and the Skunk Works – have really only gotten two mainstream book treatments. And each was an autobiography, written eons ago.”
Aviation buffs continue to love the stories of the aircraft that came out of the Skunk Works, notably the U-2 and A-12, which evolved into the SR-71. Dean’s book is less about the specifics of those aircraft, and more about the men who made them.
“Even a century and a quarter later, we are all still a little in awe of things that fly. It’s not something humans were supposed to do. So there’s an innate respect/fear/admiration for anything that actually gets us into the sky. And there are definitely people – a lot of them – who are truly captivated in the way that Kelly was,” Dean explained.
“Aviation and aerospace, more broadly, is their passion. It takes more to impress those people, but Kelly lived at that cutting edge. Everything he made, even in the commercial sector, was pushing the industry forward,” he added. “And at his best – creating planes like the U-2 and A-12 – he was solving problems that seemed almost impossible in that moment.”
What also makes this particular book a worthy summer read is that it is also a reminder of how far we’ve advanced since those aircraft took flight. Our modern smartphones have far more technology than anything Kelly had access too.
“It’s mind-blowing to think that someone working in 1960, using slide rules and graph paper, was able to make a thing that could reach 100,000 feet and cruise at Mach 3,” Dean acknowledged. “Accomplishing that required audacious design, and the Blackbird itself – the way it looks – reflects that. It still looks futuristic today, and it’s nearly 70 years old!”
The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America’s Innovation Machine is available now.
