My uncle worked there. As a child, he would give me all kinds of SR-71 swag (not a secret by then), until the invasion of Panama...and the reveal of the F117 Stealth Fighter. Then he could reveal that he’d been lying about working on the SR71, but had been working on the F117 all those years, and I got a gift package of F117 swag! I still have the shirt, tie, and tie-pin. Rest In Peace uncle Ray!
My dad worked for them for some time in the mid to late 80s, I've asked him about it and he always skirts around my questions, meaning that he can't talk about it.
I met one of the designers of the f-117 , and one thing he said he tells people first is that there is a 20-30 year gap between what he is doing and what he can talk about.
A lot of humans haven't shown the intelligence or common sense to safely and effectively use the technology we have now, let alone cutting edge, science fiction level technology.
Yarp, I know one of the test pilots who flew the F-117 while one of its tail fins disintegrated in a test. He managed to land it and even shared the footage of it happening with me now that its been declassified. Its crazy how far ahead military aviation is compared to civilian work.
I grew up in Palmdale, CA. I can't tell you how cool it was to see these planes flying, chasing each other in test missions, etc. All these planes that people only saw on TV, I would see almost every weekend morning, flying at breakneck speeds, causing things in your home to rattle when they created sonic booms high overhead. As always, thanks to you and your team for another amazing video!
Palmdale is great for plane spotting. I saw a pair of F-35's well before their delivery, about 12 years ago now... always made me laugh when people insisted the plane couldn't fly for years after I saw two fly right over my head and bank right, probably heading up to one of the test ranges. The real interesting stuff sneaks in and out of Plant 42 late at night though.... And if I remember correct, Skunk Works isn't the only team ate Plant 42, I believe all the major manufacturers are there.... And there are a few little hidden facilities up in the hills around there too... fun place when there was more development going on there...
That’s great!!! I live in an area the Army used for drone testing in the 90’s. The beginning tests weren’t super successful and we started calling the drones Million Dollar Rocks for how often they ended up falling out of the sky. 😂😂😂
The SR-71 in the Smithsonian has a painting of the little skunk on its tail fin. There is a tear dripping from one of its eyes. This signified the last flight for this particular plane.
That's cool! Reminds me of the logo that some Koenigseggs have only if theyre made at the original Koenigsegg factory in memory of a fighter squadron that used to operate out of the same factory.
His genius only went so far. He didn't think of heating the P-38 cockpit (or creating a warm suit for the pilots) or creating a proper fuel system for the P-38 that would work in the cold wet skies of Europe.
Pakistani national Abdul muhammad Al bin salamander was the best aeronautical Engineer. He created the first aircraft in 1894 years before the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers stole his idea and because of racism in america they got credit.
The book "Skunk Works" by former director Ben Ritch is a fantastic read. He was brought on by Kelly Johnson to work on the U-2, he was a key player on the A-12 and SR-71 projects, and is considered the "father of modern stealth" thanks to the F-117 project under his tenure as director.
I love that the Nighthawk was the "Stealth Fighter" but did almost no fighting, just bombing. No one was going into a BFM fight with an F117. But then they developed an actual bomber in the B2 so now it wouldn't be right to call it the Stealth Bomber since B2 is definitely just that. Raptor is the #2 most beautiful plane behind the F16 for me. Skunk Works is just one of America's greatest centers of aviation.
F15 for me. First ones I saw were a pair flying up a canyon beneath me as I was on the ridge mapping the geology. They flew by several times, actually.
@@CD-ek3iq it was so the F117 would fall under the SALT treaties. The F designator was correct, it was capable of firing Aim 9 Sidewinders. I was a weapons loader on the F117 among many others. I was in the 416th FS and it was renamed the 9th FS when we moved to Holloman AFB NM
The Raptor and the F 16 are beautiful planes, but I prefer the YF 23, the Raptors competitor, both are excellent planes but if the YF 23 did the extra stuff that Lockheed had the YF 22 do and a pilot who was willing to push the YF 23 to its limits I think it would have been the winner, but I would put it this way: the YF 22 was built for that day and age when the competition was underway and the near future but the YF 23 was built too soon for what the US Air Force was looking for at the time, if you look at official concept art for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter project it is like they took the YF 23 and changed the wing a bit, added thrust vectoring capabilities and have the rudders/ruddervators fold down, or have canards on the plane, so let's call it if the 2 planes had a lovechild with a few mutations, forming the concept art we see today. Still, both planes are fucking awesome none the less, the YF 23 is my favorite and (in my opinion) the sexiest looking plane ever, with the SR 71 family, B2 spirit, XB 70 Valkaryie and B1 Lacer and SAAB Draken as runners up
Theme idea: semiconductor fabs. Each new generation required breakthroughs in material science, physics, chemistry, and, yes, mathematics. Currently, a new fab cost billions. You can't get much more megaproject-y than that!
Yeah I would like a little more info on the 5nm process. It’s incredible where we have gotten to in so short of time and crazy to think of where we’ll be in the same time frame
I used to work amongst a small team in an experimental department for a Large Plant and agricultural tractor manufacturer. Our MD, after reading Skunk Works on holiday, personally bought all his engineers a copy. It is one of the most fascinating books I have read. Highly recommended.
Skunk Works is part of the overall military strategy of the US born of the harsh lessons of WWII. The US entered the war with many hastily developed weapons. It lacked a battlefield ready serviceable medium tank and quickly cobbled together the M-3 Lee tank which was sent to Briton for their use. The US entered with the P-40 as it's main fighter and was outclassed by the Axis fighters. It also had the development of some better fighters that entered service in 1941 but the P40 was still the main fighter. There were navy fighters that had similar short comings. What was learned that the policy of isolationism only allowed nations intent of conquest to invade allies and eventually wage war on the US. All of that was couple with the advancement of the ability to project military power over long distances with increasing speed. By the time the war ended the forward staged invasion force of Normandy was replaced by an intercontinental invasion force to strike Japan. The final factor was that new weapon systems were increasingly complex and development time significantly longer. The US would no longer be able to stand behind two oceans and play catch up to superior enemy weapons. So the US has been developing weapons systems for tomorrow and replacements for the systems still in development trying to stay ahead of weapons development of potential enemies. This entails developing a system for a set of specifications, then developing to defeat a system an enemy would need to defeat that system. The goal of staying at least one or two steps ahead of all others, The Skunk Works is actually a subset of a larger mega project.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s warning at the time of the Vietnam War rings true today: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp A county that cannot defend itself soon finds it's people living as slaves who parrot back the dictator's dogma to keep from being put to death.
@@edwardcnnell2853 Sadly Edward we Americans are being turned into slaves by the US military Industrial Complex. That we spend more on our military than the next 10-nations combined shows that our leaders have enslaved us all to their dogma. We will put ourselves to death with this insanity.
Really well done as always Simon. Minor note: A sonic boom doesn't occur just when a plane goes through the speed of sound but occurs for the entire time it is going above the speed of sound. It comes across as just a single "boom" to a ground observer because the aircraft is only above or near them for a very small amount of time.
The Lockheed "Shooting Star" eventually evolved into the "T-33 (T-Bird)" advanced trainer first used for qualifying experienced fighter pilots to fly pure jet aircraft. These trainer models were built in the USA, Canada, and Japan in fairly large numbers.
I spent my early years wanting to work at this place. Everything about it fascinated me. The challenges they faced was something that screamed to my core. The people that work there are another breed entirely.
Worked on the F35 as a government contractor. Focused on the electro-optic systems in the helmet, targeting system, and exterior cameras. Absolutely best job ever. Required Top Secret clearance. Was under a Non Disclosure Agreement for 7 years after leaving the position that covered everything about the position & technology (obviously), but also covered that I even worked at the specific company (not Skunk Works). So many stories…
What is most remarkable is how much it advanced flight technology.... up and flying 15 years after the first supersonic flight is pretty amazing. But that said, it was far from a perfect plane and using current tech something amazing could be (or has been) built to replace it. The satellite ate the spy planes lunch over the next decades... but its is ready for a comeback given all the anti-satellite weapons development.. Maybe I will catch a glimpse one day if it comes by Beale AFB - they always get the fun stuff there...
I sadly do not work at the Skunk Works. I work at the Northrop-Grumman site a few miles west of the actual building. Still cool to drive by that place to work and back everyday.
I read that the capture of an enigma machine on a German U-boat was key to understanding the encryption method. This revealed use of a 6 character encryption key (late in the war, the enigma was modified to use a 7 character string). Somehow through pattern detection, they could approximate the first half of the key. The remainder was fairly easily broken due to two weaknesses in the user's selection of keys. First, they did not change the keys often. Second, the 6 character string often used the names of cities. So, if a new key seemed to begin with 'Lon', the allies guessed 'London'. Bang! - It worked!. Similarly... Mad-rid, Nap-les, Mun-ich, Ber-lin, Mos-cow.
@@davidste60 They sure did, as did others. I just get a bit pissed when everything was apparently undertaken by John Wayne and the rest of the world were just bystanders.
Grew up as a kid in the 80s idolizing the SR71. My uncle who just passed away. Worked for skunkworks and JPL. The was was a genius. He would take his vacation every year and go out in the woods by himself. He would tell us he needed piece and quiet for a month. Found out later he worked on the Have blue project. The only thing he told me was “ Everything you seen in the sky is 20 plus years or older in technology. I also had a friend who used to capture Russian missiles in the late 50s to help reverse engineer them.
@@billgreen8966 - It would have been difficult for the U.S. to copy in aviation, given that the Wright brothers originated heavier-than-air, powered flight. Btw, be sure to thank Winnie the Xi Jinpooh for your 50 cents.
And if you're "too good at it" by some people's standards, you get accused of being part of the "military industrial complex". No good deed goes unpunished!
TRJ Great idea. Snowy scheme was all about producing electricity for the production of heavy water Few Aussies know that PM Curtin allocated funds for Uranium mining in 1944. The foundations for the 500 megawatt enrichment reactor can still be seen at Murrays beach in Jervis Bay. The Red peril descending south through Asia had some politicions worried so Atomic plan 4 comprising 30-40 low yield weapons began. Storage and R+D to be hidden deep underground. Bomb delivery to Jakata required the 1963 order of 24 General Dynamics F-111c Tactical strike aircraft . Program ceased in when PM John Gorton was rolled in 1971.
WORKED PLANT 42 FOR OVER 40 YEARS, AWESOME PROGRAMS, TIME OF MY LIFE...... SPACE SHUTTLES, B1-BOMBERS, F-117, F-22, BOEING F-32, AIRBORNE LASER, U-2, L-1011, C130 GUNSHIP,
The EU is turning into the new USSR.. Russia is an oligarchy, with most of the oligarchs are Putin's side... ie. The same as The US but without the divide and conquer, 2 party state system dragging the nation into slowmo economic suicide... VIA MASSIVELY WASTEFUL UBER-PROJECTS!
And never moving beyond the design stage was the whole point of the Skunk Works according to Kelly. He wanted anything and everything from his people, didn't care how oddball it was. Never know when it may come in useful.
@@calska140 for any given project? Probably not a whole lot, but then again, the people in the Skunk Works weren't getting paid to turn major profits on everything they did. They were paid to come up with anything and everything they could, and see what worked. And when you look at what has come out of there over its history, I think it has been money exceedingly well spent.
Supercomputers used to fascinate me. I wouldn’t mind a mega project on one of the more famous ones. Cray and Sequoia pop to mind right off. I worked for a computer company, and saw one called Proteus I’ve never heard anything about.
you know you've made it when you don't need sponsors no more, because you can just advertise your other channels/podcasts. Well done Simon, you sir have won TH-cam
The first time I saw Simon on TH-cam...I’m going to be honest, just forgettable. Harsh. I know. But cut to today now, #1 favourite human on earth. Complete content stud.
So pretty much anything 'new' we're told about coming out of the skunk works is probably already been worked on for about 25 years or so. Makes you think what they're up to right now.
At 11:58 . . ."Normally a sonic boom is heard as the aircraft passes through the [sonic] threshold . . ." This is wrong, wrong, WRONG! A sonic boom does NOT only occur as an aircraft passes Mach 1. It happens as long as the aircraft is supersonic at whatever speed. It is a continuous shock wave that travels with and behind the aircraft, in the same way the a wake travels with and behind a ship. It forms because the aircraft's speed compresses the air in front of it so quickly that it doesn't have time to form a laminar flow around the aircraft as it normally would. It is heard as a "boom" rather than as a continuous sound only as the supersonic compression wave passes over a particular point.
@@maniacal_engineer RE: ". . . but I don't know where laminar flow comes into it." Here's a NASA article about supersonic laminar flow. Reference: www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/about/Organizations/Technology/Facts/TF-2004-12-DFRC.html
@@keirfarnum6811 RE: "They make it sound like it’s something that happens only when a plane passes Mach 1; which is not the case at all." Thanks. That particular mistake is actually quite common in movie/TV documentaries.
@@spaceman081447 from the report: "Other benefits stemming from a large high-speed transport incorporating laminar flow technology would be a reduced sonic boom signature at ground level due to weight reduction, and a reduction in airport takeoff noise levels." So, according to this report their isn't really a direct effect of boundary layer on sonic boom. My understanding is that one of the effects of boundary layer on flow is essentially to make the object a little bigger, since there is a layer of slow or stationary fluid the rest of the fluid has to go further out of its way to get around the slow bits. Another effect is that in adverse pressure gradient situation the boundary layer will cause the main flow to separate, hence the little tiny vertical vortex generators you se on the upper surface of &#& wings to re-energize the boundary layer and keep the flow attached to the upper surface, preventing stalls My thermo instructor taught that when doing dimensional analysis the units for temperature are velocity squared. The speed of sound in a gas is sqrt(gamma R T). When an object moving through a fluid exceeds this speed the molecules can't get out of the way and a shock wave forms, regardless of the status of the boundary layer. Boundary layer is a viscous phenomenon, but shock waves are understandable assuming inviscid fluid. So, I guess I still don't see where boundary layer comes into it.
I worked in the Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA in the 1980's as an aircraft mechanic. It was cool. I retired from Lockheed Martin in 2019. I had a good career with Lockheed.
God I wish I could go back in time and talk to Kelly Johnson for an hour with no security clearance issues just him answering any question I ask and telling me about all the projects that they was working on and not having to hold back.
Simon, you should do the USS Monitor. She was the first ship to be built with a turret, and was the first metal warship to fight another ironclad. She is also the ancestor to all modern warships.
@@jimtalbott9535 Warrior was hardly anything like the Monitor. Warships wa a ironclad sailing frigate with auxiliary steam. Monitor was a steam only warship with a turret housing 2 guns. Monitor was also more powerful with guns that fired heavier shot against thinner armor.
If your referring to th Trusty, that was not built with a turret. She had a turret put on well after she was built for an experiment. She wasn't purpose built to have one.
I have a friend that works for Lockheed. One time I made a joke about Skunk Works and her face dropped hard, and I could see her start to sweat, and she asked me with a straight face "How do you know about Skunk Works?" I could see she was really stretching her brain and very worried that SHE had told me about it accidentally or something. I replied, "Everyone knows about Skunk Works."
Your friend is clueless if they work for Lockheed Martin and think the existence of the skunk works is a secret. Hopefully they’re never trusted with actual classified information 🤦♂️
My high school technology/electronics teacher worked at Skunk Works. He worked on the U-2 (that's all he'd say), and my cousin just retired from flying it. Extremely interesting.
I went to high school with a guy who's father was the CEO of Siemens Canada.. Siemens is regularly contracted by Lockheed, and I got to see some cool tech.. none of which was ever developed, as far as I can tell.. The coolest thing I got to see was a supersonic pulse jet that Siemens did the injection system for. Almost got a job with them, but missed out because my GPA wasn't quite high enough.
@@andriyhirnyak4324 i think it's one of the best fields to get into. Humanity is hellbent on exploring space, so anyone and everyone capable should get into it. There will always be jobs available in aeronautics, astronautics, and avionics..
Simon: "I would link them below, but I'm too lazy." me: "Oh yeah, this coming from the guy who produces more TH-cam videos than McDonalds produces hamburgers."
I used to live in Antelope Valley in CA where Palmdale and the Skunk Works are located. It seemed like a third of the people you talked to could not tell you what they did for a living. Where do your work? "I can't tell you." What do you do for a living? "I can't tell you" and "the information is classified" are common answers.
Unbelievable facility, had the privilege to go there a a number of times and had perfect timing during one visit, was invited to the production floor, and nothing but gold U2’s going through production, I was told back then this was the last group of U2’s coming through the facility. We watched the preflight suite up of 2 SR71 Pilot’s and 1 U2 Pilot, then they drove us in a van with some idiot congressman to the end of the runway for take off of both, the SR71 takeoff was amazing and we vibrated as it passed over. Mid 1980’s.
Small but important correction: A sonic boom is not caused by breaking the sound barrier, i.e., it is not the passing the barrier that creates the effect, but that the object is traveling faster than sound. An object traveling faster than the speed of sound produces the effect continuously, rather than just once when reaching the relative speed of sound (the actual speed of sound varies depending on atmospheric conditions). The effect creates a focused, cone shaped shock wave that can only be heard at a quite tight angle from the source as the edges of that wave pass the person's location, which is why we do not hear the effect continuously as the aircraft passes overhead. Low noise supersonic? The way to do that would be the shape the aircraft so the shock wave does not reach the ground, i.e., shape the aircraft to shape the way the wave is produced, focused, and dissipated. Plasma may be another way. They have already used a large ball of plasma in front of an aircraft to reduce drag. It creates a low pressure zone behind the plasma for the aircraft travel in, i.e., the plane can go faster because it has to push less air out of its way as it cuts through the atmosphere. Combined with a shock wave reducing aerodynamic shape, plasma could probably work. Creating plasma takes a lot of energy though, which is energy not being converted into thrust if it comes from generators in the jet engines.
In 1970, I turned 10, on Hollaman Air Base. I was given appropriate out door roller skates, as a gift.I will never recover or regret It. Welcome to "The WORK'S".
Simon, I have to correct you here. The sonic boom is not as it passes through the barrier, that is the first instance of it however the sonic boom only seems to be as it passes because of how our ears work. The sonic boom will in fact travel with the plane as long as it stays above the speed of sound which is why supersonic jets were banned over land. Every meter it travels, every person it passes will be hit by a sonic boom. A quiet supersonic plane would be the next massive revolution in aviation technology and will advance aviation in a way not seen since the invention of the jet engine.
@Dan Pearson Interesting. Thing I just read on the internet (must be correct, right?) said that the stenographer who transcribed LBJs speech mixed up the letters in the transcript, which is where the idea that LBJ got it backwards is from.
I've had the pleasure of going to multiple open house events at their Palmdale, Ca location in the past having grown up in Lancaster and knowing people that worked on the F117 from the start. My dad also worked at the Burbank location back in the day.
Fun fact: the term "skunkworks" had been in common usage,.but Lockheed didn't admit to such a department's existence until they had to do so in court. A performance car parts manufacturer decided on "Skunkworks" as a brand name, but Lockheed didn't like that, so they sued. In order to have any chance in court they had to admit that they had a division that officially went by that name. The car parts company settled on the name "Skunk2" and theyre still around today.
Super duper? Close, We do have the "duper duper bomb" . It's acronym from DUper + DUper = DuDu bomb.. I'm sure you've heard of it? Perhaps in your younger years? From a parent to their not quite yet potty trained toddler... "Uh oh, someones made a dudu in their pants?" It's banned as a WMD and biohazard. It is So full of noxious odors. Yuck 😝 That eye watering smell... You never seen a house or building get evacuated that fast... It put tear gas to shame 😯🤔😁
I won a tour of the Rolls Royce jet engine factory years ago. When I saw the ShadowWorks sign, I went to discreetly take a pic of it, before a security guard tapped me on the back and waited with me while I deleted the pic.
“We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity.” ― Ben Rich CEO Lockheed Skunk Works
Probably way ahead of what any of us can imagine, but don’t want to tip our hands to the enemy like China for we may need to use those technologies in the near future.
We had the F117 and the Soviets knew it. Then some kid flew a small civilian prop aircraft into Russia from Europe and landed in Red Square Moscow without the Soviets detecting it. We were pouring money into Star Wars at the time too. The Soviets knew they were done.
Just a little fun fact for aviation nerds, the ME262 at 3:57 is in a tail dragger configuration, these where early prototypes, future 262s had a tripod landing gear instead with the tail always being well above the ground and the plane being paralel over the ground instead of diagonal, most modern planes and fighter jets use the tripod gear instead of being tail draggers
Not too new. I'd be interested in learning more about how they came up with the idea to land boosters on platforms in the ocean, and whether or not they were asked to go get a drug test before presenting THAT idea. But you have to be a little crazy, and apparently they were just crazy enough!
In the '80s, I was a facilities vendor for Lockheed. I did not have any type of security clearance, so would have to meet engineers out back where the Roach Coach showed Iup (they had several picnic tables) for engineering design meetings for various plant improvements.
The “sonic boom” isn’t generated as an aircraft “passes through the threshold”... it is the result of the shockwave that the aircraft is continually dragging across the ground along its flight path while going faster than the speed of sound.
I grew up about three miles from this place. In 7th grade, I won an essay contest and got to go inside where they showed us the X33 fuel tank after it was cancelled and declassified, the F35 before it flew and let me fly the F117 simulator. Later in life, I hiked to the site of the F117 Crash north of Tehachapi and south of Lake Isabella. It was little more than some bits of alluminum scattered around the 3500-4500' range of foothills.
Lol I know. I live in the area and it's a complete shithole. But I love it for all the aviation history the Antelope Valley has. It's actually kind of funny, I guess there's been an issues with Chinese spies moving in the area do to the high amounts of aviation companies like Lockheed Martin, skunk works, Northrop Grumman, scaled composites, the spaceship company, etc. Every company I've worked for tells us to be very careful.
All Western allied nations owe a massive dept of gratitude to Engineer Kelly Johnson. The team under Johnson built the impossible, thereby securing global security during the Cold War.
I was working as a Direrct TV dish installer around 2006, I got a call to do a install in Palm Dale CA. I drove out to the neighborhood where the address was supposed to be; This was before GPS was widely used so I started to have trouble locating it. The neighborhood looked run down & it was about 100 degrees outside so I circled the neighborhood about 5 time & noticed a white truck started to follow me around & would stop about 30 feet behind me when I would stop. I thought I was going to get robbed or something because I had a bunch of equipment so I went around the block about three more times then took a quick left to ditch the truck, I find a turn of opportunity I come to a two way street devided by chainlink fence next to a huge empty desert with only tamarisk trees on both sides of the street. I followed the street about a half mile & The tamarisk trees ended & Before me is a building about 20 stories Tall that look like the space shuttle could stand up in. There was a huge Disney skunk painted on the side & barbed wire fence With the words- Lockeed Martin.. I almost Shat my pants.. I realized I was probably being followed by the skunk works. Luckily before you get completely to the gate there was a place to do a U-turn. I left the area & canceled that installation for that day after that.
Aircraft do share really time date...data link, it’s why anything the awacs picks up on radar, the other aircraft can see too, and fighter to fighter can share
My dad was an accountant for Lockheed Martin at the Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA. Before that he was an accountant at Lockheed in Clear Lake, Houston, Texas. My dad never really told us much about his job. Some of it was Top Secret.
Funny thing is the F-117 stealth fighter wasn't a fighter at all. It was a bomber. It carried no defensive weapons to defend itself against enemy fighters.
Some Kelly Johnson-related aircraft are still in service today. A modernized version of the U-2 is still in service and the C-130 Hercules, introduced in the 1950s, is even still in production, with a brand new model recently entering service for both military and commercial customers. The P-80 and it's trainer version the T-33 stayed in service for decades and there are private owners still flying a few of these jets out there.
My uncle worked there. As a child, he would give me all kinds of SR-71 swag (not a secret by then), until the invasion of Panama...and the reveal of the F117 Stealth Fighter. Then he could reveal that he’d been lying about working on the SR71, but had been working on the F117 all those years, and I got a gift package of F117 swag! I still have the shirt, tie, and tie-pin. Rest In Peace uncle Ray!
That's kickass, man!
My dad worked for them for some time in the mid to late 80s, I've asked him about it and he always skirts around my questions, meaning that he can't talk about it.
Hell yeah man. Pour one out for uncle Ray.
Rest in peace uncle Ray!
@Jordon Carlson make your father drunk and he'll begin to tell you stuff how they reverse engineer actual alien spacecraft
I met one of the designers of the f-117 , and one thing he said he tells people first is that there is a 20-30 year gap between what he is doing and what he can talk about.
Its so annoying that the tech we could have had is being kept secret in favor of military efforts. Truly we are sad bunch of creatures
A lot of humans haven't shown the intelligence or common sense to safely and effectively use the technology we have now, let alone cutting edge, science fiction level technology.
@@fullcircle8231 maybe the Brotherhood of steel was right... Not the Genocidal version from FO4. The OG chapters.
He was lying to you.
Yarp, I know one of the test pilots who flew the F-117 while one of its tail fins disintegrated in a test. He managed to land it and even shared the footage of it happening with me now that its been declassified.
Its crazy how far ahead military aviation is compared to civilian work.
I grew up in Palmdale, CA. I can't tell you how cool it was to see these planes flying, chasing each other in test missions, etc. All these planes that people only saw on TV, I would see almost every weekend morning, flying at breakneck speeds, causing things in your home to rattle when they created sonic booms high overhead.
As always, thanks to you and your team for another amazing video!
Palmdale is great for plane spotting. I saw a pair of F-35's well before their delivery, about 12 years ago now... always made me laugh when people insisted the plane couldn't fly for years after I saw two fly right over my head and bank right, probably heading up to one of the test ranges. The real interesting stuff sneaks in and out of Plant 42 late at night though.... And if I remember correct, Skunk Works isn't the only team ate Plant 42, I believe all the major manufacturers are there.... And there are a few little hidden facilities up in the hills around there too... fun place when there was more development going on there...
That’s great!!! I live in an area the Army used for drone testing in the 90’s. The beginning tests weren’t super successful and we started calling the drones Million Dollar Rocks for how often they ended up falling out of the sky. 😂😂😂
I Grew up in Lancaster Ca my two older brothers worked for Lockheed and my oldest brother was the Lockheed crew chief on the 117 that crashed
The SR-71 in the Smithsonian has a painting of the little skunk on its tail fin. There is a tear dripping from one of its eyes. This signified the last flight for this particular plane.
Had I known that flight was happening, id have skipped high school and went to dulles to see it fly in.
972
Ive seen that plane. It's so cool!
The Aurora took the placeof sr-71 that they say dont exist
That's cool!
Reminds me of the logo that some Koenigseggs have only if theyre made at the original Koenigsegg factory in memory of a fighter squadron that used to operate out of the same factory.
Kelly Johnson was a genius. One of, if not the best, aeronautical engineers of all time.
I could not agree with you more. Probably the best.
His genius only went so far. He didn't think of heating the P-38 cockpit (or creating a warm suit for the pilots) or creating a proper fuel system for the P-38 that would work in the cold wet skies of Europe.
@@usamwhambam The P-38 engines weren’t built or designed by Kelly Johnson, which includes fuel systems.
Do you know where he got the idea concept for the A12?
Pakistani national Abdul muhammad Al bin salamander was the best aeronautical Engineer. He created the first aircraft in 1894 years before the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers stole his idea and because of racism in america they got credit.
The book "Skunk Works" by former director Ben Ritch is a fantastic read. He was brought on by Kelly Johnson to work on the U-2, he was a key player on the A-12 and SR-71 projects, and is considered the "father of modern stealth" thanks to the F-117 project under his tenure as director.
I read that too!! Phenomenal book!!
I love that the Nighthawk was the "Stealth Fighter" but did almost no fighting, just bombing. No one was going into a BFM fight with an F117. But then they developed an actual bomber in the B2 so now it wouldn't be right to call it the Stealth Bomber since B2 is definitely just that.
Raptor is the #2 most beautiful plane behind the F16 for me. Skunk Works is just one of America's greatest centers of aviation.
F designation was on purpose to fool Soviet intel.
F15 for me. First ones I saw were a pair flying up a canyon beneath me as I was on the ridge mapping the geology. They flew by several times, actually.
@@CD-ek3iq it was so the F117 would fall under the SALT treaties. The F designator was correct, it was capable of firing Aim 9 Sidewinders. I was a weapons loader on the F117 among many others. I was in the 416th FS and it was renamed the 9th FS when we moved to Holloman AFB NM
The Raptor and the F 16 are beautiful planes, but I prefer the YF 23, the Raptors competitor, both are excellent planes but if the YF 23 did the extra stuff that Lockheed had the YF 22 do and a pilot who was willing to push the YF 23 to its limits I think it would have been the winner, but I would put it this way: the YF 22 was built for that day and age when the competition was underway and the near future but the YF 23 was built too soon for what the US Air Force was looking for at the time, if you look at official concept art for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter project it is like they took the YF 23 and changed the wing a bit, added thrust vectoring capabilities and have the rudders/ruddervators fold down, or have canards on the plane, so let's call it if the 2 planes had a lovechild with a few mutations, forming the concept art we see today. Still, both planes are fucking awesome none the less, the YF 23 is my favorite and (in my opinion) the sexiest looking plane ever, with the SR 71 family, B2 spirit, XB 70 Valkaryie and B1 Lacer and SAAB Draken as runners up
Its a multi use aircraft.
Let's get a mega projects about Simon Whistler and how he runs 25,000 TH-cam channels lol.
Sounds like a good biographical episode.
Or maybe he could create a channel called "my name is Simon"
I think you missed a few channels in your count. 😂
I wouldn't say he runs them but for sure an amazing crew running a mesmerizing amount of content. Thank you all : )
@@shawnharrold5930 Mesmerizing; really; Amazing; really? I think we already knew about all this content forty years ago or more.
Too much research involved for mere mortals
Theme idea: semiconductor fabs. Each new generation required breakthroughs in material science, physics, chemistry, and, yes, mathematics. Currently, a new fab cost billions. You can't get much more megaproject-y than that!
This would be great! I don't think many people realize the insane work that is that side of technology.
Yes that's a good one. Those fabs are incredible.
It also helps that modern fabs tend to be huge.
I work for a semiconductor fab (Dynex Semiconductor if you’re interested) and we only have 200 people 😂
Yeah I would like a little more info on the 5nm process. It’s incredible where we have gotten to in so short of time and crazy to think of where we’ll be in the same time frame
I used to work amongst a small team in an experimental department for a Large Plant and agricultural tractor manufacturer. Our MD, after reading Skunk Works on holiday, personally bought all his engineers a copy. It is one of the most fascinating books I have read. Highly recommended.
I know exactly what you mean! I worked for a truly British firm.... JCB, on the Fastrac’s. The series 2 8250 was my main project.
Skunk Works is part of the overall military strategy of the US born of the harsh lessons of WWII.
The US entered the war with many hastily developed weapons. It lacked a battlefield ready serviceable medium tank and quickly cobbled together the M-3 Lee tank which was sent to Briton for their use.
The US entered with the P-40 as it's main fighter and was outclassed by the Axis fighters. It also had the development of some better fighters that entered service in 1941 but the P40 was still the main fighter. There were navy fighters that had similar short comings.
What was learned that the policy of isolationism only allowed nations intent of conquest to invade allies and eventually wage war on the US.
All of that was couple with the advancement of the ability to project military power over long distances with increasing speed. By the time the war ended the forward staged invasion force of Normandy was replaced by an intercontinental invasion force to strike Japan.
The final factor was that new weapon systems were increasingly complex and development time significantly longer. The US would no longer be able to stand behind two oceans and play catch up to superior enemy weapons.
So the US has been developing weapons systems for tomorrow and replacements for the systems still in development trying to stay ahead of weapons development of potential enemies. This entails developing a system for a set of specifications, then developing to defeat a system an enemy would need to defeat that system. The goal of staying at least one or two steps ahead of all others,
The Skunk Works is actually a subset of a larger mega project.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s warning at the time of the Vietnam War rings true today: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
you're right on! great analysis.
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp A county that cannot defend itself soon finds it's people living as slaves who parrot back the dictator's dogma to keep from being put to death.
@@edwardcnnell2853 Sadly Edward we Americans are being turned into slaves by the US military Industrial Complex. That we spend more on our military than the next 10-nations combined shows that our leaders have enslaved us all to their dogma. We will put ourselves to death with this insanity.
@@edwardcnnell2853 having bases in 160 countries isn't defense, it's colonialism
"I would link them below but unfortunately I've got 22 TH-cam channels to run"
Mute like 44
At least he’s working you big Dosser
@@funkylee2010 "I have no idea how to take a joke like I bet Simon can" LMAO c'mon
We all know how too:
*CO-FUCKING-CAINE*
Just a joke.
At this point I recommend cocaine or crack or meth that's too many channels.
@@XYGamingRemedyG meow
The SR-71 is flying art...... Thanks Simon
Supposedly the SR71/A12 design was based on one of the two UFOs that Kelly Johnson witnessed. I saw the drawing; it’s interesting.
Really well done as always Simon. Minor note: A sonic boom doesn't occur just when a plane goes through the speed of sound but occurs for the entire time it is going above the speed of sound. It comes across as just a single "boom" to a ground observer because the aircraft is only above or near them for a very small amount of time.
The Lockheed "Shooting Star" eventually evolved into the "T-33 (T-Bird)" advanced trainer first used for qualifying experienced fighter pilots to fly pure jet aircraft. These trainer models were built in the USA, Canada, and Japan in fairly large numbers.
Oh cool! Did not know that. We have a T-33 on display at my local airport, sits atop a big pillar. CYBR
@@bradenwoods1111
That aircraft had a near 70 year lifespan which is incredible.
Still in use today!
The P-80 also ran on an English designed jet engine - the same engine as the MiG-15 and P-59…
I spent my early years wanting to work at this place. Everything about it fascinated me. The challenges they faced was something that screamed to my core. The people that work there are another breed entirely.
2:25 - Chapter 1 - Moonshine origins
3:35 - Chapter 2 - P 80 Shooting star
5:50 - Chapter 3 - Post WWII
7:05 - Chapter 4 - New heights
8:45 - Chapter 5 - Stealth arrives
10:20 - Chapter 6 - Modern age
11:20 - Chapter 7 - Next generation
13:40 - Chapter 8 - Skunk works in the wider world
14:50 - Chapter 9 - The dream factory for war
Worked on the F35 as a government contractor. Focused on the electro-optic systems in the helmet, targeting system, and exterior cameras. Absolutely best job ever. Required Top Secret clearance. Was under a Non Disclosure Agreement for 7 years after leaving the position that covered everything about the position & technology (obviously), but also covered that I even worked at the specific company (not Skunk Works). So many stories…
SR-71: by far the baddest looking aircraft anywhere... ever. (Works well too)
A-12 for me
Supposedly the SR71/A12 design was based on one of the two UFOs that Kelly Johnson witnessed. I saw the drawing; it’s interesting.
What is most remarkable is how much it advanced flight technology.... up and flying 15 years after the first supersonic flight is pretty amazing. But that said, it was far from a perfect plane and using current tech something amazing could be (or has been) built to replace it. The satellite ate the spy planes lunch over the next decades... but its is ready for a comeback given all the anti-satellite weapons development.. Maybe I will catch a glimpse one day if it comes by Beale AFB - they always get the fun stuff there...
I sadly do not work at the Skunk Works. I work at the Northrop-Grumman site a few miles west of the actual building. Still cool to drive by that place to work and back everyday.
requesting the enigma
and the decoding of enigma and machine that decoded it
I read that the capture of an enigma machine on a German U-boat was key to understanding the encryption method. This revealed use of a 6 character encryption key (late in the war, the enigma was modified to use a 7 character string). Somehow through pattern detection, they could approximate the first half of the key. The remainder was fairly easily broken due to two weaknesses in the user's selection of keys. First, they did not change the keys often. Second, the 6 character string often used the names of cities. So, if a new key seemed to begin with 'Lon', the allies guessed 'London'. Bang! - It worked!. Similarly... Mad-rid, Nap-les, Mun-ich, Ber-lin, Mos-cow.
@@gregparrott I think you will find that much of the enigma secrets had been unlocked by British mathematicians way before the U Boat was captured.
@@billgreen8966 The Poles did some important early work too that they shared with the British.
@@davidste60 They sure did, as did others. I just get a bit pissed when everything was apparently undertaken by John Wayne and the rest of the world were just bystanders.
you mean the PURPLE machine, which break the Enigma code?
Grew up as a kid in the 80s idolizing the SR71. My uncle who just passed away. Worked for skunkworks and JPL. The was was a genius. He would take his vacation every year and go out in the woods by himself. He would tell us he needed piece and quiet for a month. Found out later he worked on the Have blue project. The only thing he told me was “ Everything you seen in the sky is 20 plus years or older in technology. I also had a friend who used to capture Russian missiles in the late 50s to help reverse engineer them.
The book, "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich and Leo Janos is quite worth a read.
That was a cool book. It’s been 10-15 years since I read it - while active in the AF. About time to pick it up again.
A tremendous book
By far my favorite MegaProjects video. Lockheed's Skunkworks, and their accomplishments are legendary.
Megaprojects idea: The Berlin Airlift
What about Berlin wall?
Or the Berlin airport
Or just Berlin
He did it on the xplrd channel already.
@@danielalasoo2930 ⁰
China: "Copy that, damn it! And that, too. And that. And...."
No one has copied and stolen more ideas that the US.
@@billgreen8966 *you must be fun at parties*
@@billgreen8966 Chinese paid troll gives low effort "no u" response.
I wish I was.
@@billgreen8966 - It would have been difficult for the U.S. to copy in aviation, given that the Wright brothers originated heavier-than-air, powered flight.
Btw, be sure to thank Winnie the Xi Jinpooh for your 50 cents.
This man owns like 8 channels and now has a podcast, the grind don’t stop
“The dream factory for war”
Welcome to America. Everyone has to be good at something.
And if you're "too good at it" by some people's standards, you get accused of being part of the "military industrial complex". No good deed goes unpunished!
I guess then that if a country refuses to participate in a war then there wont be one? Really?
Mega projects suggestion: the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme.
You mean alaskas biggest dam?
Snow mountains hydro is in Aus
I've been posting this for over 12 months, hopefully he finally notices it!
My home town was Cooma, the home base of the snowy scheme! I'd love to see a megaprojects of it all 👌🏻
TRJ
Great idea.
Snowy scheme was all about producing electricity for the production of heavy water
Few Aussies know that PM Curtin allocated funds for Uranium mining in 1944.
The foundations for the 500 megawatt enrichment reactor can still be seen at Murrays beach in Jervis Bay.
The Red peril descending south through Asia had some politicions worried so Atomic plan 4 comprising 30-40
low yield weapons began.
Storage and R+D to be hidden deep underground.
Bomb delivery to Jakata required the 1963 order of 24 General Dynamics F-111c Tactical strike aircraft .
Program ceased in when PM John Gorton was rolled in 1971.
WORKED PLANT 42 FOR OVER 40 YEARS, AWESOME PROGRAMS, TIME OF MY LIFE...... SPACE SHUTTLES, B1-BOMBERS, F-117, F-22, BOEING F-32, AIRBORNE LASER, U-2, L-1011, C130 GUNSHIP,
Simon's going to need to need to register as a defense contactor for the US and USSR, due to mega cash he's raking in off the cold ❄️ war
Um, you mean Russia?
@@victoriaeads6126 no he means Croatia
The EU is turning into the new USSR.. Russia is an oligarchy, with most of the oligarchs are Putin's side... ie. The same as The US but without the divide and conquer, 2 party state system dragging the nation into slowmo economic suicide... VIA MASSIVELY WASTEFUL UBER-PROJECTS!
And never moving beyond the design stage was the whole point of the Skunk Works according to Kelly. He wanted anything and everything from his people, didn't care how oddball it was. Never know when it may come in useful.
That's a cool idea. A standalone design department that creates unconventional works.
Not sure how much money is in it.
@@calska140 for any given project? Probably not a whole lot, but then again, the people in the Skunk Works weren't getting paid to turn major profits on everything they did. They were paid to come up with anything and everything they could, and see what worked. And when you look at what has come out of there over its history, I think it has been money exceedingly well spent.
Supercomputers used to fascinate me. I wouldn’t mind a mega project on one of the more famous ones. Cray and Sequoia pop to mind right off. I worked for a computer company, and saw one called Proteus I’ve never heard anything about.
The Cray is cray cray!
you know you've made it when you don't need sponsors no more, because you can just advertise your other channels/podcasts. Well done Simon, you sir have won TH-cam
The first time I saw Simon on TH-cam...I’m going to be honest, just forgettable. Harsh. I know. But cut to today now, #1 favourite human on earth. Complete content stud.
workaholic?
So pretty much anything 'new' we're told about coming out of the skunk works is probably already been worked on for about 25 years or so.
Makes you think what they're up to right now.
Less of a megaprojects and more biographics one but maybe Clarence “Kelly” Johnson to father of so many of these megaprojects?
Hey Simon, you listening?
The SR-71 went from a "Doddle" on a napkin, to a FLYING AIRCRAFT, in only "21" months . . . "That", is HOW ITS DONE !. . . Simon.
At 11:58 . . ."Normally a sonic boom is heard as the aircraft passes through the [sonic] threshold . . ."
This is wrong, wrong, WRONG! A sonic boom does NOT only occur as an aircraft passes Mach 1. It happens as long as the aircraft is supersonic at whatever speed. It is a continuous shock wave that travels with and behind the aircraft, in the same way the a wake travels with and behind a ship. It forms because the aircraft's speed compresses the air in front of it so quickly that it doesn't have time to form a laminar flow around the aircraft as it normally would. It is heard as a "boom" rather than as a continuous sound only as the supersonic compression wave passes over a particular point.
Quite correct. They make it sound like it’s something that happens only when a plane passes Mach 1; which is not the case at all. Good explanation.
almost exactly right - i said almost the same thing, but I don't know where laminar flow comes into it.
@@maniacal_engineer
RE: ". . . but I don't know where laminar flow comes into it."
Here's a NASA article about supersonic laminar flow.
Reference: www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/about/Organizations/Technology/Facts/TF-2004-12-DFRC.html
@@keirfarnum6811
RE: "They make it sound like it’s something that happens only when a plane passes Mach 1; which is not the case at all."
Thanks. That particular mistake is actually quite common in movie/TV documentaries.
@@spaceman081447 from the report:
"Other benefits stemming from a large high-speed transport incorporating laminar flow technology would be a reduced sonic boom signature at ground level due to weight reduction, and a reduction in airport takeoff noise levels."
So, according to this report their isn't really a direct effect of boundary layer on sonic boom. My understanding is that one of the effects of boundary layer on flow is essentially to make the object a little bigger, since there is a layer of slow or stationary fluid the rest of the fluid has to go further out of its way to get around the slow bits. Another effect is that in adverse pressure gradient situation the boundary layer will cause the main flow to separate, hence the little tiny vertical vortex generators you se on the upper surface of &#& wings to re-energize the boundary layer and keep the flow attached to the upper surface, preventing stalls
My thermo instructor taught that when doing dimensional analysis the units for temperature are velocity squared. The speed of sound in a gas is sqrt(gamma R T). When an object moving through a fluid exceeds this speed the molecules can't get out of the way and a shock wave forms, regardless of the status of the boundary layer. Boundary layer is a viscous phenomenon, but shock waves are understandable assuming inviscid fluid.
So, I guess I still don't see where boundary layer comes into it.
I worked in the Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA in the 1980's as an aircraft mechanic. It was cool. I retired from Lockheed Martin in 2019. I had a good career with Lockheed.
My grandpa was a mathematician at skunk works back in the 50s-60s… he has amazing stories
Do you have any of those stories to share?
God I wish I could go back in time and talk to Kelly Johnson for an hour with no security clearance issues just him answering any question I ask and telling me about all the projects that they was working on and not having to hold back.
Simon, you should do the USS Monitor. She was the first ship to be built with a turret, and was the first metal warship to fight another ironclad. She is also the ancestor to all modern warships.
It's was a British ship in 1861, the monitor was only designed in 1861
HMW Warrior was out before Monitor - not, however, that I want to take anything away from Monitor......
@@jimtalbott9535 Warrior was hardly anything like the Monitor. Warships wa a ironclad sailing frigate with auxiliary steam. Monitor was a steam only warship with a turret housing 2 guns. Monitor was also more powerful with guns that fired heavier shot against thinner armor.
@@wss2191 ?
If your referring to th Trusty, that was not built with a turret. She had a turret put on well after she was built for an experiment. She wasn't purpose built to have one.
I'm waiting for Skunkworks to make a shark with lasers on its head...
Frickin' lasers
I'm waiting for it to beat out Northrup's ill tempered sea bass
@@maniacal_engineer
Damn! You got there before me. 🤬
😁
I have a friend that works for Lockheed. One time I made a joke about Skunk Works and her face dropped hard, and I could see her start to sweat, and she asked me with a straight face "How do you know about Skunk Works?" I could see she was really stretching her brain and very worried that SHE had told me about it accidentally or something.
I replied, "Everyone knows about Skunk Works."
In that moment she probably went through her memory if she slipped and said classified info lmao
Your friend is clueless if they work for Lockheed Martin and think the existence of the skunk works is a secret. Hopefully they’re never trusted with actual classified information 🤦♂️
We don’t have time to go through everything? Sure we do! I’m here for all of that. 😍
My high school technology/electronics teacher worked at Skunk Works. He worked on the U-2 (that's all he'd say), and my cousin just retired from flying it. Extremely interesting.
I “SMASHED” the like button like you asked me too. You owe me a new phone now. 😁
Ha! Nice.
He'll send you a paper copy that withstands being SMASHED.
Note to self... figuratively smash that like button
With the right lawyer.... 🤔 🤑 🤑 🤑
I went to high school with a guy who's father was the CEO of Siemens Canada.. Siemens is regularly contracted by Lockheed, and I got to see some cool tech.. none of which was ever developed, as far as I can tell.. The coolest thing I got to see was a supersonic pulse jet that Siemens did the injection system for. Almost got a job with them, but missed out because my GPA wasn't quite high enough.
What did u study in college?
@@andriyhirnyak4324 Electronics Engineering
@@robertkerr4199 what do u think of aerospace engineering?
@@andriyhirnyak4324 i think it's one of the best fields to get into. Humanity is hellbent on exploring space, so anyone and everyone capable should get into it. There will always be jobs available in aeronautics, astronautics, and avionics..
@@robertkerr4199 thanks for the reply man
The pending invasion of France.....in Spring 1943.....genius writer and fantastic quality control at Megaprojects.
Kelly Johnson was decades ahead of anything else. The aircraft he worked on are past the leading edge.
Supposedly the SR71/A12 design was based on one of the two UFOs that Kelly Johnson witnessed. I saw the drawing; it’s interesting.
I’d mop the floors, so long as my ID card reads “SKUNK Werks Janitor”
Simon: "I would link them below, but I'm too lazy."
me: "Oh yeah, this coming from the guy who produces more TH-cam videos than McDonalds produces hamburgers."
I used to live in Antelope Valley in CA where Palmdale and the Skunk Works are located. It seemed like a third of the people you talked to could not tell you what they did for a living. Where do your work? "I can't tell you." What do you do for a living? "I can't tell you" and "the information is classified" are common answers.
Loved this video Simon! All of Skunk Works relevant facts distilled in a short video. Ben Rich’s book gives such an amazing insight to SW.
Unbelievable facility, had the privilege to go there a a number of times and had perfect timing during one visit, was invited to the production floor, and nothing but gold U2’s going through production, I was told back then this was the last group of U2’s coming through the facility. We watched the preflight suite up of 2 SR71 Pilot’s and 1 U2 Pilot, then they drove us in a van with some idiot congressman to the end of the runway for take off of both, the SR71 takeoff was amazing and we vibrated as it passed over. Mid 1980’s.
I've got an engineer buddy that works for them....he loves his job
It's a real shame that the best jobs all somehow involve war...
What if he told you what he was building
He loves his skunk on his free work shirt I bet
frickin awsome! "looks like something batman would fly" and then a scene of batman giving a thumbs up!
My favourite group of engineers. Good choice Simon.
Small but important correction: A sonic boom is not caused by breaking the sound barrier, i.e., it is not the passing the barrier that creates the effect, but that the object is traveling faster than sound. An object traveling faster than the speed of sound produces the effect continuously, rather than just once when reaching the relative speed of sound (the actual speed of sound varies depending on atmospheric conditions). The effect creates a focused, cone shaped shock wave that can only be heard at a quite tight angle from the source as the edges of that wave pass the person's location, which is why we do not hear the effect continuously as the aircraft passes overhead.
Low noise supersonic? The way to do that would be the shape the aircraft so the shock wave does not reach the ground, i.e., shape the aircraft to shape the way the wave is produced, focused, and dissipated. Plasma may be another way. They have already used a large ball of plasma in front of an aircraft to reduce drag. It creates a low pressure zone behind the plasma for the aircraft travel in, i.e., the plane can go faster because it has to push less air out of its way as it cuts through the atmosphere. Combined with a shock wave reducing aerodynamic shape, plasma could probably work. Creating plasma takes a lot of energy though, which is energy not being converted into thrust if it comes from generators in the jet engines.
Truth: one of the things that my (now) husband and I bonded over was the amazing abilities of aircraft.
The one place in the world where i want to work the most. Absolute legends.
reading the title made me think of jayztwocents pc build
Same, wonder why he has never done a military themed build... He does have the A10 as his wallpaper 😆
Yesssssss
Its a shame he doesn't update it anymore
Yeah man Id love to see skunk works be rebuilt
In 1970, I turned 10, on Hollaman Air Base. I was given appropriate out door roller skates, as a gift.I will never recover or regret It. Welcome to "The WORK'S".
Skunk Works is legendary, heard that they've gone out own their own these days.
Simon, I have to correct you here. The sonic boom is not as it passes through the barrier, that is the first instance of it however the sonic boom only seems to be as it passes because of how our ears work.
The sonic boom will in fact travel with the plane as long as it stays above the speed of sound which is why supersonic jets were banned over land. Every meter it travels, every person it passes will be hit by a sonic boom. A quiet supersonic plane would be the next massive revolution in aviation technology and will advance aviation in a way not seen since the invention of the jet engine.
It was actually the RS-71 until LBJ accidentally renamed it when he revealed it to the world.
@Dan Pearson Interesting.
Thing I just read on the internet (must be correct, right?) said that the stenographer who transcribed LBJs speech mixed up the letters in the transcript, which is where the idea that LBJ got it backwards is from.
I've had the pleasure of going to multiple open house events at their Palmdale, Ca location in the past having grown up in Lancaster and knowing people that worked on the F117 from the start. My dad also worked at the Burbank location back in the day.
Would love an episode on the F22 or the Eurofighter
Simon’s love for the SR71 is limitless.
Thanks for this! I'm a big aviation buff. You should do a Biographics video on Kelly Johnson.
Fun fact: the term "skunkworks" had been in common usage,.but Lockheed didn't admit to such a department's existence until they had to do so in court. A performance car parts manufacturer decided on "Skunkworks" as a brand name, but Lockheed didn't like that, so they sued. In order to have any chance in court they had to admit that they had a division that officially went by that name. The car parts company settled on the name "Skunk2" and theyre still around today.
We need official video of the super duper missile. That sounds so awesome!!
Super duper? Close, We do have the "duper duper bomb" . It's acronym from DUper + DUper = DuDu bomb.. I'm sure you've heard of it? Perhaps in your younger years?
From a parent to their not quite yet potty trained toddler...
"Uh oh, someones made a dudu in their pants?"
It's banned as a WMD and biohazard.
It is So full of noxious odors. Yuck 😝
That eye watering smell... You never seen a house or building get evacuated that fast...
It put tear gas to shame 😯🤔😁
Imagine knowing so much that the future already seems like the past.....
I won a tour of the Rolls Royce jet engine factory years ago. When I saw the ShadowWorks sign, I went to discreetly take a pic of it, before a security guard tapped me on the back and waited with me while I deleted the pic.
Can’t compare. RR is an engine/power plant maker.
@@zeitgeistx5239 He wasn't comparing, he was just commenting on his brush with security.
That is just a policy they enact. The real cutting edge comes from actually the design process and implementation process.
Simon, you got me through my 8 hour drive with your videos on the background. Thank you. I was falling asleep without it
“We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity.”
― Ben Rich CEO Lockheed Skunk Works
Probably way ahead of what any of us can imagine, but don’t want to tip our hands to the enemy like China for we may need to use those technologies in the near future.
Supposedly, he also said that we not only have the technology to take ET home, they have the contract to do so.
@Randen Richards very well said.
We had the F117 and the Soviets knew it. Then some kid flew a small civilian prop aircraft into Russia from Europe and landed in Red Square Moscow without the Soviets detecting it.
We were pouring money into Star Wars at the time too.
The Soviets knew they were done.
@@Kevinsmith-rx7zq You're getting the story twisted. They knew he was there, they didnt get authority to shoot him down.
Just a little fun fact for aviation nerds, the ME262 at 3:57 is in a tail dragger configuration, these where early prototypes, future 262s had a tripod landing gear instead with the tail always being well above the ground and the plane being paralel over the ground instead of diagonal, most modern planes and fighter jets use the tripod gear instead of being tail draggers
SpaceX would be a cool megaprojects video.
To new isn’t it? They are just getting started.
Certainly would be. Starship is iterating quickly now. SN9 should be having a test flight this week,
Not too new. I'd be interested in learning more about how they came up with the idea to land boosters on platforms in the ocean, and whether or not they were asked to go get a drug test before presenting THAT idea. But you have to be a little crazy, and apparently they were just crazy enough!
In the '80s, I was a facilities vendor for Lockheed. I did not have any type of security clearance, so would have to meet engineers out back where the Roach Coach showed Iup (they had several picnic tables) for engineering design meetings for various plant improvements.
The “sonic boom” isn’t generated as an aircraft “passes through the threshold”... it is the result of the shockwave that the aircraft is continually dragging across the ground along its flight path while going faster than the speed of sound.
2:15 “I would link them below, but I’m too lazy.” 😂
It’s probably impossible but you should cover a USSR type Skunk Works! Again easier said then done.
I don't know that TsAGI has had the same kind of successes the Skunk Works has, tho.
Thanks to these projects you and many others can live safely.
The Gloster Meteor was a month behind the Me 262.
The British just knew that the jet want combat capable.
The Meteor was much more capable than the Me262 but was restricted to flying over British controlled territory for security reasons…
I grew up about three miles from this place. In 7th grade, I won an essay contest and got to go inside where they showed us the X33 fuel tank after it was cancelled and declassified, the F35 before it flew and let me fly the F117 simulator. Later in life, I hiked to the site of the F117 Crash north of Tehachapi and south of Lake Isabella. It was little more than some bits of alluminum scattered around the 3500-4500' range of foothills.
Palmdale: the only place no one wants to go so it’s a safe place for Skunkworks lol
Lol I know. I live in the area and it's a complete shithole. But I love it for all the aviation history the Antelope Valley has. It's actually kind of funny, I guess there's been an issues with Chinese spies moving in the area do to the high amounts of aviation companies like Lockheed Martin, skunk works, Northrop Grumman, scaled composites, the spaceship company, etc. Every company I've worked for tells us to be very careful.
Lmao!
I live there
my paternal grandfather worked on developing the sr-71. it was really neat to get to learn about the place he did it.
All Western allied nations owe a massive dept of gratitude to Engineer Kelly Johnson.
The team under Johnson built the impossible, thereby securing global security during the Cold War.
*almost fatally escalating
I was working as a Direrct TV dish installer around 2006, I got a call to do a install in Palm Dale CA. I drove out to the neighborhood where the address was supposed to be; This was before GPS was widely used so I started to have trouble locating it. The neighborhood looked run down & it was about 100 degrees outside so I circled the neighborhood about 5 time & noticed a white truck started to follow me around & would stop about 30 feet behind me when I would stop. I thought I was going to get robbed or something because I had a bunch of equipment so I went around the block about three more times then took a quick left to ditch the truck, I find a turn of opportunity I come to a two way street devided by chainlink fence next to a huge empty desert with only tamarisk trees on both sides of the street. I followed the street about a half mile & The tamarisk trees ended & Before me is a building about 20 stories Tall that look like the space shuttle could stand up in. There was a huge Disney skunk painted on the side & barbed wire fence With the words- Lockeed Martin.. I almost Shat my pants.. I realized I was probably being followed by the skunk works. Luckily before you get completely to the gate there was a place to do a U-turn. I left the area & canceled that installation for that day after that.
Aircraft do share really time date...data link, it’s why anything the awacs picks up on radar, the other aircraft can see too, and fighter to fighter can share
My dad was an accountant for Lockheed Martin at the Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA. Before that he was an accountant at Lockheed in Clear Lake, Houston, Texas. My dad never really told us much about his job. Some of it was Top Secret.
Simon, for Biographics, look into the story of Howard Blackburn a fisherman from Gloucester, MA..an amazing story.
Business Blaze and Megaprojects are my 2 favorite Simon channels
MegaProjects suggestions Lockheed Martin f22 raptor
Funny thing is the F-117 stealth fighter wasn't a fighter at all. It was a bomber. It carried no defensive weapons to defend itself against enemy fighters.
The F-117 did have loadouts with AAMs but it’s never been declassified if it ever flew operationally like that.
How about a little something developed by the skunk works at Bugatti: The Bugatti Veyron as a future MegaProjects video?
After watching the video now it makes sense why Bruce Dickinson called his album like that! Thank you Simon, greetings from Argentina!
do the Yorktown class carriers
Some Kelly Johnson-related aircraft are still in service today. A modernized version of the U-2 is still in service and the C-130 Hercules, introduced in the 1950s, is even still in production, with a brand new model recently entering service for both military and commercial customers. The P-80 and it's trainer version the T-33 stayed in service for decades and there are private owners still flying a few of these jets out there.