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- 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:15,000
- INDOXXI
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- 1
- 00:00:06,571 --> 00:00:08,878
- Blitz: When you have
- a super-secretive base
- 2
- 00:00:08,921 --> 00:00:11,315
- in the middle of the desert,
- 3
- 00:00:11,359 --> 00:00:14,101
- there is more
- than meets the eye.
- 4
- 00:00:16,842 --> 00:00:23,632
- Jacobsen: These incredibly nerdy
- engineers are really James Bond.
- 5
- 00:00:23,675 --> 00:00:25,503
- Petraeus: Skunk Works
- originally started out
- 6
- 00:00:25,547 --> 00:00:30,160
- as a highly secret bunch
- of revolutionary thinkers.
- 7
- 00:00:30,204 --> 00:00:32,075
- Mullin: Skunk Works
- was hidden within
- 8
- 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:35,948
- the Lockheed California company.
- 9
- 00:00:35,992 --> 00:00:39,126
- Justice: The Skunk Works created
- these incredible flying machines
- 10
- 00:00:39,169 --> 00:00:42,520
- that fundamentally
- changed history.
- 11
- 00:00:42,564 --> 00:00:45,393
- Trimble: Area 51 was
- created for the U-2.
- 12
- 00:00:45,436 --> 00:00:47,134
- That was the aircraft
- that discovered
- 13
- 00:00:47,177 --> 00:00:49,092
- the missile sites on Cuba.
- 14
- 00:00:49,136 --> 00:00:52,226
- That's when the Cuban
- Missile Crisis started.
- 15
- 00:00:52,269 --> 00:00:55,403
- Gilliland Jr.:
- The Blackbird is probably
- the most popular airplane.
- 16
- 00:00:55,446 --> 00:00:57,883
- People like the fastest,
- the highest,
- 17
- 00:00:57,927 --> 00:01:00,886
- and it helped end the Cold War.
- 18
- 00:01:00,930 --> 00:01:02,671
- Law: In the Gulf War,
- 19
- 00:01:02,714 --> 00:01:06,631
- the Nighthawk changed
- combat aircraft permanently.
- 20
- 00:01:06,675 --> 00:01:08,329
- Justice: The Skunk Works
- created airplanes
- 21
- 00:01:08,372 --> 00:01:10,722
- that changed world history.
- 22
- 00:01:10,766 --> 00:01:13,116
- Jacobsen:
- These guys are really
- 23
- 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,815
- at the nexus of
- mystery, intrigue.
- 24
- 00:01:18,339 --> 00:01:22,082
- Secrets are built in
- into the American military.
- 25
- 00:01:22,125 --> 00:01:30,133
- ♪♪
- 26
- 00:01:30,177 --> 00:01:38,402
- ♪♪
- 27
- 00:01:38,446 --> 00:01:42,014
- Narrator: For years,
- I had to live in the shadows.
- 28
- 00:01:42,058 --> 00:01:45,931
- See, that's what
- we did back then.
- 29
- 00:01:45,975 --> 00:01:50,414
- I led a top-secret organization
- called the Skunk Works.
- 30
- 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:52,155
- Funny name, I know.
- 31
- 00:01:52,199 --> 00:01:55,071
- I'll get to that later.
- 32
- 00:01:55,115 --> 00:01:59,380
- My men made the airplanes
- that kept America safe.
- 33
- 00:01:59,423 --> 00:02:02,209
- I'm Kelly Johnson,
- and for years,
- 34
- 00:02:02,252 --> 00:02:07,779
- I was more than happy
- that very few knew my name.
- 35
- 00:02:07,823 --> 00:02:11,348
- He's a figure in American
- military history
- 36
- 00:02:11,392 --> 00:02:13,655
- that more people should know,
- but the CIA
- 37
- 00:02:13,698 --> 00:02:15,309
- and the United States government
- did not want the public
- 38
- 00:02:15,352 --> 00:02:18,225
- to know his name.
- 39
- 00:02:18,268 --> 00:02:20,618
- People weren't supposed to know
- about Kelly Johnson.
- 40
- 00:02:23,926 --> 00:02:25,188
- Narrator:
- As head of Skunk Works,
- 41
- 00:02:25,232 --> 00:02:28,017
- I wrote near daily
- in a logbook,
- 42
- 00:02:28,060 --> 00:02:31,760
- making a record of my thoughts,
- plans, and ideas.
- 43
- 00:02:31,803 --> 00:02:34,110
- It was my personal journal,
- 44
- 00:02:34,154 --> 00:02:39,159
- hidden from the public
- until now.
- 45
- 00:02:39,202 --> 00:02:42,510
- Westwick:
- These mythical logbooks,
- I've seen pages out of them.
- 46
- 00:02:42,553 --> 00:02:45,687
- They're kind of the holy grail
- of aerospace historians
- 47
- 00:02:45,730 --> 00:02:48,255
- because here is a detailed log
- of one of the iconic
- 48
- 00:02:48,298 --> 00:02:50,300
- aircraft designers
- of the 20th century.
- 49
- 00:02:50,344 --> 00:02:52,128
- But I've never seen
- a full round of them
- 50
- 00:02:52,172 --> 00:02:55,131
- because I think a lot of them
- are still classified.
- 51
- 00:02:55,175 --> 00:02:57,220
- Narrator: The Skunk Works
- is a concentration
- 52
- 00:02:57,264 --> 00:03:01,268
- of a few good people solving
- problems far in advance
- 53
- 00:03:01,311 --> 00:03:03,792
- and at a fraction
- of the cost of other groups
- 54
- 00:03:03,835 --> 00:03:06,621
- in the aircraft industry.
- 55
- 00:03:06,664 --> 00:03:10,581
- Almost all of what we did
- was classified.
- 56
- 00:03:10,625 --> 00:03:14,411
- We designed our first spy plane
- during a very different time
- 57
- 00:03:14,455 --> 00:03:19,460
- in American history, when
- America was in the Cold War.
- 58
- 00:03:19,503 --> 00:03:22,593
- The origins of the Cold War
- manifested in the late 1940s,
- 59
- 00:03:22,637 --> 00:03:24,291
- early 1950s.
- 60
- 00:03:24,334 --> 00:03:27,990
- The first big blowup
- was in 1949.
- 61
- 00:03:28,033 --> 00:03:30,775
- The Soviets explode
- their first atomic bomb.
- 62
- 00:03:30,819 --> 00:03:37,956
- ♪♪
- 63
- 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,394
- All of a sudden,
- America and the Soviets
- 64
- 00:03:40,437 --> 00:03:42,483
- have this nuclear capability.
- 65
- 00:03:42,526 --> 00:03:45,399
- This arms race ensues.
- 66
- 00:03:45,442 --> 00:03:47,662
- They were boasting and bragging
- 67
- 00:03:47,705 --> 00:03:51,187
- that they had missiles
- being pumped out like sausages.
- 68
- 00:03:51,231 --> 00:03:53,363
- They had bombers.
- 69
- 00:03:53,407 --> 00:03:55,104
- Painter:
- And everybody is scared that,
- 70
- 00:03:55,147 --> 00:03:56,453
- "Oh, my God,
- they've got so many bombers.
- 71
- 00:03:56,497 --> 00:03:57,846
- They're going to fly over
- the North Pole,
- 72
- 00:03:57,889 --> 00:03:59,151
- and they're going to bomb
- the United States
- 73
- 00:03:59,195 --> 00:04:01,632
- into, you know,
- Never Never Land."
- 74
- 00:04:01,676 --> 00:04:04,418
- Lockheed Jr. And it was
- simply a fact of life.
- 75
- 00:04:04,461 --> 00:04:08,639
- There was a possibility that
- the threats and the desire
- 76
- 00:04:08,683 --> 00:04:12,817
- expressed for world domination
- by the Soviet Union
- 77
- 00:04:12,861 --> 00:04:15,516
- could turn into
- a nuclear conflict.
- 78
- 00:04:15,559 --> 00:04:19,302
- It was implicit
- in all of the air drills
- 79
- 00:04:19,346 --> 00:04:21,913
- that we did as children
- in grade school.
- 80
- 00:04:25,395 --> 00:04:28,833
- The American government
- was desperate to find out
- 81
- 00:04:28,877 --> 00:04:33,621
- how strong the Soviets were,
- and it was very difficult
- 82
- 00:04:33,664 --> 00:04:35,840
- to get information
- out of the Soviet Union.
- 83
- 00:04:35,884 --> 00:04:39,148
- They were a closed society.
- 84
- 00:04:39,191 --> 00:04:42,282
- The CIA could not get
- any human spies on the ground
- 85
- 00:04:42,325 --> 00:04:43,587
- in the Soviet Union.
- 86
- 00:04:43,631 --> 00:04:44,849
- I mean, it was called
- the Iron Curtain
- 87
- 00:04:44,893 --> 00:04:46,155
- for a real reason, you know?
- 88
- 00:04:46,198 --> 00:04:47,983
- It was impenetrable.
- 89
- 00:04:48,026 --> 00:04:51,421
- Cappuccio: What Eisenhower was
- impressed with was data.
- 90
- 00:04:51,465 --> 00:04:53,510
- "I need to see
- what they're doing.
- 91
- 00:04:53,554 --> 00:04:55,425
- I have to see that data.
- I have to..."
- 92
- 00:04:55,469 --> 00:04:57,384
- And it has to be of a quality
- that says,
- 93
- 00:04:57,427 --> 00:05:00,212
- "That is a tank
- and not a 2-ton truck.
- 94
- 00:05:00,256 --> 00:05:04,652
- That is a missile
- and not a pipe."
- 95
- 00:05:04,695 --> 00:05:11,223
- And the President authorized
- these incredibly nerdy engineers
- 96
- 00:05:11,267 --> 00:05:16,359
- to create this spy plane
- that can fly high enough
- 97
- 00:05:16,403 --> 00:05:23,279
- to be out of the line of fire of
- Soviet surface-to-air missiles.
- 98
- 00:05:23,323 --> 00:05:26,326
- Narrator: The year was 1955.
- 99
- 00:05:26,369 --> 00:05:28,676
- Previously, Skunk Works
- had designed
- 100
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- two successful jet fighters
- for the government,
- 101
- 00:05:31,809 --> 00:05:36,031
- the Shooting Star
- and the Starfighter.
- 102
- 00:05:38,686 --> 00:05:41,819
- Planes could soar
- to 50,000 feet.
- 103
- 00:05:41,863 --> 00:05:45,475
- We needed an airplane
- that could go 70,000 feet,
- 104
- 00:05:45,519 --> 00:05:48,391
- out of range of them
- Russian missiles.
- 105
- 00:05:48,435 --> 00:05:51,307
- And from that height,
- we needed to capture images
- 106
- 00:05:51,351 --> 00:05:54,179
- as tiny as my typewriter.
- 107
- 00:05:54,223 --> 00:05:56,573
- That was the first
- reconnaissance aircraft
- 108
- 00:05:56,617 --> 00:06:00,969
- built from the ground up,
- capturing secrets in the sky.
- 109
- 00:06:01,012 --> 00:06:05,147
- We called it the U-2.
- 110
- 00:06:05,190 --> 00:06:07,192
- Powers Jr.
- Up until the U-2,
- 111
- 00:06:07,236 --> 00:06:08,890
- there was no
- reconnaissance aircraft.
- 112
- 00:06:08,933 --> 00:06:11,936
- It was a modified bomber
- with a camera.
- 113
- 00:06:11,980 --> 00:06:14,635
- The U-2 was the first plane
- to be specifically designed
- 114
- 00:06:14,678 --> 00:06:16,376
- to fly over foreign countries
- 115
- 00:06:16,419 --> 00:06:18,943
- to take pictures
- to gather intelligence
- 116
- 00:06:18,987 --> 00:06:23,383
- for review here
- by the United States.
- 117
- 00:06:23,426 --> 00:06:26,211
- With the U-2,
- you wanted high altitude.
- 118
- 00:06:26,255 --> 00:06:29,040
- That was going to be
- the way you survived.
- 119
- 00:06:29,084 --> 00:06:31,652
- Well, if you want high altitude,
- 120
- 00:06:31,695 --> 00:06:34,176
- then you got to
- have light weight,
- 121
- 00:06:34,219 --> 00:06:36,134
- so you do severe things.
- 122
- 00:06:36,178 --> 00:06:39,224
- Like, on the U-2,
- you have one main landing gear
- 123
- 00:06:39,268 --> 00:06:41,401
- in the middle of the fuselage
- on the bottom.
- 124
- 00:06:41,444 --> 00:06:44,839
- You don't have two
- or more landing gears.
- 125
- 00:06:44,882 --> 00:06:48,495
- Jacobsen: This was a plane that
- had to be so incredibly light
- 126
- 00:06:48,538 --> 00:06:51,628
- to get up to 70,000 feet.
- 127
- 00:06:51,672 --> 00:06:54,196
- I mean, the skin on the aircraft
- was something like
- 128
- 00:06:54,239 --> 00:06:57,373
- 0.02 inches.
- 129
- 00:06:57,417 --> 00:06:59,070
- Painter: In the camera system,
- they actually had
- 130
- 00:06:59,114 --> 00:07:02,770
- two 9-inch reels of film,
- and they counter-rotated
- 131
- 00:07:02,813 --> 00:07:06,469
- so that the weight between the
- two reels was always the same.
- 132
- 00:07:06,513 --> 00:07:08,166
- It was that critical
- on that aircraft
- 133
- 00:07:08,210 --> 00:07:11,039
- to keep the weight in balance.
- 134
- 00:07:11,082 --> 00:07:13,911
- Narrator: Everything we did
- had to be secretive,
- 135
- 00:07:13,955 --> 00:07:17,959
- even within our own
- parent company, Lockheed.
- 136
- 00:07:18,002 --> 00:07:19,917
- During the 1950s,
- 137
- 00:07:19,961 --> 00:07:23,486
- it was one of the top airplane
- manufacturers in the world.
- 138
- 00:07:23,530 --> 00:07:25,793
- Skunk Works was a subdivision,
- 139
- 00:07:25,836 --> 00:07:29,579
- yet very few within the company
- knew what we were doing.
- 140
- 00:07:32,190 --> 00:07:35,063
- Mullin: Skunk Works was
- physically in Burbank,
- 141
- 00:07:35,106 --> 00:07:40,590
- and it was hidden within
- the Lockheed California company.
- 142
- 00:07:40,634 --> 00:07:44,333
- I had been with Lockheed
- well over 20 years,
- 143
- 00:07:44,376 --> 00:07:49,207
- and I knew very little
- about the Skunk Works.
- 144
- 00:07:49,251 --> 00:07:51,732
- Justice: The Skunk Works itself
- was a secret for a long time.
- 145
- 00:07:51,775 --> 00:07:54,386
- When I hired in,
- I was not allowed to tell people
- 146
- 00:07:54,430 --> 00:07:56,693
- I worked for the Skunk Works.
- 147
- 00:07:56,737 --> 00:07:59,348
- Law:
- When I first went to Lockheed,
- I didn't know a thing about it,
- 148
- 00:07:59,391 --> 00:08:02,177
- and everybody
- that was there says,
- 149
- 00:08:02,220 --> 00:08:04,179
- "If you're a good engineer,
- maybe you'll get to go over
- 150
- 00:08:04,222 --> 00:08:06,703
- to the Skunk Works some day."
- 151
- 00:08:06,747 --> 00:08:09,924
- As it turned out, when I did
- go over to the Skunk Works,
- 152
- 00:08:09,967 --> 00:08:14,537
- it was a different world.
- 153
- 00:08:14,581 --> 00:08:18,280
- Number one, you would not talk
- about your work to anybody,
- 154
- 00:08:18,323 --> 00:08:19,847
- including your wife.
- 155
- 00:08:19,890 --> 00:08:21,892
- They could fire you
- if you told somebody
- 156
- 00:08:21,936 --> 00:08:24,068
- you worked for the Skunk Works.
- 157
- 00:08:24,112 --> 00:08:26,288
- Cappuccio: The second thing is,
- you had to be investigated
- 158
- 00:08:26,331 --> 00:08:30,988
- to make sure you were an honest,
- loyal, trustworthy citizen.
- 159
- 00:08:31,032 --> 00:08:34,035
- The fact that there was
- an organized approach
- 160
- 00:08:34,078 --> 00:08:37,952
- by the Soviets to have spies
- here was a fact of life.
- 161
- 00:08:37,995 --> 00:08:40,737
- There were, undoubtedly,
- hostile agents that were trying
- 162
- 00:08:40,781 --> 00:08:45,394
- to steal the intellectual
- property, as we would say today,
- 163
- 00:08:45,437 --> 00:08:49,093
- or understand what it is
- that was being developed.
- 164
- 00:08:49,137 --> 00:08:50,573
- Simple things like,
- 165
- 00:08:50,617 --> 00:08:52,923
- "Watch the guy
- on the Xerox machine.
- 166
- 00:08:52,967 --> 00:08:55,491
- Make sure he only replaces
- the cartridge,
- 167
- 00:08:55,535 --> 00:08:58,755
- not put a camera in it."
- 168
- 00:08:58,799 --> 00:09:01,149
- Law: Russians and Chinese
- had ships out in the water,
- 169
- 00:09:01,192 --> 00:09:02,977
- and they could tap
- your phone calls,
- 170
- 00:09:03,020 --> 00:09:05,457
- and, you know, everything was
- just getting to the point
- 171
- 00:09:05,501 --> 00:09:07,285
- where you
- couldn't trust anybody,
- 172
- 00:09:07,329 --> 00:09:11,420
- so they started giving
- lie-detector tests.
- 173
- 00:09:11,463 --> 00:09:13,161
- "Has anybody contacted you
- on this?
- 174
- 00:09:13,204 --> 00:09:16,033
- Has anybody asked you this?"
- 175
- 00:09:16,077 --> 00:09:18,819
- Another thing everyone
- was afraid of was a honeypot,
- 176
- 00:09:18,862 --> 00:09:23,388
- and the honeypot is literally
- like a female paramour,
- 177
- 00:09:23,432 --> 00:09:26,914
- a Russian spy
- who would try to seduce
- 178
- 00:09:26,957 --> 00:09:30,613
- a male worker at the Skunk Works
- and try and then,
- 179
- 00:09:30,657 --> 00:09:35,270
- in pillow talk,
- get this information from them.
- 180
- 00:09:35,313 --> 00:09:39,404
- The environment that created
- the U-2, they wanted to truly
- 181
- 00:09:39,448 --> 00:09:40,928
- protect the fact
- that the airplane
- 182
- 00:09:40,971 --> 00:09:42,973
- was even in development.
- 183
- 00:09:43,017 --> 00:09:44,888
- Kelly had money delivered
- to his house,
- 184
- 00:09:44,932 --> 00:09:47,325
- the payments for the contract.
- 185
- 00:09:47,369 --> 00:09:50,633
- They set up front companies
- to buy equipment,
- 186
- 00:09:50,677 --> 00:09:52,853
- anything they could do
- to mask the fact
- 187
- 00:09:52,896 --> 00:09:55,812
- that an airplane
- was in development.
- 188
- 00:09:55,856 --> 00:09:58,902
- Narrator: We needed a place
- to build the U-2,
- 189
- 00:09:58,946 --> 00:10:01,644
- somewhere completely
- off the grid,
- 190
- 00:10:01,688 --> 00:10:05,387
- not the kind of place
- you could find on a map.
- 191
- 00:10:05,430 --> 00:10:08,825
- Jacobsen: They have to find
- a base that is so secret
- 192
- 00:10:08,869 --> 00:10:10,958
- that no one will know
- what they're doing,
- 193
- 00:10:11,001 --> 00:10:14,831
- so Kelly Johnson
- and the CIA's Richard Bissell
- 194
- 00:10:14,875 --> 00:10:18,443
- start flying
- over the American west,
- 195
- 00:10:18,487 --> 00:10:20,402
- and where do they wind up?
- 196
- 00:10:20,445 --> 00:10:24,406
- Inside the middle
- of the Nevada Test Site
- 197
- 00:10:24,449 --> 00:10:26,713
- where the Atomic
- Energy Commission
- 198
- 00:10:26,756 --> 00:10:31,065
- just so happens to be
- setting off nuclear bombs.
- 199
- 00:10:33,067 --> 00:10:35,330
- I mean, I'm talking
- mushroom cloud and all
- 200
- 00:10:35,373 --> 00:10:37,941
- outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
- 201
- 00:10:37,985 --> 00:10:41,641
- It's impossible to imagine now,
- but this was going on
- 202
- 00:10:41,684 --> 00:10:44,948
- in the 1950s,
- and they think to themselves,
- 203
- 00:10:44,992 --> 00:10:48,473
- "No one is going to
- follow us here."
- 204
- 00:10:48,517 --> 00:10:52,869
- So, they partition off a segment
- of the Nevada Test Site
- 205
- 00:10:52,913 --> 00:10:56,786
- specifically for this aircraft,
- 206
- 00:10:56,830 --> 00:10:58,745
- and the reason it's chosen
- in particular
- 207
- 00:10:58,788 --> 00:11:02,139
- is because it's an old,
- dry lake bed,
- 208
- 00:11:02,183 --> 00:11:04,620
- and it's extraordinarily flat,
- 209
- 00:11:04,664 --> 00:11:09,669
- and that's what they need
- for a sort of natural runway.
- 210
- 00:11:09,712 --> 00:11:12,367
- And it's called Groom Lake,
- 211
- 00:11:12,410 --> 00:11:15,675
- and now we know Groom Lake
- to be Area 51.
- 212
- 00:11:15,718 --> 00:11:22,507
- ♪♪
- 213
- 00:11:26,250 --> 00:11:31,560
- ♪♪
- 214
- 00:11:31,603 --> 00:11:33,867
- Petraeus: Well, Area 51,
- of course, in the 1950s,
- 215
- 00:11:33,910 --> 00:11:36,304
- this is so isolated.
- 216
- 00:11:36,347 --> 00:11:38,132
- A lot of activity could be
- conducted there
- 217
- 00:11:38,175 --> 00:11:40,569
- without folks seeing it.
- 218
- 00:11:40,612 --> 00:11:44,965
- Narrator: Base location has
- been decided as Site II,
- 219
- 00:11:45,008 --> 00:11:47,924
- for which the government
- will accept my proposed name
- 220
- 00:11:47,968 --> 00:11:51,101
- of "Paradise Ranch."
- 221
- 00:11:51,145 --> 00:11:52,973
- Justice: The Paradise Ranch name
- was given to it
- 222
- 00:11:53,016 --> 00:11:55,976
- to try to make it sound better.
- 223
- 00:11:56,019 --> 00:12:00,894
- There is just nothing there,
- and in the days of the U-2,
- 224
- 00:12:00,937 --> 00:12:03,766
- it's a few trailers
- that are set up,
- 225
- 00:12:03,810 --> 00:12:05,855
- so you can imagine
- there wasn't really a lot of
- 226
- 00:12:05,899 --> 00:12:07,465
- air-conditioning or anything.
- 227
- 00:12:07,509 --> 00:12:10,425
- This is rough
- working conditions.
- 228
- 00:12:10,468 --> 00:12:13,994
- Jacobsen: One of the lead
- physicists out there told me
- 229
- 00:12:14,037 --> 00:12:16,344
- one of his most acute memories
- 230
- 00:12:16,387 --> 00:12:18,694
- was looking across the way
- and being like, "What is that?"
- 231
- 00:12:18,738 --> 00:12:22,959
- and realizing that it was
- a coyote chasing a rabbit,
- 232
- 00:12:23,003 --> 00:12:26,354
- but they were both walking.
- 233
- 00:12:26,397 --> 00:12:28,878
- Painter: One of the little
- not-so-good features was
- 234
- 00:12:28,922 --> 00:12:30,619
- Yucca Flats was still detonating
- 235
- 00:12:30,662 --> 00:12:32,926
- nuclear weapons,
- so every once in a while,
- 236
- 00:12:32,969 --> 00:12:34,971
- everybody had to get
- out of town,
- 237
- 00:12:35,015 --> 00:12:36,581
- and they'd have to wait
- two or three weeks,
- 238
- 00:12:36,625 --> 00:12:38,496
- and they'd go back in
- with the Geiger counters
- 239
- 00:12:38,540 --> 00:12:43,110
- and make sure it was safe,
- and they'd go back to work.
- 240
- 00:12:44,851 --> 00:12:47,462
- Jacobsen: You can imagine
- how glamorous it must seem,
- 241
- 00:12:47,505 --> 00:12:50,247
- but if you go back
- in time to 1955,
- 242
- 00:12:50,291 --> 00:12:53,729
- the reality of the situation
- was that it was a bunch
- 243
- 00:12:53,773 --> 00:12:59,474
- of engineers,
- test pilots, and CIA officers.
- 244
- 00:12:59,517 --> 00:13:04,609
- It was an extremely tiny project
- in terms of need to know.
- 245
- 00:13:04,653 --> 00:13:08,700
- There was the President,
- and there was only 200 people
- 246
- 00:13:08,744 --> 00:13:12,704
- working out at Area 51
- to get this U-2 aloft.
- 247
- 00:13:12,748 --> 00:13:16,404
- And then, back in the old days,
- we flew up there from Burbank,
- 248
- 00:13:16,447 --> 00:13:18,536
- and the first time you went up
- to the test site,
- 249
- 00:13:18,580 --> 00:13:20,321
- you had to sit
- in a part of the airplane
- 250
- 00:13:20,364 --> 00:13:23,150
- with the windows blocked
- 251
- 00:13:23,193 --> 00:13:25,456
- so that you couldn't see
- where you were going,
- 252
- 00:13:25,500 --> 00:13:28,633
- but once you got up there
- and filled out your paperwork
- 253
- 00:13:28,677 --> 00:13:30,418
- to get the badge
- that you had to have
- 254
- 00:13:30,461 --> 00:13:32,072
- when you were on the site,
- 255
- 00:13:32,115 --> 00:13:33,725
- then you could sit
- in any part of the airplane
- 256
- 00:13:33,769 --> 00:13:34,988
- where there was a window.
- 257
- 00:13:35,031 --> 00:13:36,903
- It was fun.
- 258
- 00:13:36,946 --> 00:13:39,253
- I hate to say this, but we got
- to fly over the craters
- 259
- 00:13:39,296 --> 00:13:41,995
- that were in the ground
- up in north of Las Vegas
- 260
- 00:13:42,038 --> 00:13:43,779
- where they were doing
- all the atomic tests.
- 261
- 00:13:43,823 --> 00:13:45,912
- You could see these big cavities
- and things.
- 262
- 00:13:50,438 --> 00:13:53,397
- The U-2 was pushing
- the boundaries
- 263
- 00:13:53,441 --> 00:13:56,009
- of what we knew how to do,
- 264
- 00:13:56,052 --> 00:14:00,404
- but this was
- absolutely critical.
- 265
- 00:14:00,448 --> 00:14:01,884
- This was at a time where --
- 266
- 00:14:01,928 --> 00:14:03,930
- And we knew the Soviets
- were working
- 267
- 00:14:03,973 --> 00:14:05,583
- on these nuclear weapons.
- 268
- 00:14:05,627 --> 00:14:06,976
- There was even reports
- 269
- 00:14:07,020 --> 00:14:09,631
- that they had
- a nuclear-powered bomber,
- 270
- 00:14:09,674 --> 00:14:12,112
- but we didn't have
- any way to verify.
- 271
- 00:14:12,155 --> 00:14:14,201
- We didn't have satellites then.
- 272
- 00:14:14,244 --> 00:14:15,767
- Narrator:
- We worked night and day
- 273
- 00:14:15,811 --> 00:14:18,596
- perfecting the U-2 at Area 51.
- 274
- 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:23,471
- Sleep -- that was just something
- we all dreamt about.
- 275
- 00:14:23,514 --> 00:14:25,603
- Airplane essentially completed.
- 276
- 00:14:25,647 --> 00:14:27,779
- Terrifically long hours.
- 277
- 00:14:27,823 --> 00:14:30,173
- Everybody almost dead.
- 278
- 00:14:30,217 --> 00:14:38,355
- ♪♪
- 279
- 00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:46,668
- ♪♪
- 280
- 00:14:46,711 --> 00:14:50,063
- We did everything we could
- to keep the U-2 top-secret,
- 281
- 00:14:50,106 --> 00:14:52,543
- but there were times
- civilians spotted
- 282
- 00:14:52,587 --> 00:14:55,198
- the plane soaring in the sky.
- 283
- 00:14:55,242 --> 00:14:57,592
- Luckily, the reports
- coming in were sightings
- 284
- 00:14:57,635 --> 00:15:01,204
- of unidentified flying objects.
- 285
- 00:15:01,248 --> 00:15:05,426
- Man: I'm getting some reports
- from the tower, radio tower,
- 286
- 00:15:05,469 --> 00:15:08,429
- and several radar sites
- about the UFO.
- 287
- 00:15:10,779 --> 00:15:15,653
- During the testing of the U-2,
- people saw these "UFOs,"
- 288
- 00:15:15,697 --> 00:15:19,570
- and 50% of all sightings
- in the '50s and '60s
- 289
- 00:15:19,614 --> 00:15:22,008
- were because
- of Skunk Works aircraft.
- 290
- 00:15:22,051 --> 00:15:28,971
- The CIA had a whole bureau
- to deal with U-2/UFO sightings
- 291
- 00:15:29,015 --> 00:15:33,715
- because it was such a common
- thing to have happen
- 292
- 00:15:33,758 --> 00:15:36,413
- whereby someone would see
- something up in the sky
- 293
- 00:15:36,457 --> 00:15:38,198
- that was completely
- inexplicable.
- 294
- 00:15:38,241 --> 00:15:41,027
- I mean, the U-2 --
- the wings are so long in it,
- 295
- 00:15:41,070 --> 00:15:43,725
- it almost looks like
- a flying cross,
- 296
- 00:15:43,768 --> 00:15:46,467
- and people just
- couldn't comprehend
- 297
- 00:15:46,510 --> 00:15:48,251
- what could fly up that high.
- 298
- 00:15:51,385 --> 00:15:54,170
- Justice:
- You know, imagine that you're
- a commercial airliner pilot
- 299
- 00:15:54,214 --> 00:15:57,086
- and you're up at about
- 38,000 or 40,000 feet.
- 300
- 00:15:57,130 --> 00:15:58,827
- You're pretty high.
- 301
- 00:15:58,870 --> 00:16:03,005
- You know that military jets
- go to about 50,000 feet.
- 302
- 00:16:03,049 --> 00:16:06,313
- And then you see
- something way above you.
- 303
- 00:16:06,356 --> 00:16:09,011
- It is way above 50,000 feet.
- 304
- 00:16:09,055 --> 00:16:11,883
- So now you see this
- very light-colored thing
- 305
- 00:16:11,927 --> 00:16:14,016
- at twice your altitude.
- 306
- 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:16,192
- What conclusion are you
- going to draw?
- 307
- 00:16:16,236 --> 00:16:18,455
- After one year's investigation,
- 308
- 00:16:18,499 --> 00:16:22,024
- I believe that the flying
- saucers seen by veteran airline
- 309
- 00:16:22,068 --> 00:16:26,898
- and Air Force pilots
- are objects from another planet.
- 310
- 00:16:26,942 --> 00:16:29,553
- Narrator: At Area 51,
- we did have creatures
- 311
- 00:16:29,597 --> 00:16:34,776
- that seemed more than human,
- but they weren't space men.
- 312
- 00:16:34,819 --> 00:16:37,822
- They were our test pilots.
- 313
- 00:16:37,866 --> 00:16:41,478
- These men were a different
- breed of beings,
- 314
- 00:16:41,522 --> 00:16:45,569
- and testing our machines
- was a test of their own mettle.
- 315
- 00:16:45,613 --> 00:16:47,919
- If you go back and you say,
- 316
- 00:16:47,963 --> 00:16:49,486
- when these airplanes
- were designed
- 317
- 00:16:49,530 --> 00:16:51,749
- and you look at the tool sets
- to design them,
- 318
- 00:16:51,793 --> 00:16:54,578
- most of them were done
- with simple slide rules,
- 319
- 00:16:54,622 --> 00:16:57,886
- so there was a fair
- amount of uncertainty.
- 320
- 00:16:57,929 --> 00:17:00,410
- Justice: And we're talking,
- you know, the mid-1950s here.
- 321
- 00:17:00,454 --> 00:17:04,327
- You know, I mean, the technology
- was still very crude.
- 322
- 00:17:04,371 --> 00:17:07,852
- Flying at that altitude, you're
- above most of the atmosphere.
- 323
- 00:17:07,896 --> 00:17:10,333
- The air is extremely thin,
- and getting a jet engine
- 324
- 00:17:10,377 --> 00:17:12,248
- to run up there
- is very difficult.
- 325
- 00:17:12,292 --> 00:17:16,644
- Keeping the pilot alive
- is very difficult.
- 326
- 00:17:16,687 --> 00:17:19,560
- Trimble: The aircraft is flying
- at 70,000 feet.
- 327
- 00:17:19,603 --> 00:17:23,085
- Once you get above
- 63,000, 64,000 feet,
- 328
- 00:17:23,129 --> 00:17:25,957
- if your body was exposed
- to the air pressure
- 329
- 00:17:26,001 --> 00:17:27,568
- at that altitude,
- 330
- 00:17:27,611 --> 00:17:31,267
- the blood inside your body
- would begin to boil.
- 331
- 00:17:31,311 --> 00:17:34,096
- The human body is not
- designed to be exposed
- 332
- 00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:38,187
- to air pressure that low,
- so you have to wear
- 333
- 00:17:38,231 --> 00:17:43,105
- a pressurized space suit
- just to survive.
- 334
- 00:17:43,149 --> 00:17:46,021
- Jacobsen: It took three
- flight surgeons to help you
- 335
- 00:17:46,065 --> 00:17:50,069
- into the suit to make sure
- there were no rips,
- 336
- 00:17:50,112 --> 00:17:51,809
- that the zipper went up
- the right way,
- 337
- 00:17:51,853 --> 00:17:53,898
- and then you sat
- and you re-breathed
- 338
- 00:17:53,942 --> 00:17:57,293
- pure oxygen for two hours.
- 339
- 00:17:57,337 --> 00:17:59,730
- Man: High flights without free
- breathing would result
- 340
- 00:17:59,774 --> 00:18:02,516
- in nitrogen bubbles
- forming in the blood,
- 341
- 00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:05,127
- the painful and often fatal
- bends encountered
- 342
- 00:18:05,171 --> 00:18:07,477
- by deep-sea divers.
- 343
- 00:18:07,521 --> 00:18:10,132
- Jacobsen: What these pilots
- had to go through
- 344
- 00:18:10,176 --> 00:18:12,134
- before they even
- got into the plane,
- 345
- 00:18:12,178 --> 00:18:13,614
- it's just extraordinary
- to think about.
- 346
- 00:18:13,657 --> 00:18:15,311
- That's American history.
- 347
- 00:18:15,355 --> 00:18:18,967
- Petraeus: They're right
- on the edge of what their
- 348
- 00:18:19,010 --> 00:18:20,925
- physical capacity is
- and, of course,
- 349
- 00:18:20,969 --> 00:18:23,754
- what their aircraft's
- capacity is.
- 350
- 00:18:23,798 --> 00:18:25,321
- This is a very rare breed
- 351
- 00:18:25,365 --> 00:18:28,542
- and a very special
- group of Americans.
- 352
- 00:18:28,585 --> 00:18:30,674
- Painter: You're essentially
- flying in what some pilots
- 353
- 00:18:30,718 --> 00:18:32,372
- refer to as coffin's corner.
- 354
- 00:18:32,415 --> 00:18:34,461
- You have about
- 10 knots of air speed
- 355
- 00:18:34,504 --> 00:18:36,985
- from stall to going Mach 1,
- 356
- 00:18:37,028 --> 00:18:40,249
- so at either end,
- the plane is non-flyable.
- 357
- 00:18:40,293 --> 00:18:43,165
- Doing a high rate of bank turn
- at that altitude,
- 358
- 00:18:43,209 --> 00:18:46,212
- you can't do that, either,
- because the wingspan is so long.
- 359
- 00:18:46,255 --> 00:18:49,563
- The inside wing is stalling, and
- the outside wing is going Mach.
- 360
- 00:18:49,606 --> 00:18:51,521
- So the pilots who flew
- these airplanes
- 361
- 00:18:51,565 --> 00:18:54,524
- had to be
- extremely gifted pilots.
- 362
- 00:18:54,568 --> 00:18:56,352
- Powers Jr.:
- You had to have the aptitude
- 363
- 00:18:56,396 --> 00:18:59,703
- to fly this type of a mission
- and to keep quiet about it.
- 364
- 00:18:59,747 --> 00:19:03,925
- Pilots were breaking the
- high-altitude record every day,
- 365
- 00:19:03,968 --> 00:19:07,537
- yet they couldn't
- tell anybody about it.
- 366
- 00:19:07,581 --> 00:19:10,192
- Gilliland Jr.: Why does a guy
- like that get into a plane
- 367
- 00:19:10,236 --> 00:19:14,892
- that's never been flown before,
- with the possibility of death?
- 368
- 00:19:14,936 --> 00:19:18,157
- Not everybody
- goes to work each day
- 369
- 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,944
- with a high possibility of being
- killed at the end of the day.
- 370
- 00:19:22,987 --> 00:19:24,380
- Morgenfeld:
- I think most of us aren't
- 371
- 00:19:24,424 --> 00:19:26,687
- quite that emotional about it.
- 372
- 00:19:26,730 --> 00:19:30,560
- Crashes can be useful
- in sort of a perverse way,
- 373
- 00:19:30,604 --> 00:19:33,998
- in that, "Hey, we just found
- out something that's wrong."
- 374
- 00:19:37,001 --> 00:19:38,873
- Oh, boy, there have been
- so many of the guys
- 375
- 00:19:38,916 --> 00:19:41,049
- that I know that have died.
- 376
- 00:19:41,092 --> 00:19:44,618
- Hell, I just can't even...
- 377
- 00:19:44,661 --> 00:19:49,884
- It's hard to talk about
- those people that have died.
- 378
- 00:19:49,927 --> 00:19:51,799
- We did the best we could,
- and something
- 379
- 00:19:51,842 --> 00:19:56,020
- that we couldn't possibly
- take into account happened.
- 380
- 00:19:56,064 --> 00:19:58,675
- And the reason we concentrate
- on it so much
- 381
- 00:19:58,719 --> 00:20:00,416
- is because these people's lives
- 382
- 00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:04,072
- and their family's lives
- are on the line in our hands.
- 383
- 00:20:05,856 --> 00:20:08,250
- Kelly was beyond devastated.
- 384
- 00:20:08,294 --> 00:20:10,426
- He would cry.
- 385
- 00:20:13,473 --> 00:20:15,823
- I mean, these guys
- are your friends.
- 386
- 00:20:18,347 --> 00:20:21,045
- Narrator: Whenever one
- of our planes went down,
- 387
- 00:20:21,089 --> 00:20:23,918
- I'd get a bad stomach ulcer.
- 388
- 00:20:25,528 --> 00:20:29,140
- If you go into Kelly's logs,
- you can tell that he took
- 389
- 00:20:29,184 --> 00:20:31,317
- his responsibility
- very, very hard.
- 390
- 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,276
- He suffered from stress.
- 391
- 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,800
- Just a few months before
- they delivered the U-2,
- 392
- 00:20:36,844 --> 00:20:38,324
- he had a complete
- physical breakdown
- 393
- 00:20:38,367 --> 00:20:40,543
- that almost killed him.
- 394
- 00:20:40,587 --> 00:20:45,635
- Narrator: I just want to help
- the U.S., my people, and others.
- 395
- 00:20:45,679 --> 00:20:49,900
- The sacrifices of these
- test pilots can't be in vain.
- 396
- 00:20:49,944 --> 00:20:52,729
- And they weren't.
- 397
- 00:20:52,773 --> 00:20:55,950
- Within the first year
- of operation, it dispelled
- 398
- 00:20:55,993 --> 00:20:57,647
- the missile gap
- and the bomber gap.
- 399
- 00:20:57,691 --> 00:21:00,346
- Because of the U-2 flights
- and the photographic
- 400
- 00:21:00,389 --> 00:21:02,435
- reconnaissance imagery
- they brought home,
- 401
- 00:21:02,478 --> 00:21:05,307
- America was able to prove
- and show internally
- 402
- 00:21:05,351 --> 00:21:08,005
- that the Soviets were boasting
- about the missiles they had.
- 403
- 00:21:08,049 --> 00:21:11,139
- They were not as far advanced
- as we thought they were
- 404
- 00:21:11,182 --> 00:21:13,228
- or as they were bragging about.
- 405
- 00:21:15,491 --> 00:21:18,799
- Narrator: We thought the Red's
- radar couldn't detect us,
- 406
- 00:21:18,842 --> 00:21:22,629
- but we were wrong.
- 407
- 00:21:22,672 --> 00:21:25,327
- Justice: The very first
- overflight of the Soviet Union
- 408
- 00:21:25,371 --> 00:21:29,113
- was tracked on its full length,
- and that surprised the CIA
- 409
- 00:21:29,157 --> 00:21:31,202
- and it surprised
- the American government.
- 410
- 00:21:31,246 --> 00:21:32,943
- That was a bad thing.
- 411
- 00:21:32,987 --> 00:21:35,206
- It meant that the Soviet radars
- were way better
- 412
- 00:21:35,250 --> 00:21:37,339
- than we thought they were.
- 413
- 00:21:37,383 --> 00:21:40,951
- Brown: They could pick the U-2
- up, and they couldn't reach it,
- 414
- 00:21:40,995 --> 00:21:45,347
- and it became obvious almost
- as soon as the U-2 was designed
- 415
- 00:21:45,391 --> 00:21:48,089
- that it was going to become
- obsolete as soon as the Soviets
- 416
- 00:21:48,132 --> 00:21:51,614
- had adequate
- surface-to-air weapons.
- 417
- 00:21:51,658 --> 00:21:56,663
- In 1955, the Soviets only had
- one type of a missile, SA1,
- 418
- 00:21:56,706 --> 00:21:58,447
- Surface-to-Air Missile 1.
- 419
- 00:21:58,491 --> 00:22:01,276
- It could reach an altitude
- of 60,000 feet,
- 420
- 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,105
- but U-2s were flying
- at 70,000 feet,
- 421
- 00:22:04,148 --> 00:22:07,413
- so for four years,
- they were out of harm's way.
- 422
- 00:22:07,456 --> 00:22:13,462
- May 1st of 1960, my father is
- briefed that, upon this mission,
- 423
- 00:22:13,506 --> 00:22:15,943
- there are certain targets
- he should overfly,
- 424
- 00:22:15,986 --> 00:22:17,814
- that they're trying
- to get information.
- 425
- 00:22:17,858 --> 00:22:20,600
- One of the targets,
- over Sverdlovsk,
- 426
- 00:22:20,643 --> 00:22:25,344
- was to film an SA2 base, a new,
- improved missile base
- 427
- 00:22:25,387 --> 00:22:27,998
- that a previous mission
- had uncovered.
- 428
- 00:22:28,042 --> 00:22:30,740
- The goal of this
- particular flight May 1st
- 429
- 00:22:30,784 --> 00:22:35,310
- was to find out if
- the Soviets were getting ready
- 430
- 00:22:35,354 --> 00:22:38,618
- to put operational the missile
- base they had discovered.
- 431
- 00:22:38,661 --> 00:22:40,707
- And my father
- found out firsthand
- 432
- 00:22:40,750 --> 00:22:42,361
- that it was operational.
- 433
- 00:22:45,233 --> 00:22:47,366
- Reporter: A United States
- Air Force plane shot down
- 434
- 00:22:47,409 --> 00:22:49,890
- on Russian soil,
- reportedly an ultra-secret
- 435
- 00:22:49,933 --> 00:22:52,675
- high-altitude
- reconnaissance craft.
- 436
- 00:22:52,719 --> 00:22:54,938
- As the Soviet launches
- its most belligerent
- 437
- 00:22:54,982 --> 00:22:58,507
- anti-American propaganda barrage
- in recent years.
- 438
- 00:22:58,551 --> 00:23:02,511
- Jacobsen: And it all went back
- to these engineers, you know,
- 439
- 00:23:02,555 --> 00:23:04,905
- with the pencils
- in their pocket.
- 440
- 00:23:04,948 --> 00:23:12,129
- The Skunk Works are really
- at the nexus of history.
- 441
- 00:23:12,173 --> 00:23:15,959
- At issue was nuclear war.
- 442
- 00:23:16,003 --> 00:23:18,440
- ♪♪
- 443
- 00:23:18,484 --> 00:23:20,007
- [ Rumbling ]
- 444
- 00:23:23,967 --> 00:23:31,584
- ♪♪
- 445
- 00:23:31,627 --> 00:23:35,936
- Narrator: We lost airplane
- flown by Francis G. Powers.
- 446
- 00:23:35,979 --> 00:23:38,199
- There was an immediate
- Russian reaction,
- 447
- 00:23:38,242 --> 00:23:42,290
- and they claimed they shot
- down the airplane by missile.
- 448
- 00:23:42,333 --> 00:23:48,383
- The political implications of
- the flight were extremely major.
- 449
- 00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:50,907
- Justice: The aftermath of
- Powers being shot down
- 450
- 00:23:50,951 --> 00:23:55,477
- was really interesting
- because he didn't report in
- 451
- 00:23:55,521 --> 00:23:58,393
- or land when he was supposed to,
- so now you have
- 452
- 00:23:58,437 --> 00:24:00,787
- the U.S. decision-makers
- wondering what happened.
- 453
- 00:24:00,830 --> 00:24:03,703
- They picked up some
- of the radio reports
- 454
- 00:24:03,746 --> 00:24:05,574
- that maybe something
- had happened to him,
- 455
- 00:24:05,618 --> 00:24:07,228
- but they didn't have
- confirmation,
- 456
- 00:24:07,271 --> 00:24:10,405
- so now you had this silence
- as each other waited
- 457
- 00:24:10,449 --> 00:24:14,496
- to see what the other one
- was going to do.
- 458
- 00:24:14,540 --> 00:24:16,498
- The Soviets were playing a game.
- 459
- 00:24:16,542 --> 00:24:18,805
- They were trying
- to trap the Americans,
- 460
- 00:24:18,848 --> 00:24:22,286
- so they intentionally released
- this fake photo
- 461
- 00:24:22,330 --> 00:24:25,986
- to see what
- the Americans would do.
- 462
- 00:24:26,029 --> 00:24:29,250
- This photograph showed a pile
- of wreckage, plane wreckage,
- 463
- 00:24:29,293 --> 00:24:33,559
- in a field with kids
- and farmers around it.
- 464
- 00:24:33,602 --> 00:24:36,823
- Kelly Johnson takes one look
- at this photo and says,
- 465
- 00:24:36,866 --> 00:24:39,042
- "The rivets are not lined up
- correctly for a U-2,"
- 466
- 00:24:39,086 --> 00:24:42,219
- and that, "The fuel intake and
- the jet intake isn't correct.
- 467
- 00:24:42,263 --> 00:24:44,308
- That's not my plane."
- 468
- 00:24:44,352 --> 00:24:48,574
- Narrator: So I was given the job
- of insulting them to the point
- 469
- 00:24:48,617 --> 00:24:51,490
- where they would show us
- what they had,
- 470
- 00:24:51,533 --> 00:24:56,712
- because we did not know whether
- Powers had just defected.
- 471
- 00:24:56,756 --> 00:25:00,977
- Painter: So, Kelly was brought
- in and made some public comments
- 472
- 00:25:01,021 --> 00:25:03,153
- about what was
- being shown on TV,
- 473
- 00:25:03,197 --> 00:25:05,982
- saying, "That's no U-2.
- Soviets are lying."
- 474
- 00:25:06,026 --> 00:25:07,897
- Powers Jr.:
- As a result, all of a sudden,
- 475
- 00:25:07,941 --> 00:25:09,420
- maybe they didn't shoot it down.
- 476
- 00:25:09,464 --> 00:25:10,987
- Maybe there's no plane wreckage.
- 477
- 00:25:11,031 --> 00:25:12,946
- Maybe the pilot died.
- They have no evidence.
- 478
- 00:25:12,989 --> 00:25:14,425
- Release the cover stories.
- 479
- 00:25:14,469 --> 00:25:16,166
- Justice:
- Then the U.S. announced,
- 480
- 00:25:16,210 --> 00:25:18,125
- "Well, we lost tck
- of a weather plane.
- 481
- 00:25:18,168 --> 00:25:21,998
- It may have wandered into
- Soviet airspace."
- 482
- 00:25:22,042 --> 00:25:24,044
- And the Soviets go, "Got you."
- 483
- 00:25:24,087 --> 00:25:25,654
- Powers Jr.: Premier Khrushchev
- comes up and says,
- 484
- 00:25:25,698 --> 00:25:28,048
- "Ah, we do have the pilot.
- Here he is.
- 485
- 00:25:28,091 --> 00:25:31,138
- Ah, we do have the wreckage.
- Here it is."
- 486
- 00:25:31,181 --> 00:25:34,141
- The trial, guy gets stuck
- in a Russian prison,
- 487
- 00:25:34,184 --> 00:25:37,187
- sentenced to 10 years
- imprisonment.
- 488
- 00:25:37,231 --> 00:25:39,625
- The first three months
- of his captivity
- 489
- 00:25:39,668 --> 00:25:42,715
- was solitary confinement.
- 490
- 00:25:42,758 --> 00:25:46,849
- And then he was interrogated --
- bright lights,
- 491
- 00:25:46,893 --> 00:25:50,897
- long days of questioning,
- Mutt-and-Jeff type of scenario.
- 492
- 00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:52,899
- One KGB guy would come in,
- 493
- 00:25:52,942 --> 00:25:54,770
- rough and gruff,
- yelling and screaming,
- 494
- 00:25:54,814 --> 00:25:57,468
- "You tell us everything,
- or we'll shoot you tomorrow."
- 495
- 00:25:57,512 --> 00:25:59,775
- The next guy would come in,
- 496
- 00:25:59,819 --> 00:26:02,952
- "Mr. Powers, you help us,
- we can help you."
- 497
- 00:26:05,389 --> 00:26:07,609
- Trying to get information
- out of him
- 498
- 00:26:07,653 --> 00:26:11,787
- by any means necessary,
- short of physical abuse.
- 499
- 00:26:11,831 --> 00:26:14,137
- He would reveal certain things
- that he knew
- 500
- 00:26:14,181 --> 00:26:15,704
- they could find out
- in the press.
- 501
- 00:26:15,748 --> 00:26:18,141
- He'd keep other things secret
- that he knew
- 502
- 00:26:18,185 --> 00:26:21,449
- that they could have
- no ways of finding out.
- 503
- 00:26:21,492 --> 00:26:23,146
- Gilliland Jr.:
- Francis Gary Powers was held
- 504
- 00:26:23,190 --> 00:26:25,366
- for quite a while,
- and then eventually, you know,
- 505
- 00:26:25,409 --> 00:26:26,976
- there was the story
- with the "Bridge of Spies,"
- 506
- 00:26:27,020 --> 00:26:29,500
- you know,
- the movie that was done.
- 507
- 00:26:29,544 --> 00:26:31,590
- Powers Jr.:
- February 10, 1962,
- 508
- 00:26:31,633 --> 00:26:35,071
- you have two spies
- on each side of this bridge --
- 509
- 00:26:35,115 --> 00:26:40,773
- Rudolf Abel on the west side,
- my father on the east side.
- 510
- 00:26:40,816 --> 00:26:42,513
- They are positively ID'd.
- 511
- 00:26:42,557 --> 00:26:45,952
- They walk home to
- their respective freedoms.
- 512
- 00:26:45,995 --> 00:26:48,563
- My father returns home
- to an American public
- 513
- 00:26:48,607 --> 00:26:50,826
- that doesn't really know
- what to make of this ordeal.
- 514
- 00:26:50,870 --> 00:26:54,221
- There have been misinformation
- and rumors in the papers
- 515
- 00:26:54,264 --> 00:26:56,571
- that he had defected,
- that he had landed
- 516
- 00:26:56,615 --> 00:26:58,660
- the plane intact,
- that he had spilled his guts
- 517
- 00:26:58,704 --> 00:27:00,923
- and told the Soviets
- everything he knew
- 518
- 00:27:00,967 --> 00:27:04,057
- or that he hadn't followed
- orders and committed suicide.
- 519
- 00:27:08,322 --> 00:27:12,152
- Dad is not able to go back
- into the Air Force at the time.
- 520
- 00:27:12,195 --> 00:27:14,154
- He's the known spy.
- 521
- 00:27:14,197 --> 00:27:18,332
- If they employ him, they will be
- accused of employing spies.
- 522
- 00:27:18,375 --> 00:27:21,552
- In the meantime, Kelly Johnson
- offered my dad a job
- 523
- 00:27:21,596 --> 00:27:25,861
- as a Lockheed test pilot,
- flying U-2s.
- 524
- 00:27:25,905 --> 00:27:27,384
- Justice:
- One of the attributes of Kelly,
- 525
- 00:27:27,428 --> 00:27:31,301
- while he was a tough guy,
- he had a soft spot,
- 526
- 00:27:31,345 --> 00:27:34,870
- and he always wanted
- to take care of his pilots,
- 527
- 00:27:34,914 --> 00:27:38,265
- and when Francis Gary Powers
- came back,
- 528
- 00:27:38,308 --> 00:27:40,571
- Kelly couldn't stand to see
- that guy on the street.
- 529
- 00:27:40,615 --> 00:27:43,009
- This was a national hero,
- 530
- 00:27:43,052 --> 00:27:45,446
- even though he wasn't being
- treated like one,
- 531
- 00:27:45,489 --> 00:27:48,231
- so, yeah, Kelly gave him a job.
- 532
- 00:27:48,275 --> 00:27:50,451
- Narrator: I felt for Powers.
- 533
- 00:27:50,494 --> 00:27:54,455
- He and I were both now
- known to the public.
- 534
- 00:27:54,498 --> 00:27:58,677
- After the U-2 incident,
- everything changed.
- 535
- 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,505
- It was suggested to me
- by security people
- 536
- 00:28:01,549 --> 00:28:04,813
- that I not go to work
- by the same route.
- 537
- 00:28:04,857 --> 00:28:07,729
- I've been told to avoid certain
- traffic intersections
- 538
- 00:28:07,773 --> 00:28:10,340
- and watch out for big trucks.
- 539
- 00:28:10,384 --> 00:28:14,736
- I slept with
- an automatic pistol close by.
- 540
- 00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:17,260
- There were concerns,
- and the CIA told him
- 541
- 00:28:17,304 --> 00:28:20,568
- that he needed
- to take precautions,
- 542
- 00:28:20,611 --> 00:28:23,571
- because somebody like him
- was somebody who an adversary
- 543
- 00:28:23,614 --> 00:28:26,966
- might want to kidnap or do
- something about to prevent him
- 544
- 00:28:27,009 --> 00:28:31,361
- from embarrassing them
- with new technology again.
- 545
- 00:28:31,405 --> 00:28:35,496
- It does sound paranoid,
- but it wasn't crazy.
- 546
- 00:28:35,539 --> 00:28:38,586
- The idea behind it is that
- they would, like, get them
- 547
- 00:28:38,629 --> 00:28:41,720
- and torture them and say,
- "Tell us how you built the U-2,"
- 548
- 00:28:41,763 --> 00:28:45,375
- but that was a very real threat
- because, as far as we know,
- 549
- 00:28:45,419 --> 00:28:47,595
- the Soviets never got
- 550
- 00:28:47,638 --> 00:28:51,468
- a spy plane
- over the United States.
- 551
- 00:28:51,512 --> 00:28:55,777
- Narrator: The U-2 is still busy,
- now over Cuba.
- 552
- 00:28:55,821 --> 00:28:58,693
- This aircraft took the pictures
- that were the basis
- 553
- 00:28:58,737 --> 00:29:01,130
- for our move on Cuba.
- 554
- 00:29:01,174 --> 00:29:04,655
- The images showed
- Soviet missiles just 90 miles
- 555
- 00:29:04,699 --> 00:29:06,745
- from U.S. soil.
- 556
- 00:29:06,788 --> 00:29:09,878
- That was the aircraft that
- discovered the missile sites
- 557
- 00:29:09,922 --> 00:29:12,489
- on Cuba that weren't
- supposed to be there.
- 558
- 00:29:12,533 --> 00:29:14,796
- That's when the Cuban
- Missile Crisis started.
- 559
- 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,452
- I have directed the continued
- and increased close surveillance
- 560
- 00:29:18,495 --> 00:29:20,584
- of Cuba and its
- military buildup.
- 561
- 00:29:23,326 --> 00:29:26,460
- Narrator:
- A U-2 was shot down over Cuba.
- 562
- 00:29:26,503 --> 00:29:30,507
- They had 11 radar and missile
- sites turned on against him
- 563
- 00:29:30,551 --> 00:29:33,249
- and repeated their success
- with Powers,
- 564
- 00:29:33,293 --> 00:29:35,251
- except, this time,
- 565
- 00:29:35,295 --> 00:29:39,125
- Major Rudolf Anderson
- was killed.
- 566
- 00:29:39,168 --> 00:29:42,215
- It is apparent that the U-bird
- has just about
- 567
- 00:29:42,258 --> 00:29:47,176
- reached the end of
- its reconnaissance capability.
- 568
- 00:29:47,220 --> 00:29:50,397
- We knew we needed
- a new kind of airplane,
- 569
- 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,226
- one that was near impossible
- to shoot down,
- 570
- 00:29:53,269 --> 00:29:56,925
- a plane unlike anything man
- had ever seen before,
- 571
- 00:29:56,969 --> 00:30:01,103
- something so fast the human eye
- could barely see it in the sky.
- 572
- 00:30:01,147 --> 00:30:08,850
- ♪♪
- 573
- 00:30:08,894 --> 00:30:16,466
- ♪♪
- 574
- 00:30:24,039 --> 00:30:28,217
- yearsbefore the U-2 was shot down,
- 575
- 00:30:28,261 --> 00:30:31,177
- that we ought to be working on
- something that would go higher,
- 576
- 00:30:31,220 --> 00:30:34,093
- go faster, go further.
- 577
- 00:30:34,136 --> 00:30:37,792
- We'd be starting from scratch,
- just like the Wright brothers.
- 578
- 00:30:40,926 --> 00:30:43,232
- Powers Jr.: Kelly Johnson and
- the Skunk Works team realized
- 579
- 00:30:43,276 --> 00:30:45,756
- they had to develop
- some type of an airplane
- 580
- 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,672
- that could fly higher and faster
- than the U-2
- 581
- 00:30:48,716 --> 00:30:51,153
- in order
- to avoid Soviet missiles.
- 582
- 00:30:51,197 --> 00:30:53,939
- We have to design
- something better.
- 583
- 00:30:53,982 --> 00:30:55,897
- Jacobsen: It was impossible
- to think about,
- 584
- 00:30:55,941 --> 00:30:58,900
- but Kelly Johnson said,
- "We did it with the U-2.
- 585
- 00:30:58,944 --> 00:31:00,946
- We can do it."
- 586
- 00:31:00,989 --> 00:31:04,601
- Carpenter: We needed an airplane
- that flies not at 70,000 feet
- 587
- 00:31:04,645 --> 00:31:07,604
- but at 85,000 feet and above.
- 588
- 00:31:07,648 --> 00:31:11,086
- Instead of an airplane
- that flies at 450 miles an hour,
- 589
- 00:31:11,130 --> 00:31:14,785
- we needed an airplane that flies
- at 2,100 miles an hour --
- 590
- 00:31:14,829 --> 00:31:17,353
- Mach 3-plus.
- 591
- 00:31:17,397 --> 00:31:21,836
- Mach is a designation for
- capturing the speed of airplane
- 592
- 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,665
- relative to the speed of sound.
- 593
- 00:31:24,708 --> 00:31:28,582
- Mach 1 is the speed of sound.
- 594
- 00:31:28,625 --> 00:31:32,325
- Mach 3 means that you're
- covering 1 mile
- 595
- 00:31:32,368 --> 00:31:34,066
- every second and a half.
- 596
- 00:31:39,506 --> 00:31:43,162
- Mach 3.2, the airplane goes
- faster than a .30-06 bullet.
- 597
- 00:31:43,205 --> 00:31:45,991
- You cannot turn the airplane
- in the state of Ohio
- 598
- 00:31:46,034 --> 00:31:47,731
- it goes so fast.
- 599
- 00:31:49,777 --> 00:31:52,388
- What made it so special
- and so difficult
- 600
- 00:31:52,432 --> 00:31:53,607
- was that there were
- so many things in it
- 601
- 00:31:53,650 --> 00:31:55,522
- that had never been done before.
- 602
- 00:31:55,565 --> 00:31:57,002
- You know, for example,
- that's the first time
- 603
- 00:31:57,045 --> 00:32:00,005
- we ever built anything
- large out of titanium.
- 604
- 00:32:00,048 --> 00:32:03,095
- The decision to use titanium
- is traceable to
- 605
- 00:32:03,138 --> 00:32:05,271
- the environment
- in which it flew.
- 606
- 00:32:05,314 --> 00:32:08,665
- When you're traveling
- 2,000 miles per hour,
- 607
- 00:32:08,709 --> 00:32:11,451
- the friction of the air
- rubbing over the airplane
- 608
- 00:32:11,494 --> 00:32:16,021
- heats up the airframe
- to about 550 degrees Fahrenheit,
- 609
- 00:32:16,064 --> 00:32:20,025
- which is about as hot
- as your oven can get at home.
- 610
- 00:32:20,068 --> 00:32:22,592
- You could almost immediately
- rule out aluminum,
- 611
- 00:32:22,636 --> 00:32:26,945
- because aluminum above about
- 370 degrees loses its strength.
- 612
- 00:32:29,860 --> 00:32:33,777
- So he was driven to titanium
- because it's strong as steel
- 613
- 00:32:33,821 --> 00:32:36,084
- and half the weight of steel,
- 614
- 00:32:36,128 --> 00:32:39,870
- but we really hadn't used
- much of titanium.
- 615
- 00:32:39,914 --> 00:32:43,962
- Narrator: To get the titanium,
- we went to an unlikely source --
- 616
- 00:32:44,005 --> 00:32:45,876
- our enemy.
- 617
- 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,487
- Carpenter: We don't have
- a titanium source
- 618
- 00:32:47,530 --> 00:32:50,838
- in the United States,
- so the CIA eventually set up
- 619
- 00:32:50,881 --> 00:32:53,406
- a frontal company in Europe,
- 620
- 00:32:53,449 --> 00:32:55,451
- and the Russians sold us
- all the titanium.
- 621
- 00:32:55,495 --> 00:32:58,237
- They never knew
- who they sold it to.
- 622
- 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,935
- So you had the CIA buying
- the materials
- 623
- 00:33:00,979 --> 00:33:02,763
- that they needed
- for this aircraft
- 624
- 00:33:02,806 --> 00:33:05,505
- so it could fly over the
- Soviet Union and spy on them.
- 625
- 00:33:05,548 --> 00:33:10,336
- It was an incredibly
- ambitious aircraft to design.
- 626
- 00:33:10,379 --> 00:33:14,079
- The other issue is that jet
- engines are really, really good,
- 627
- 00:33:14,122 --> 00:33:17,125
- even up to Mach 2, Mach 2.5,
- 628
- 00:33:17,169 --> 00:33:22,826
- but once they go beyond that
- speed, it gets very tricky.
- 629
- 00:33:22,870 --> 00:33:25,046
- Westwick: For a Mach-3 flight,
- you have funnel just
- 630
- 00:33:25,090 --> 00:33:28,658
- an amazing quantity of air
- through these jet engines.
- 631
- 00:33:28,702 --> 00:33:30,225
- The quantity of air is like
- as much water
- 632
- 00:33:30,269 --> 00:33:32,010
- as flows over Niagara Falls.
- 633
- 00:33:32,053 --> 00:33:34,273
- That's the volume of air
- that you're funneling through.
- 634
- 00:33:34,316 --> 00:33:37,711
- The problem is, when you're
- funneling that volume of air in,
- 635
- 00:33:37,754 --> 00:33:40,192
- you get these shock waves
- in the air that prevent the air
- 636
- 00:33:40,235 --> 00:33:41,845
- from actually
- reaching the jet engines,
- 637
- 00:33:41,889 --> 00:33:44,239
- so the engine stalls,
- and the airplane crashes.
- 638
- 00:33:46,546 --> 00:33:49,070
- Narrator: We needed a special
- engineer to solve
- 639
- 00:33:49,114 --> 00:33:52,073
- the air-flow problem
- on our new plane.
- 640
- 00:33:52,117 --> 00:33:55,076
- His name -- Ben Rich.
- 641
- 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,687
- Westwick: Ben Rich helped
- solve that problem
- 642
- 00:33:57,731 --> 00:34:00,690
- by designing this cone
- in the middle of the jet engine
- 643
- 00:34:00,734 --> 00:34:03,084
- that moves in and out depending
- on how fast you're flying,
- 644
- 00:34:03,128 --> 00:34:08,307
- and that allows the aircraft
- to control shock waves,
- 645
- 00:34:08,350 --> 00:34:11,310
- one of Ben Rich's early
- signature achievements.
- 646
- 00:34:11,353 --> 00:34:14,182
- You're not talking about
- a computer that, you know,
- 647
- 00:34:14,226 --> 00:34:16,054
- you can just put
- a couple lines of code in
- 648
- 00:34:16,097 --> 00:34:17,794
- to operate the intake.
- 649
- 00:34:17,838 --> 00:34:20,536
- You know, you're talking
- mechanical hydraulic systems
- 650
- 00:34:20,580 --> 00:34:22,495
- that was very difficult
- to operate,
- 651
- 00:34:22,538 --> 00:34:25,759
- and it was Ben's job to fix it,
- and he did.
- 652
- 00:34:25,802 --> 00:34:27,848
- And he solved that problem
- without computer
- 653
- 00:34:27,891 --> 00:34:30,677
- and without digital,
- all analog, which is a --
- 654
- 00:34:30,720 --> 00:34:32,287
- And that made him famous.
- 655
- 00:34:36,117 --> 00:34:37,727
- Gilliland Jr.:
- I remember walking around,
- 656
- 00:34:37,771 --> 00:34:41,383
- and I'd see
- these big 500-gallon drums,
- 657
- 00:34:41,427 --> 00:34:44,647
- and they'd catch
- the leaking fuel.
- 658
- 00:34:44,691 --> 00:34:46,606
- The airplane actually expands
- mid-flight
- 659
- 00:34:46,649 --> 00:34:48,912
- because of the heat soak.
- 660
- 00:34:48,956 --> 00:34:51,176
- They couldn't get a sealant
- that would really work tight,
- 661
- 00:34:51,219 --> 00:34:53,743
- so what happens is,
- the plane leaks on the ground,
- 662
- 00:34:53,787 --> 00:34:56,094
- a lot of fuel,
- 663
- 00:34:56,137 --> 00:34:58,748
- but once it gets up
- to speed at altitude,
- 664
- 00:34:58,792 --> 00:35:02,230
- the airplane tightens up,
- and it's tight as a drum.
- 665
- 00:35:05,494 --> 00:35:09,150
- Middle of July in 1961,
- 666
- 00:35:09,194 --> 00:35:12,066
- the airplane was
- being assembled,
- 667
- 00:35:12,110 --> 00:35:15,374
- and from that time, not a very
- long period of time from July
- 668
- 00:35:15,417 --> 00:35:20,074
- to the next February,
- a whole airplane was built.
- 669
- 00:35:20,118 --> 00:35:24,296
- Took them on a truck,
- took them up to the test site.
- 670
- 00:35:24,339 --> 00:35:27,995
- Narrator: At the time, the
- Soviets had a new ally, in Cuba.
- 671
- 00:35:28,038 --> 00:35:29,779
- It seemed at any moment,
- 672
- 00:35:29,823 --> 00:35:33,043
- we could be on the brink
- of nuclear war.
- 673
- 00:35:33,087 --> 00:35:35,829
- We needed to test
- our new recon plane,
- 674
- 00:35:35,872 --> 00:35:37,874
- and we went back to the place
- 675
- 00:35:37,918 --> 00:35:41,269
- where we had
- our greatest success --
- 676
- 00:35:41,313 --> 00:35:44,446
- Area 51.
- 677
- 00:35:44,490 --> 00:35:46,666
- Painter:
- Out a Groom Lake, Area 51,
- 678
- 00:35:46,709 --> 00:35:49,582
- they worked on doing testing,
- 679
- 00:35:49,625 --> 00:35:52,976
- which essentially turned that
- from a temporary area
- 680
- 00:35:53,020 --> 00:35:54,543
- into a permanent facility.
- 681
- 00:35:54,587 --> 00:35:55,849
- That's when they realized
- they needed hard,
- 682
- 00:35:55,892 --> 00:35:57,503
- fast buildings.
- 683
- 00:35:57,546 --> 00:36:08,470
- ♪♪
- 684
- 00:36:08,514 --> 00:36:19,525
- ♪♪
- 685
- 00:36:19,568 --> 00:36:23,224
- Narrator: In testing,
- while flying Mach 3.2,
- 686
- 00:36:23,268 --> 00:36:25,748
- we found we could reduce
- the internal temperature
- 687
- 00:36:25,792 --> 00:36:30,623
- by painting the plane black,
- hence the name Blackbird.
- 688
- 00:36:34,801 --> 00:36:39,066
- There was a great deal of risk
- involved for everyone.
- 689
- 00:36:39,109 --> 00:36:44,289
- We had to make sure the pilots
- didn't cook in the cockpit.
- 690
- 00:36:44,332 --> 00:36:47,640
- Law: The environment
- that they were in,
- 691
- 00:36:47,683 --> 00:36:50,033
- the minimum surface temperature
- around the cockpit
- 692
- 00:36:50,077 --> 00:36:53,820
- was 550 degrees, and some parts
- of the cockpit windshield
- 693
- 00:36:53,863 --> 00:36:56,518
- were up at 640 degrees
- Fahrenheit.
- 694
- 00:37:00,305 --> 00:37:03,612
- Cappuccio: The test pilots knew
- the risk they were taking
- 695
- 00:37:03,656 --> 00:37:05,179
- because of the nuances
- 696
- 00:37:05,223 --> 00:37:06,963
- associated
- with propulsion ramping.
- 697
- 00:37:07,007 --> 00:37:10,619
- There was always a 5%, 6% chance
- you'll get a shock wave
- 698
- 00:37:10,663 --> 00:37:13,143
- that goes around
- the entire vehicle.
- 699
- 00:37:13,187 --> 00:37:15,058
- And we had one, and it snapped
- the vehicle in hal
- 700
- 00:37:15,102 --> 00:37:17,235
- It literally broke
- the vehicle in half.
- 701
- 00:37:17,278 --> 00:37:20,934
- We lost the pilot.
- 702
- 00:37:20,977 --> 00:37:23,110
- So Kelly -- he was very nervous
- in the beginning.
- 703
- 00:37:23,153 --> 00:37:24,677
- "Did I get
- the calculations right?
- 704
- 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:28,550
- Did I use the right
- safety factors?"
- 705
- 00:37:28,594 --> 00:37:31,945
- Petraeus: These are individuals
- who voluntarily went into
- 706
- 00:37:31,988 --> 00:37:34,774
- that world
- understanding the risk,
- 707
- 00:37:34,817 --> 00:37:37,342
- just constantly
- pushing the envelope,
- 708
- 00:37:37,385 --> 00:37:39,431
- knowing the importance
- of the tasks
- 709
- 00:37:39,474 --> 00:37:41,389
- in which they were engaged.
- 710
- 00:37:45,350 --> 00:37:47,830
- The day of the mission,
- you came in about 2 1/2 hours
- 711
- 00:37:47,874 --> 00:37:49,528
- before the flight.
- 712
- 00:37:49,571 --> 00:37:51,443
- You had to have a physical
- before every flight
- 713
- 00:37:51,486 --> 00:37:53,183
- that you had to pass.
- 714
- 00:37:53,227 --> 00:37:56,622
- At that point, they fed you
- high-protein food
- 715
- 00:37:56,665 --> 00:37:59,842
- to give you the energy through
- the flight -- steak and eggs.
- 716
- 00:37:59,886 --> 00:38:04,064
- About an hour 15 prior,
- you donned your space suit.
- 717
- 00:38:04,107 --> 00:38:06,153
- They then took you out
- to the airplane.
- 718
- 00:38:06,196 --> 00:38:11,550
- ♪♪
- 719
- 00:38:11,593 --> 00:38:14,030
- They gave you time to taxi
- out to the runway.
- 720
- 00:38:14,074 --> 00:38:18,296
- ♪♪
- 721
- 00:38:18,339 --> 00:38:21,516
- Your greatest sense of speed
- is on takeoff.
- 722
- 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,257
- You release the brakes.
- 723
- 00:38:23,301 --> 00:38:25,651
- You light those two
- powerful afterburners.
- 724
- 00:38:25,694 --> 00:38:28,915
- Within 20 seconds,
- you're going to go 4,500 feet
- 725
- 00:38:28,958 --> 00:38:32,005
- and lift off
- doing 240 miles an hour.
- 726
- 00:38:32,048 --> 00:38:35,443
- ♪♪
- 727
- 00:38:35,487 --> 00:38:38,228
- You'll climb through 20,000 feet
- less than 2 minutes
- 728
- 00:38:38,272 --> 00:38:40,318
- from the time
- you release the brakes.
- 729
- 00:38:42,885 --> 00:38:46,628
- Now, once you got up there,
- typically around 78,000 feet,
- 730
- 00:38:46,672 --> 00:38:49,370
- you can see the curvature
- of the Earth.
- 731
- 00:38:49,414 --> 00:38:51,459
- The sky above you
- is absolutely black,
- 732
- 00:38:51,503 --> 00:38:55,724
- because 97% of the atmosphere
- is below you.
- 733
- 00:38:55,768 --> 00:38:58,553
- At night, the sky
- is absolutely spectacular.
- 734
- 00:38:58,597 --> 00:39:01,817
- 90% of the stars you can see up
- there we can't see on the earth
- 735
- 00:39:01,861 --> 00:39:05,081
- because the atmosphere
- filters them out.
- 736
- 00:39:05,125 --> 00:39:06,779
- It's very quiet.
- 737
- 00:39:06,822 --> 00:39:08,215
- You're in an airplane
- that's traveling
- 738
- 00:39:08,258 --> 00:39:09,738
- at three times
- the speed of sound,
- 739
- 00:39:09,782 --> 00:39:13,351
- so most of the sound
- is behind you.
- 740
- 00:39:13,394 --> 00:39:15,570
- You see the Earth
- from a different perspective.
- 741
- 00:39:15,614 --> 00:39:24,797
- ♪♪
- 742
- 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,366
- Those were 11-hour-and-20-minute
- missions, some of them,
- 743
- 00:39:28,409 --> 00:39:31,586
- so it's like
- the long-distance runner.
- 744
- 00:39:31,630 --> 00:39:33,588
- You're not necessarily
- sprinting, but you've got to
- 745
- 00:39:33,632 --> 00:39:37,418
- keep your energy up,
- so you watched your diet.
- 746
- 00:39:37,462 --> 00:39:40,290
- I remember once on a mission,
- the night before,
- 747
- 00:39:40,334 --> 00:39:42,771
- I'd had a seafood dinner.
- 748
- 00:39:42,815 --> 00:39:48,124
- And I had an explosive
- diarrhea attack,
- 749
- 00:39:48,168 --> 00:39:51,563
- one of those really interesting
- moments in your life.
- 750
- 00:39:51,606 --> 00:39:53,303
- We had a discussion,
- and we kind of said,
- 751
- 00:39:53,347 --> 00:39:55,436
- "Well, you know, if you don't
- change a baby's diapers,
- 752
- 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:57,046
- what's the worst thing
- that can happen?
- 753
- 00:39:57,090 --> 00:39:58,439
- Maybe they'll get a rash."
- 754
- 00:39:58,483 --> 00:40:00,223
- So I told my back-seater --
- I said,
- 755
- 00:40:00,267 --> 00:40:01,486
- "I think we can press on."
- 756
- 00:40:01,529 --> 00:40:03,444
- I said, "The last thing I want
- 757
- 00:40:03,488 --> 00:40:05,403
- is a message
- sent to the president,
- 758
- 00:40:05,446 --> 00:40:09,885
- 'The pilot pooped in his suit,
- so they had to return back.'"
- 759
- 00:40:09,929 --> 00:40:11,496
- I can't remember
- if I got a rash,
- 760
- 00:40:11,539 --> 00:40:14,237
- but they had to tear out
- the liner when we got back,
- 761
- 00:40:14,281 --> 00:40:17,763
- and I gave our suit-maintenance
- people a case of beer
- 762
- 00:40:17,806 --> 00:40:21,244
- for having to
- reconstitute my suit.
- 763
- 00:40:21,288 --> 00:40:22,942
- [ Chuckles ]
- 764
- 00:40:26,249 --> 00:40:29,905
- Narrator: The Blackbird made
- my men go beyond their limits --
- 765
- 00:40:29,949 --> 00:40:31,733
- the men who flew
- 766
- 00:40:31,777 --> 00:40:37,652
- and those who made it possible
- to fly, our engineers.
- 767
- 00:40:37,696 --> 00:40:40,176
- To me, some of the most
- remarkable thing of it
- 768
- 00:40:40,220 --> 00:40:43,876
- is that it was all done
- using logarithms
- 769
- 00:40:43,919 --> 00:40:48,097
- and trig tables
- and Friden calculators.
- 770
- 00:40:48,141 --> 00:40:50,535
- Jacobsen: It's just
- so remarkable to think about.
- 771
- 00:40:50,578 --> 00:40:53,320
- You know, they were
- just looking at physics.
- 772
- 00:40:53,363 --> 00:40:56,802
- They were looking
- at basic foundations
- 773
- 00:40:56,845 --> 00:41:00,588
- of how science works.
- 774
- 00:41:00,632 --> 00:41:05,854
- They simply used their minds,
- their imaginations,
- 775
- 00:41:05,898 --> 00:41:11,077
- and their willingness
- to engineer a system.
- 776
- 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,209
- They didn't have computers.
- 777
- 00:41:13,253 --> 00:41:19,215
- How could you possibly come up
- with such advanced technology?
- 778
- 00:41:19,259 --> 00:41:22,480
- So a lot of people came to
- believe that the Skunk Works
- 779
- 00:41:22,523 --> 00:41:26,222
- were actually
- reverse-engineering
- 780
- 00:41:26,266 --> 00:41:28,660
- some kind of alien technology
- 781
- 00:41:28,703 --> 00:41:31,314
- Kelly Johnson
- brought to Area 51.
- 782
- 00:41:31,358 --> 00:41:35,884
- ♪♪
- 783
- 00:41:42,543 --> 00:41:46,025
- e Air Force
- 784
- 00:41:46,068 --> 00:41:48,549
- in December of 1953.
- 785
- 00:41:48,593 --> 00:41:53,902
- He had gone home to his ranch
- in California, and he looked out
- 786
- 00:41:53,946 --> 00:41:58,254
- and saw something
- he couldn't quite understand.
- 787
- 00:41:58,298 --> 00:42:00,256
- This was something that was
- moving at a very high rate
- 788
- 00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:03,477
- of speed away from him,
- and he drew a little sketch
- 789
- 00:42:03,521 --> 00:42:07,307
- of what the aircraft
- looked like.
- 790
- 00:42:07,350 --> 00:42:10,223
- Narrator: I have definitely
- believed in the possibility
- 791
- 00:42:10,266 --> 00:42:13,487
- that flying saucers exist.
- 792
- 00:42:13,531 --> 00:42:15,794
- This is in spite of
- a good deal of kidding
- 793
- 00:42:15,837 --> 00:42:18,840
- from my technical associates.
- 794
- 00:42:18,884 --> 00:42:21,843
- I am now more firmly
- convinced than ever.
- 795
- 00:42:24,454 --> 00:42:27,545
- Jacobsen: Because of this
- extraordinary circumstance,
- 796
- 00:42:27,588 --> 00:42:29,329
- whatever it may have been,
- 797
- 00:42:29,372 --> 00:42:32,201
- a lot of people came to believe
- that the Skunk Works
- 798
- 00:42:32,245 --> 00:42:35,988
- were actually
- reverse-engineering
- 799
- 00:42:36,031 --> 00:42:38,120
- some kind of alien technology
- 800
- 00:42:38,164 --> 00:42:41,036
- Kelly Johnson
- brought to Area 51.
- 801
- 00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:45,432
- ♪♪
- 802
- 00:42:45,475 --> 00:42:47,347
- Law:
- There were some people --
- 803
- 00:42:47,390 --> 00:42:50,089
- they had come up with this idea
- of all these weird things
- 804
- 00:42:50,132 --> 00:42:52,613
- that had supposedly happened
- at the test site
- 805
- 00:42:52,657 --> 00:42:55,268
- to do with the Blackbirds.
- 806
- 00:42:55,311 --> 00:42:58,619
- Because how could you
- possibly come up with such
- 807
- 00:42:58,663 --> 00:43:00,403
- advanced technology?
- 808
- 00:43:00,447 --> 00:43:02,405
- They didn't have computers.
- 809
- 00:43:05,365 --> 00:43:07,062
- Cappuccio: What about
- the conspiracy theories
- 810
- 00:43:07,106 --> 00:43:10,457
- that the Blackbird was based
- on alien technology?
- 811
- 00:43:10,500 --> 00:43:14,592
- They like to believe it
- because they can't envision
- 812
- 00:43:14,635 --> 00:43:17,769
- a class of people
- that can think out of the box.
- 813
- 00:43:17,812 --> 00:43:19,988
- There was no magic. It didn't
- come from anything else.
- 814
- 00:43:20,032 --> 00:43:22,948
- It just came from somebody
- having a dream.
- 815
- 00:43:22,991 --> 00:43:27,779
- If you look at Kelly's design
- book, it's about 20 pages.
- 816
- 00:43:27,822 --> 00:43:30,999
- I was very, very interested
- in understanding
- 817
- 00:43:31,043 --> 00:43:35,743
- how he managed to envision
- something so unique
- 818
- 00:43:35,787 --> 00:43:38,267
- from the technology
- that existed at the time.
- 819
- 00:43:38,311 --> 00:43:40,879
- I didn't get the magic
- until there was one chart
- 820
- 00:43:40,922 --> 00:43:42,663
- that had a propulsion
- curve in it,
- 821
- 00:43:42,707 --> 00:43:46,885
- and he said, "You know,
- I think I can get 20% higher."
- 822
- 00:43:46,928 --> 00:43:50,540
- And it finally dawned on me --
- if you go 20% higher
- 823
- 00:43:50,584 --> 00:43:54,066
- on every part of the design --
- 824
- 00:43:54,109 --> 00:43:57,025
- It's easier to go from
- 1.5 Mach number,
- 825
- 00:43:57,069 --> 00:43:59,985
- which we knew how to do,
- to 3,
- 826
- 00:44:00,028 --> 00:44:02,291
- and that was how genius works.
- 827
- 00:44:02,335 --> 00:44:07,253
- ♪♪
- 828
- 00:44:07,296 --> 00:44:10,430
- Narrator: All it really is,
- is the application
- 829
- 00:44:10,473 --> 00:44:13,999
- of common sense to some
- pretty tough problems.
- 830
- 00:44:14,042 --> 00:44:18,699
- The mental challenge
- is entertainment for me.
- 831
- 00:44:18,743 --> 00:44:22,572
- It's always been, even back
- to my first day at Lockheed.
- 832
- 00:44:24,966 --> 00:44:28,361
- He gets the job at Lockheed as
- a tooling engineer, by the way.
- 833
- 00:44:28,404 --> 00:44:30,189
- He wasn't hired to be
- an aerodynamicist.
- 834
- 00:44:30,232 --> 00:44:33,671
- He was hired to design the tools
- to build the airplane.
- 835
- 00:44:33,714 --> 00:44:35,977
- But he goes to the chief
- engineer, Hall Hibbard,
- 836
- 00:44:36,021 --> 00:44:39,154
- at the time, his first day
- on the job and says,
- 837
- 00:44:39,198 --> 00:44:41,591
- "Your design
- for the Model 10 Electra,"
- 838
- 00:44:41,635 --> 00:44:45,595
- which was the newest plane
- that Lockheed is developing,
- 839
- 00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:48,250
- "is unsafe and unstable,
- 840
- 00:44:48,294 --> 00:44:50,731
- and you can't
- build it that way."
- 841
- 00:44:50,775 --> 00:44:52,602
- This was a passenger aircraft,
- 842
- 00:44:52,646 --> 00:44:56,302
- and you don't want that
- kind of airplane to be unsafe.
- 843
- 00:44:56,345 --> 00:44:59,392
- It was all he could do to keep
- from firing the kid on the spot.
- 844
- 00:44:59,435 --> 00:45:03,352
- "Who are you? You know,
- where'd you come from?"
- 845
- 00:45:03,396 --> 00:45:05,354
- But they bring Kelly
- in the next day and says,
- 846
- 00:45:05,398 --> 00:45:08,793
- "Okay, why is it
- not going to fly?"
- 847
- 00:45:08,836 --> 00:45:11,970
- And Kelly is able to answer
- every one of his questions
- 848
- 00:45:12,013 --> 00:45:15,495
- to the satisfaction that Hall
- gives this college graduate
- 849
- 00:45:15,538 --> 00:45:18,150
- the model for the aircraft
- and says, "Fix the airplane."
- 850
- 00:45:18,193 --> 00:45:19,891
- And that's what he did.
- 851
- 00:45:19,934 --> 00:45:22,067
- Westwick: He said,
- "I think the way to solve it --
- 852
- 00:45:22,110 --> 00:45:24,373
- instead of having one tail,
- have two."
- 853
- 00:45:24,417 --> 00:45:26,636
- And they tested it,
- and, sure enough,
- 854
- 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,074
- the twin-tail solution
- solved the problem
- 855
- 00:45:29,117 --> 00:45:31,380
- and turned out to be
- a kind of hallmark
- 856
- 00:45:31,424 --> 00:45:33,948
- of a lot of that
- generation of planes.
- 857
- 00:45:33,992 --> 00:45:37,865
- Trimble: You don't see too many
- split-tail designs until 1933,
- 858
- 00:45:37,909 --> 00:45:39,737
- and then you see it
- with the Model 10,
- 859
- 00:45:39,780 --> 00:45:42,304
- and then, suddenly, everybody
- has got a split-tail design.
- 860
- 00:45:42,348 --> 00:45:45,394
- It gets copied
- by almost everybody,
- 861
- 00:45:45,438 --> 00:45:48,354
- but, essentially,
- he saved the company,
- 862
- 00:45:48,397 --> 00:45:51,096
- you know,
- with that idea in 1933,
- 863
- 00:45:51,139 --> 00:45:52,793
- because if they had
- come out with the airplane
- 864
- 00:45:52,837 --> 00:45:54,969
- that they had designed
- originally,
- 865
- 00:45:55,013 --> 00:45:56,710
- it would have been too unsafe,
- 866
- 00:45:56,754 --> 00:46:00,018
- and airlines
- just wouldn't buy it.
- 867
- 00:46:00,061 --> 00:46:02,194
- Narrator:
- I quickly got promoted,
- 868
- 00:46:02,237 --> 00:46:05,371
- eventually becoming
- chief research engineer.
- 869
- 00:46:05,414 --> 00:46:09,549
- Over the next decade, I worked
- with the likes of Howard Hughes
- 870
- 00:46:09,592 --> 00:46:11,203
- and Amelia Earhart.
- 871
- 00:46:14,902 --> 00:46:18,340
- It was in 1943 that I set up
- a secret division
- 872
- 00:46:18,384 --> 00:46:20,734
- within the Lockheed corporation
- 873
- 00:46:20,778 --> 00:46:24,433
- to build the P-80
- during World War II.
- 874
- 00:46:24,477 --> 00:46:28,350
- Officially, we were called
- Advanced Development Research,
- 875
- 00:46:28,394 --> 00:46:30,788
- but the boys came up
- with "Skunk Works"
- 876
- 00:46:30,831 --> 00:46:34,095
- because we were hidden
- next to a plastics factory,
- 877
- 00:46:34,139 --> 00:46:39,057
- and the fumes
- drifting over stunk.
- 878
- 00:46:39,100 --> 00:46:42,843
- Everyone at Skunk Works
- understood our mission.
- 879
- 00:46:42,887 --> 00:46:46,586
- We had our own set of rules,
- my rules.
- 880
- 00:46:48,893 --> 00:46:51,504
- If there was a Steve Jobs
- of the aerospace industry,
- 881
- 00:46:51,547 --> 00:46:54,550
- it was definitely Kelly Johnson.
- 882
- 00:46:54,594 --> 00:46:56,596
- And what Kelly did
- in his approach
- 883
- 00:46:56,639 --> 00:46:59,251
- was to simplify everything
- 884
- 00:46:59,294 --> 00:47:02,167
- and, above all,
- keep the momentum going.
- 885
- 00:47:02,210 --> 00:47:03,908
- The way he put it was,
- 886
- 00:47:03,951 --> 00:47:05,735
- "I'd rather make
- a wrong decision
- 887
- 00:47:05,779 --> 00:47:07,737
- that keeps things
- moving forward
- 888
- 00:47:07,781 --> 00:47:09,739
- than to stop everything
- for several weeks
- 889
- 00:47:09,783 --> 00:47:13,526
- to make sure that we're
- making the right decision."
- 890
- 00:47:13,569 --> 00:47:16,355
- Narrator: Three times,
- I was offered company president
- 891
- 00:47:16,398 --> 00:47:20,141
- at Lockheed
- and three times declined it.
- 892
- 00:47:20,185 --> 00:47:23,710
- To me, there was no better job
- at the corporation
- 893
- 00:47:23,753 --> 00:47:27,496
- than head of Skunk Works.
- 894
- 00:47:27,540 --> 00:47:30,456
- We were about
- getting things done,
- 895
- 00:47:30,499 --> 00:47:34,677
- but not everyone
- appreciated our methods.
- 896
- 00:47:34,721 --> 00:47:37,942
- The Skunk Works
- did have its enemies.
- 897
- 00:47:37,985 --> 00:47:40,858
- People didn't like the way
- the Skunk Works did things,
- 898
- 00:47:40,901 --> 00:47:43,338
- believed that they cut corners,
- 899
- 00:47:43,382 --> 00:47:47,516
- that they were not living
- by all the rules and everything.
- 900
- 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,650
- You know, it was, like,
- on the fly, "Go, go, go.
- 901
- 00:47:50,693 --> 00:47:52,652
- We don't have time
- for bureaucracy."
- 902
- 00:47:52,695 --> 00:47:55,481
- And this became a problem
- later in the '60s,
- 903
- 00:47:55,524 --> 00:47:59,615
- when that was threatening
- to the machine
- 904
- 00:47:59,659 --> 00:48:02,662
- that was the Pentagon,
- and, surely, someone like
- 905
- 00:48:02,705 --> 00:48:05,665
- Secretary of Defense
- Robert McNamara,
- 906
- 00:48:05,708 --> 00:48:10,800
- who loved to control things like
- the businessman that he was --
- 907
- 00:48:10,844 --> 00:48:14,848
- And you could see
- Robert McNamara making a move
- 908
- 00:48:14,892 --> 00:48:18,852
- to take out Kelly Johnson
- and the Skunk Works.
- 909
- 00:48:23,988 --> 00:48:26,381
- Narrator: The Blackbird was
- the fastest jet-powered,
- 910
- 00:48:26,425 --> 00:48:29,080
- manned aircraft ever made,
- 911
- 00:48:29,123 --> 00:48:32,910
- with speed records
- that were never broken.
- 912
- 00:48:32,953 --> 00:48:36,391
- It was also known as the SR-71.
- 913
- 00:48:36,435 --> 00:48:41,092
- The "SR" stood for
- strategic reconnaissance.
- 914
- 00:48:41,135 --> 00:48:44,530
- The SR has an unequaled
- reputation
- 915
- 00:48:44,573 --> 00:48:47,533
- for accomplishing
- what it was set out for.
- 916
- 00:48:47,576 --> 00:48:51,276
- Carpenter: During
- the Arab-Israeli War of 1973,
- 917
- 00:48:51,319 --> 00:48:55,280
- 95% of the imagery
- that our president used
- 918
- 00:48:55,323 --> 00:48:59,849
- to render decisions
- came from the SR-71.
- 919
- 00:48:59,893 --> 00:49:02,635
- And the photography
- was spectacular.
- 920
- 00:49:02,678 --> 00:49:04,985
- When you take a normal
- sheet of paper
- 921
- 00:49:05,029 --> 00:49:07,857
- and you're holding it out
- in the parking lot
- 922
- 00:49:07,901 --> 00:49:12,514
- and I fly over at 85,000 feet,
- doing 35 miles a minute,
- 923
- 00:49:12,558 --> 00:49:15,126
- I will take your picture,
- and I will see you standing
- 924
- 00:49:15,169 --> 00:49:17,824
- beside your car
- holding this sheet of paper.
- 925
- 00:49:17,867 --> 00:49:20,044
- And most of the time,
- I could tell you
- 926
- 00:49:20,087 --> 00:49:22,872
- what kind of a car
- you were driving.
- 927
- 00:49:22,916 --> 00:49:26,354
- But that's the quality
- of the imagery we brought back
- 928
- 00:49:26,398 --> 00:49:28,878
- for the leadership
- here in this country.
- 929
- 00:49:28,922 --> 00:49:31,446
- Six presidents used us
- because they knew
- 930
- 00:49:31,490 --> 00:49:34,667
- they could send us out,
- and we'd come back.
- 931
- 00:49:34,710 --> 00:49:37,235
- Powers Jr.:
- I've heard stories from pilots
- 932
- 00:49:37,278 --> 00:49:39,933
- where they'd be flying missions
- during Vietnam,
- 933
- 00:49:39,977 --> 00:49:42,370
- and they would see
- the missiles come up,
- 934
- 00:49:42,414 --> 00:49:44,155
- and they would see them
- fall back down,
- 935
- 00:49:44,198 --> 00:49:46,244
- because the SR
- was going so fast,
- 936
- 00:49:46,287 --> 00:49:47,767
- the missiles could not
- keep up with them.
- 937
- 00:49:47,810 --> 00:49:50,161
- Gilliland Jr.:
- There have been over 5,000
- 938
- 00:49:50,204 --> 00:49:52,163
- surface-to-air missiles
- that have been fired
- 939
- 00:49:52,206 --> 00:49:55,035
- at the SR-71
- by hostile countries.
- 940
- 00:49:55,079 --> 00:49:58,169
- Not one of them
- ever hit an SR-71.
- 941
- 00:49:58,212 --> 00:49:59,605
- As Dad used to say,
- 942
- 00:49:59,648 --> 00:50:01,737
- "It helped end
- the Cold War with Russia,
- 943
- 00:50:01,781 --> 00:50:03,609
- because they spent, you know,
- a lot of money
- 944
- 00:50:03,652 --> 00:50:05,741
- shooting surface-to-air missiles
- and never getting a hit,
- 945
- 00:50:05,785 --> 00:50:09,789
- so it helped Russia
- go bankrupt a little faster."
- 946
- 00:50:09,832 --> 00:50:12,487
- Narrator:
- With the success of the SR-71,
- 947
- 00:50:12,531 --> 00:50:15,882
- I wanted to build a new version
- of the Blackbird,
- 948
- 00:50:15,925 --> 00:50:20,669
- more than just a recon plane,
- something far greater.
- 949
- 00:50:23,890 --> 00:50:26,762
- Once they finished
- building the SR-71s,
- 950
- 00:50:26,806 --> 00:50:28,764
- if you go into Kelly's logs,
- 951
- 00:50:28,808 --> 00:50:32,072
- you can tell that the one
- that he wanted to build the most
- 952
- 00:50:32,116 --> 00:50:34,727
- was a fighter-interceptor
- version.
- 953
- 00:50:34,770 --> 00:50:37,817
- Called the YF-12A,
- and it was a missile shooter.
- 954
- 00:50:37,860 --> 00:50:41,690
- It was being proposed
- as an interceptor.
- 955
- 00:50:41,734 --> 00:50:44,345
- Trimble: There was a lot of fear
- about what would happen
- 956
- 00:50:44,389 --> 00:50:47,131
- if the Soviets decided
- to attack us with bombers
- 957
- 00:50:47,174 --> 00:50:48,697
- rather than missiles,
- 958
- 00:50:48,741 --> 00:50:51,613
- so the whole idea
- of that airplane
- 959
- 00:50:51,657 --> 00:50:54,747
- was intercepting
- an incoming Soviet bomber,
- 960
- 00:50:54,790 --> 00:50:57,706
- and Kelly wanted to sell that
- to the Air Force,
- 961
- 00:50:57,750 --> 00:51:00,579
- sell hundreds of them, actually.
- 962
- 00:51:00,622 --> 00:51:03,451
- And this became a problem
- later in the '60s,
- 963
- 00:51:03,495 --> 00:51:07,151
- when, at the Pentagon,
- now led by Secretary of Defense
- 964
- 00:51:07,194 --> 00:51:10,980
- Robert McNamara,
- who loved to control things,
- 965
- 00:51:11,024 --> 00:51:13,157
- and there's a sense of,
- "Wait a minute.
- 966
- 00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:16,247
- That boys club out in California
- called Skunk Works
- 967
- 00:51:16,290 --> 00:51:18,162
- has a little too much power."
- 968
- 00:51:18,205 --> 00:51:22,731
- And you could see him, you know,
- making a move to take out
- 969
- 00:51:22,775 --> 00:51:25,995
- Kelly Johnson
- and the Skunk Works.
- 970
- 00:51:26,039 --> 00:51:28,259
- And McNamara shut it down,
- 971
- 00:51:28,302 --> 00:51:31,436
- shut the program down,
- said it wasn't needed.
- 972
- 00:51:31,479 --> 00:51:35,092
- Narrator: McNamara's decision
- is almost unbelievable.
- 973
- 00:51:35,135 --> 00:51:36,745
- The Air Force has gone with us
- 974
- 00:51:36,789 --> 00:51:39,183
- all the way
- supporting the plane,
- 975
- 00:51:39,226 --> 00:51:44,013
- but McNamara and his band
- see it differently.
- 976
- 00:51:44,057 --> 00:51:47,147
- Cappuccio: Now, what happened
- was -- Kelly was
- 977
- 00:51:47,191 --> 00:51:50,324
- a very influential player
- in Washington at the time,
- 978
- 00:51:50,368 --> 00:51:54,067
- with his contacts in the agency
- that had used SR-71
- 979
- 00:51:54,111 --> 00:51:56,374
- and his contacts
- with the Air Force, right?
- 980
- 00:51:56,417 --> 00:51:59,072
- Well, the Air Force pilots
- liked the SR-71,
- 981
- 00:51:59,116 --> 00:52:02,597
- so he started
- going around the system.
- 982
- 00:52:02,641 --> 00:52:05,209
- And McNamara was furious.
- 983
- 00:52:06,775 --> 00:52:10,953
- And a decree came back, "You
- will cut up the SR-71 tools,
- 984
- 00:52:10,997 --> 00:52:13,652
- and you will destroy
- all the drawings."
- 985
- 00:52:13,695 --> 00:52:17,134
- And that was an edict.
- 986
- 00:52:17,177 --> 00:52:20,267
- You know, to kind of get
- the point across, they told
- 987
- 00:52:20,311 --> 00:52:24,184
- Lockheed to destroy the tooling,
- which the U.S. government owned.
- 988
- 00:52:24,228 --> 00:52:27,318
- And when you do that,
- you make the cost of
- 989
- 00:52:27,361 --> 00:52:30,190
- restarting production
- astronomically higher,
- 990
- 00:52:30,234 --> 00:52:34,890
- so that was the decision that
- finally killed the Blackbird.
- 991
- 00:52:34,934 --> 00:52:38,720
- Narrator: The damage has been
- done, the tools destroyed.
- 992
- 00:52:38,764 --> 00:52:41,114
- We were never able to build
- the version of the Blackbird
- 993
- 00:52:41,158 --> 00:52:44,639
- our country needed, the YF-12.
- 994
- 00:52:44,683 --> 00:52:49,775
- To this point, I have laid off
- 130 people in engineering,
- 995
- 00:52:49,818 --> 00:52:52,908
- and it's a sad time for me.
- 996
- 00:52:52,952 --> 00:52:56,173
- This was a really difficult time
- for the Skunk Works
- 997
- 00:52:56,216 --> 00:52:57,565
- when it happened.
- 998
- 00:52:57,609 --> 00:52:59,611
- It needed money.
- 999
- 00:52:59,654 --> 00:53:03,876
- It had a few thousand employees,
- and they needed things to do,
- 1000
- 00:53:03,919 --> 00:53:08,097
- and the F-12 was supposed
- to be that thing.
- 1001
- 00:53:08,141 --> 00:53:11,318
- Narrator: Yesterday,
- I took my yearly physical.
- 1002
- 00:53:11,362 --> 00:53:14,495
- The doctor says
- I must have an operation.
- 1003
- 00:53:14,539 --> 00:53:17,585
- My stomach has so many ulcers
- that the outlet is down
- 1004
- 00:53:17,629 --> 00:53:19,718
- to the size of a pencil.
- 1005
- 00:53:19,761 --> 00:53:22,590
- Constant pain.
- 1006
- 00:53:22,634 --> 00:53:24,418
- Trimble:
- And, at that point,
- 1007
- 00:53:24,462 --> 00:53:26,812
- Kelly's health
- was deteriorating to the point
- 1008
- 00:53:26,855 --> 00:53:30,250
- where he had started thinking
- about whether he should retire.
- 1009
- 00:53:30,294 --> 00:53:33,210
- But he also didn't like the idea
- of retiring, either.
- 1010
- 00:53:33,253 --> 00:53:38,432
- That wasn't really sort of
- in his DNA, so he kept going,
- 1011
- 00:53:38,476 --> 00:53:42,175
- but by 1972, 1973,
- 1012
- 00:53:42,219 --> 00:53:46,135
- they decided to pass it on,
- and Ben Rich was the guy.
- 1013
- 00:53:48,790 --> 00:53:51,924
- Painter: Ben -- he had
- an extremely hard job,
- 1014
- 00:53:51,967 --> 00:53:54,056
- because Kelly
- was still a consultant,
- 1015
- 00:53:54,100 --> 00:53:57,059
- so he was still
- coming to Lockheed.
- 1016
- 00:53:57,103 --> 00:53:59,497
- He still had that
- strong loyalty bond
- 1017
- 00:53:59,540 --> 00:54:02,543
- with so many of the engineers
- and people that worked there
- 1018
- 00:54:02,587 --> 00:54:05,329
- that instead
- of going to Ben for answers,
- 1019
- 00:54:05,372 --> 00:54:08,506
- they would wait for Kelly
- to come in on his day of work.
- 1020
- 00:54:08,549 --> 00:54:12,727
- So Ben had to overcome all that
- to establish his leadership,
- 1021
- 00:54:12,771 --> 00:54:16,165
- his fingerprint
- on the Skunk Works.
- 1022
- 00:54:16,209 --> 00:54:19,560
- The key job
- in running the Skunk Works
- 1023
- 00:54:19,604 --> 00:54:22,781
- is to work on the future.
- 1024
- 00:54:22,824 --> 00:54:25,610
- Ben understood that,
- and he worked hard at it,
- 1025
- 00:54:25,653 --> 00:54:27,786
- and he was very good at it.
- 1026
- 00:54:27,829 --> 00:54:31,398
- Once he saw stealth,
- he took hold of it
- 1027
- 00:54:31,442 --> 00:54:35,707
- and pursued it with a vengeance.
- 1028
- 00:54:35,750 --> 00:54:40,189
- If I made a plane invisible
- to radar, would you buy it?
- 1029
- 00:54:42,191 --> 00:54:43,845
- Kelly was never impressed.
- 1030
- 00:54:43,889 --> 00:54:45,934
- He thought Ben
- had the wrong idea,
- 1031
- 00:54:45,978 --> 00:54:48,241
- that Lockheed was just
- going to waste money.
- 1032
- 00:54:48,285 --> 00:54:49,764
- He pretty much
- put his reputation
- 1033
- 00:54:49,808 --> 00:54:51,375
- and his whole career on the line
- 1034
- 00:54:51,418 --> 00:54:54,247
- when he went after
- that stealth technology.
- 1035
- 00:54:59,948 --> 00:55:02,951
- Trimble: After Vietnam,
- our losses toimble: A,
- 1036
- 00:55:02,995 --> 00:55:04,997
- surface-to-air missiles
- were pretty bad,
- 1037
- 00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:08,130
- and it became pretty clear
- that unless you had some way
- 1038
- 00:55:08,174 --> 00:55:12,004
- of defeating these ground-based
- radars that could cue these
- 1039
- 00:55:12,047 --> 00:55:14,049
- surface-to-air missiles
- that you were going to lose
- 1040
- 00:55:14,093 --> 00:55:17,139
- your entire Air Force if you
- ever got into combat again.
- 1041
- 00:55:17,183 --> 00:55:21,187
- So they had to come up
- with a way to make aircraft
- 1042
- 00:55:21,230 --> 00:55:23,885
- less visible to those radars.
- 1043
- 00:55:23,929 --> 00:55:27,802
- DARPA, the Defense Advanced
- Research Projects Agency,
- 1044
- 00:55:27,846 --> 00:55:30,152
- sent out a request
- 1045
- 00:55:30,196 --> 00:55:34,461
- to the seven most recent
- fighter-building companies
- 1046
- 00:55:34,505 --> 00:55:37,464
- for experimental
- stealth technology,
- 1047
- 00:55:37,508 --> 00:55:41,903
- and they had a requirement
- to get the radar cross-section
- 1048
- 00:55:41,947 --> 00:55:45,298
- down to certain levels.
- 1049
- 00:55:45,342 --> 00:55:51,086
- Okay. So, think about the radar
- cross-section on the SR-71,
- 1050
- 00:55:51,130 --> 00:55:56,309
- that it shows up on enemy radar
- the size of a man, okay?
- 1051
- 00:55:56,353 --> 00:56:00,531
- We need an airplane
- that's going to show up
- 1052
- 00:56:00,574 --> 00:56:02,620
- the side of a ball bearing.
- 1053
- 00:56:02,663 --> 00:56:04,448
- That was the new challenge.
- 1054
- 00:56:04,491 --> 00:56:08,321
- "We're going to make
- an invisible airplane."
- 1055
- 00:56:08,365 --> 00:56:10,454
- Cappuccio: How we came
- across stealth was --
- 1056
- 00:56:10,497 --> 00:56:14,762
- the SR-71
- and the angles of the tails
- 1057
- 00:56:14,806 --> 00:56:16,721
- were taking the radar section
- 1058
- 00:56:16,764 --> 00:56:19,767
- and bouncing
- the radar beam away.
- 1059
- 00:56:19,811 --> 00:56:24,206
- So the radar system was not
- picking up that reflection.
- 1060
- 00:56:24,250 --> 00:56:29,342
- And Ben said, "If I can make
- a plane with all flat plates,
- 1061
- 00:56:29,386 --> 00:56:31,562
- that radar won't pick up
- the signal."
- 1062
- 00:56:31,605 --> 00:56:33,651
- Justice:
- Ben went to the CIA.
- 1063
- 00:56:33,694 --> 00:56:36,654
- The CIA gave him permission
- to brief the Air Force
- 1064
- 00:56:36,697 --> 00:56:39,874
- on the stealth technologies
- embodied in the Blackbird
- 1065
- 00:56:39,918 --> 00:56:42,311
- and say, "Hey, we deserve
- entry into this," and they said,
- 1066
- 00:56:42,355 --> 00:56:45,097
- "Well, we've already
- given out all the contracts.
- 1067
- 00:56:45,140 --> 00:56:47,491
- There's no more money
- to give out,
- 1068
- 00:56:47,534 --> 00:56:49,144
- so if you want to participate,
- 1069
- 00:56:49,188 --> 00:56:51,059
- you've got to kind of do it
- on your own."
- 1070
- 00:56:51,103 --> 00:56:52,974
- And so Ben says,
- "We'll participate.
- 1071
- 00:56:53,018 --> 00:56:54,759
- Give us a $1 contract,
- 1072
- 00:56:54,802 --> 00:56:56,500
- which means we have
- a formal relationship with you,
- 1073
- 00:56:56,543 --> 00:56:59,111
- but we basically
- pay our own way."
- 1074
- 00:56:59,154 --> 00:57:03,768
- Skunk Works is on its knees
- at this point in 1975.
- 1075
- 00:57:03,811 --> 00:57:06,379
- It's got to have something new.
- 1076
- 00:57:06,423 --> 00:57:08,773
- Painter: The company needs
- to up-front $10 million
- 1077
- 00:57:08,816 --> 00:57:11,036
- as their share
- in building a prototype,
- 1078
- 00:57:11,079 --> 00:57:13,517
- so he has to go to the corporate
- fathers and say,
- 1079
- 00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:15,780
- "Give me $10 million,
- because I got to build
- 1080
- 00:57:15,823 --> 00:57:19,087
- an airplane
- for unproven technology."
- 1081
- 00:57:19,131 --> 00:57:20,959
- He pretty much
- put his reputation
- 1082
- 00:57:21,002 --> 00:57:24,136
- and his whole career on the line
- when he went after that program.
- 1083
- 00:57:24,179 --> 00:57:28,009
- ♪♪
- 1084
- 00:57:28,053 --> 00:57:29,707
- Carpenter:
- Kelly was never impressed.
- 1085
- 00:57:29,750 --> 00:57:32,449
- He thought that Ben
- had the wrong idea,
- 1086
- 00:57:32,492 --> 00:57:34,538
- that Lockheed was just
- going to waste money.
- 1087
- 00:57:34,581 --> 00:57:36,627
- To describe the radar
- cross-section,
- 1088
- 00:57:36,670 --> 00:57:40,326
- Ben would roll marbles
- across the desk.
- 1089
- 00:57:40,369 --> 00:57:43,285
- Ben went to Kelly and said,
- "Look at this.
- 1090
- 00:57:43,329 --> 00:57:46,506
- What would a Soviet radar see?
- 1091
- 00:57:46,550 --> 00:57:49,596
- Here's a marble,
- and based upon that,
- 1092
- 00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:52,991
- they would not identify that
- as a significant threat
- 1093
- 00:57:53,034 --> 00:57:57,038
- but, rather, a radar anomaly."
- 1094
- 00:57:57,082 --> 00:57:58,736
- Justice:
- And Kelly just thought,
- 1095
- 00:57:58,779 --> 00:58:00,346
- "You're not going to be able
- to make it,"
- 1096
- 00:58:00,389 --> 00:58:03,001
- and, quite honestly,
- broke one of his own rules.
- 1097
- 00:58:03,044 --> 00:58:04,916
- Kelly would just assume
- something could be done,
- 1098
- 00:58:04,959 --> 00:58:07,353
- and that's what he expected
- his teams to do,
- 1099
- 00:58:07,396 --> 00:58:08,876
- but that's where you see Ben
- 1100
- 00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:11,444
- having that piece of DNA
- of the Skunk Works.
- 1101
- 00:58:11,488 --> 00:58:13,359
- You know, let's just assume
- it can be done.
- 1102
- 00:58:13,402 --> 00:58:14,926
- Let's make it happen.
- 1103
- 00:58:14,969 --> 00:58:18,756
- Law: Denys Overholser
- came up with this idea
- 1104
- 00:58:18,799 --> 00:58:21,454
- that reflects the beams
- in all the directions
- 1105
- 00:58:21,498 --> 00:58:23,282
- to where they don't
- make a return,
- 1106
- 00:58:23,325 --> 00:58:26,111
- based on a bunch
- of Russian calculations.
- 1107
- 00:58:26,154 --> 00:58:31,420
- ♪♪
- 1108
- 00:58:31,464 --> 00:58:33,684
- Narrator: Just like they once
- sold us the titanium
- 1109
- 00:58:33,727 --> 00:58:37,209
- for the Blackbird,
- the Russians inadvertently
- 1110
- 00:58:37,252 --> 00:58:40,081
- helped Skunk Works again.
- 1111
- 00:58:40,125 --> 00:58:43,824
- Trimble: Denys had come across
- a Soviet mathematics journal.
- 1112
- 00:58:43,868 --> 00:58:46,305
- The Soviets had no idea
- that that's what those equations
- 1113
- 00:58:46,348 --> 00:58:48,263
- could be used for,
- or they would never
- 1114
- 00:58:48,307 --> 00:58:50,831
- have allowed it to be published
- in that kind of a publication.
- 1115
- 00:58:50,875 --> 00:58:54,008
- But because they did and
- Denys read it and applied it,
- 1116
- 00:58:54,052 --> 00:58:56,881
- the Skunk Works suddenly had
- sort of a secret sauce
- 1117
- 00:58:56,924 --> 00:59:00,798
- to breaking this problem
- that had affected aircraft
- 1118
- 00:59:00,841 --> 00:59:04,976
- in Vietnam and the U-2 itself,
- which is radar detection.
- 1119
- 00:59:05,019 --> 00:59:07,456
- So, Alan Brown comes in,
- 1120
- 00:59:07,500 --> 00:59:10,503
- and he's leading Lockheed's
- effort under Ben Rich,
- 1121
- 00:59:10,547 --> 00:59:12,549
- and he doesn't care
- about the aerodynamics,
- 1122
- 00:59:12,592 --> 00:59:14,115
- because he's a propulsion guy.
- 1123
- 00:59:14,159 --> 00:59:17,771
- First of all,
- we did the calculations.
- 1124
- 00:59:17,815 --> 00:59:22,994
- We built third-scale models,
- which we tested on radar ranges.
- 1125
- 00:59:23,037 --> 00:59:26,214
- It was made up of a whole bunch
- of flat plates,
- 1126
- 00:59:26,258 --> 00:59:28,129
- and the reason for that was that
- 1127
- 00:59:28,173 --> 00:59:32,046
- we did not have
- the technical capability
- 1128
- 00:59:32,090 --> 00:59:34,571
- to calculate
- the radar cross-section
- 1129
- 00:59:34,614 --> 00:59:36,964
- from curved surfaces
- at that time.
- 1130
- 00:59:37,008 --> 00:59:39,271
- Keep in mind this is why
- Kelly Johnson
- 1131
- 00:59:39,314 --> 00:59:44,624
- hated this approach
- that Ben Rich took.
- 1132
- 00:59:44,668 --> 00:59:47,192
- There aren't any airplanes
- out there that are made flat,
- 1133
- 00:59:47,235 --> 00:59:51,022
- because air doesn't like
- flying over corners, right?
- 1134
- 00:59:51,065 --> 00:59:53,285
- You want nice, smooth,
- rounded surfaces,
- 1135
- 00:59:53,328 --> 00:59:55,330
- and there wasn't
- a rounded surface
- 1136
- 00:59:55,374 --> 00:59:56,680
- anywhere on that airplane.
- 1137
- 00:59:56,723 --> 00:59:59,291
- He called it
- the Hopeless Diamond,
- 1138
- 00:59:59,334 --> 01:00:01,685
- and it was a way
- of sort of ridiculing
- 1139
- 01:00:01,728 --> 01:00:06,994
- this design that,
- to an aerodynamicist, is sinful.
- 1140
- 01:00:07,038 --> 01:00:08,866
- I think some people called it
- the Hopeless Diamond
- 1141
- 01:00:08,909 --> 01:00:10,998
- because they thought
- it was a hopeless effort.
- 1142
- 01:00:13,740 --> 01:00:16,656
- The shape of it was --
- It was actually a geometry
- 1143
- 01:00:16,700 --> 01:00:17,701
- problem pretty much.
- 1144
- 01:00:17,744 --> 01:00:19,354
- You wanted a, you know,
- 1145
- 01:00:19,398 --> 01:00:21,443
- angle of incidence
- and angle of reflection.
- 1146
- 01:00:21,487 --> 01:00:23,663
- If a radar hit
- comes in this way,
- 1147
- 01:00:23,707 --> 01:00:25,622
- it's going to bounce off,
- so what you want to do
- 1148
- 01:00:25,665 --> 01:00:28,276
- is control
- the way it bounces off
- 1149
- 01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:30,583
- so that the bounce
- doesn't go back to the guy
- 1150
- 01:00:30,627 --> 01:00:33,978
- that shined it on you
- in the first place.
- 1151
- 01:00:34,021 --> 01:00:35,414
- When the radar hits it, right,
- 1152
- 01:00:35,457 --> 01:00:37,764
- instead of bouncing
- right back to you,
- 1153
- 01:00:37,808 --> 01:00:40,767
- if I can curve it,
- I'm bouncing it here.
- 1154
- 01:00:40,811 --> 01:00:42,900
- That radar don't pick up
- the signal.
- 1155
- 01:00:42,943 --> 01:00:45,424
- So it's analogous
- to playing billiards.
- 1156
- 01:00:45,467 --> 01:00:47,644
- You hit one cushion,
- it goes to someplace else.
- 1157
- 01:00:50,124 --> 01:00:52,083
- Narrator: The first phase
- of the competition
- 1158
- 01:00:52,126 --> 01:00:53,693
- was to build a scale model
- 1159
- 01:00:53,737 --> 01:00:57,044
- to test its invisibility
- to radar.
- 1160
- 01:00:57,088 --> 01:00:59,960
- Ours was easily the best.
- 1161
- 01:01:00,004 --> 01:01:03,747
- But next, we had to build
- the actual plane.
- 1162
- 01:01:03,790 --> 01:01:06,575
- Could this Hopeless Diamond
- really fly?
- 1163
- 01:01:08,882 --> 01:01:11,580
- To find out,
- we needed to test it.
- 1164
- 01:01:11,624 --> 01:01:14,975
- We needed to go back to where
- we had our greatest success
- 1165
- 01:01:15,019 --> 01:01:17,891
- and our most guarded secrecy.
- 1166
- 01:01:17,935 --> 01:01:22,635
- We needed to go back to Area 51.
- 1167
- 01:01:28,119 --> 01:01:33,690
- ♪♪
- 1168
- 01:01:33,733 --> 01:01:36,780
- Narrator: At Area 51,
- Ben's Hopeless Diamond
- 1169
- 01:01:36,823 --> 01:01:39,434
- was going to be tested.
- 1170
- 01:01:39,478 --> 01:01:41,393
- We were going to find out
- 1171
- 01:01:41,436 --> 01:01:45,702
- if an airplane could really
- become invisible on radar,
- 1172
- 01:01:45,745 --> 01:01:50,141
- if it could be become
- completely stealth.
- 1173
- 01:01:50,184 --> 01:01:52,230
- The stakes were high.
- 1174
- 01:01:52,273 --> 01:01:54,275
- If the airplane
- showed up on radar,
- 1175
- 01:01:54,319 --> 01:01:56,582
- the project could be scrapped,
- 1176
- 01:01:56,625 --> 01:01:59,846
- but Ben and his team
- believed they could do it.
- 1177
- 01:01:59,890 --> 01:02:02,762
- I still had my doubts.
- 1178
- 01:02:02,806 --> 01:02:06,331
- You have to remember
- that Area 51 has not only
- 1179
- 01:02:06,374 --> 01:02:09,116
- the most interesting new,
- top-secret development
- 1180
- 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:12,772
- that the Air Forces
- are coming up with,
- 1181
- 01:02:12,816 --> 01:02:17,211
- but they also had
- the top radar people,
- 1182
- 01:02:17,255 --> 01:02:19,039
- so we were going to fly against
- 1183
- 01:02:19,083 --> 01:02:24,523
- the very best radar team
- in the country.
- 1184
- 01:02:24,566 --> 01:02:27,265
- So we said, "Okay,
- we'll make it easy for you.
- 1185
- 01:02:27,308 --> 01:02:30,137
- Tomorrow afternoon, at 3:00,
- 1186
- 01:02:30,181 --> 01:02:34,838
- we're going to come over
- that hill at 500 feet altitude.
- 1187
- 01:02:34,881 --> 01:02:36,665
- You won't even
- have to look for us.
- 1188
- 01:02:36,709 --> 01:02:38,885
- You'll be pointing
- in the right direction
- 1189
- 01:02:38,929 --> 01:02:41,714
- right at the beginning.
- Okay?"
- 1190
- 01:02:41,758 --> 01:02:43,324
- Off we go.
- 1191
- 01:02:43,368 --> 01:02:46,240
- ♪♪
- 1192
- 01:02:46,284 --> 01:02:50,201
- 3:00 comes and goes,
- and they said,
- 1193
- 01:02:50,244 --> 01:02:53,552
- "Oh, guess you missed
- your takeoff time."
- 1194
- 01:02:53,595 --> 01:02:56,120
- I said, "I don't think so."
- 1195
- 01:02:56,163 --> 01:02:58,687
- There's a guy
- looking through a telescope,
- 1196
- 01:02:58,731 --> 01:03:02,300
- which is run...
- parallel to the radar.
- 1197
- 01:03:02,343 --> 01:03:04,563
- Looking through his telescope,
- he said,
- 1198
- 01:03:04,606 --> 01:03:09,437
- "I just picked the airplane up.
- It's just 8 miles out."
- 1199
- 01:03:09,481 --> 01:03:11,875
- The radar guys immediately
- kicked their radar,
- 1200
- 01:03:11,918 --> 01:03:13,833
- assumed it wasn't
- working properly.
- 1201
- 01:03:16,183 --> 01:03:21,841
- We flew over the whole situation
- without being seen at all.
- 1202
- 01:03:21,885 --> 01:03:25,323
- As soon as that happened,
- immediately, the Air Force said,
- 1203
- 01:03:25,366 --> 01:03:30,067
- "Okay, we got to have
- a military version of this."
- 1204
- 01:03:30,110 --> 01:03:32,286
- Narrator:
- The damn thing worked.
- 1205
- 01:03:32,330 --> 01:03:34,071
- Didn't happen too often,
- 1206
- 01:03:34,114 --> 01:03:39,380
- but this time, I was wrong,
- and I told Ben as much.
- 1207
- 01:03:39,424 --> 01:03:41,643
- Trimble:
- Kelly was always quite stubborn
- 1208
- 01:03:41,687 --> 01:03:44,603
- and always quite insistent
- that he was right,
- 1209
- 01:03:44,646 --> 01:03:47,171
- and he would do
- these bets with people.
- 1210
- 01:03:47,214 --> 01:03:50,174
- He would bet them a quarter,
- and, you know,
- 1211
- 01:03:50,217 --> 01:03:53,481
- it was a really big deal
- if you won a bet against Kelly,
- 1212
- 01:03:53,525 --> 01:03:55,048
- because he would
- pay you the quarter.
- 1213
- 01:03:55,092 --> 01:03:57,616
- You know, he would admit
- that he was wrong,
- 1214
- 01:03:57,659 --> 01:04:00,271
- but it would just
- very rarely ever happen.
- 1215
- 01:04:00,314 --> 01:04:03,274
- And so he paid Ben Rich
- a quarter
- 1216
- 01:04:03,317 --> 01:04:06,886
- and admitted that he was wrong.
- 1217
- 01:04:06,930 --> 01:04:11,021
- Narrator:
- Our plane would be called
- the F-117 Nighthawk.
- 1218
- 01:04:11,064 --> 01:04:12,979
- The prototype
- got off the ground,
- 1219
- 01:04:13,023 --> 01:04:15,329
- but much work still remained.
- 1220
- 01:04:15,373 --> 01:04:19,507
- This would be the first
- completely stealth aircraft
- 1221
- 01:04:19,551 --> 01:04:21,596
- and also be
- the first jet fighter
- 1222
- 01:04:21,640 --> 01:04:25,949
- Skunk Works built
- in over 20 years.
- 1223
- 01:04:25,992 --> 01:04:33,565
- The 117 has a radar signature
- less than a BB on a radar.
- 1224
- 01:04:33,608 --> 01:04:36,481
- So you get anything over a BB,
- you'll pick it up.
- 1225
- 01:04:36,524 --> 01:04:37,874
- Let me give you an example.
- 1226
- 01:04:44,097 --> 01:04:46,491
- If I accthat would bet a nut
- ipicked up by radar.
- 1227
- 01:04:46,534 --> 01:04:47,927
- So, you're sitting there saying,
- 1228
- 01:04:47,971 --> 01:04:49,668
- "Wow. We're making
- all these airplanes.
- 1229
- 01:04:49,711 --> 01:04:52,845
- How do I know a manufacturing
- guy didn't drop a nut?"
- 1230
- 01:04:52,889 --> 01:04:56,109
- So that's the concern.
- 1231
- 01:04:56,153 --> 01:04:58,851
- Jacobsen: When the F-117
- Nighthawk came along,
- 1232
- 01:04:58,895 --> 01:05:00,374
- I mean, it was so secret
- 1233
- 01:05:00,418 --> 01:05:02,855
- and it was so important
- to keep it secret,
- 1234
- 01:05:02,899 --> 01:05:06,815
- they gave it its own test-flight
- facility out in Tonopah,
- 1235
- 01:05:06,859 --> 01:05:09,993
- which is on the far skirts
- of the Nevada test site,
- 1236
- 01:05:10,036 --> 01:05:14,562
- and it became known
- as Area 52.
- 1237
- 01:05:14,606 --> 01:05:18,566
- And they built a whole setup
- specifically for the F-117.
- 1238
- 01:05:18,610 --> 01:05:23,049
- ♪♪
- 1239
- 01:05:23,093 --> 01:05:25,617
- Feest: I was flying the F-15
- at Langley Air Force Base,
- 1240
- 01:05:25,660 --> 01:05:27,358
- and my squadron commander
- called me in
- 1241
- 01:05:27,401 --> 01:05:30,056
- and shut the door and said,
- "Hey, are you interested
- 1242
- 01:05:30,100 --> 01:05:34,321
- in going to fly
- at the 4450th test group?"
- 1243
- 01:05:34,365 --> 01:05:35,975
- None of us knew
- what was going on,
- 1244
- 01:05:36,019 --> 01:05:37,455
- but we knew
- there was something
- 1245
- 01:05:37,498 --> 01:05:40,240
- highly classified and different.
- 1246
- 01:05:40,284 --> 01:05:43,156
- I decided to go.
- 1247
- 01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:45,463
- After you've checked out,
- they put you in a room
- 1248
- 01:05:45,506 --> 01:05:47,291
- and they turn on a projector
- 1249
- 01:05:47,334 --> 01:05:51,208
- and they show you pictures
- of the F-117 for the first time.
- 1250
- 01:05:51,251 --> 01:05:54,733
- And, usually, the first comment
- is, "That thing flies?"
- 1251
- 01:05:54,776 --> 01:05:57,301
- Because it doesn't look
- very aerodynamic.
- 1252
- 01:05:59,738 --> 01:06:03,002
- Morgenfeld:
- First test flight was my
- first flight in the F-117.
- 1253
- 01:06:03,046 --> 01:06:06,266
- So, what scared me more
- than anything isn't so much
- 1254
- 01:06:06,310 --> 01:06:11,968
- that something could happen
- physically to hurt me.
- 1255
- 01:06:12,011 --> 01:06:14,753
- It's the fact that we work
- very hard on airplanes
- 1256
- 01:06:14,796 --> 01:06:17,190
- to eliminate
- single-point failures,
- 1257
- 01:06:17,234 --> 01:06:19,105
- and the airplanes
- are very redundant.
- 1258
- 01:06:19,149 --> 01:06:21,107
- And you walk out
- to the airplane --
- 1259
- 01:06:21,151 --> 01:06:22,804
- I am a single-point failure.
- 1260
- 01:06:22,848 --> 01:06:25,503
- If I goon it, I've ruined it
- for a lot of people,
- 1261
- 01:06:25,546 --> 01:06:28,549
- and it's very much
- a team effort.
- 1262
- 01:06:28,593 --> 01:06:31,248
- Brown:
- The idea of a pilot, you know,
- 1263
- 01:06:31,291 --> 01:06:36,731
- first flying an F-117
- was pretty scary to me.
- 1264
- 01:06:36,775 --> 01:06:38,951
- I mean, at 4:30 in the morning,
- 1265
- 01:06:38,995 --> 01:06:41,040
- they'd be stuck
- into the cockpit.
- 1266
- 01:06:41,084 --> 01:06:42,911
- They open the hangar doors.
- 1267
- 01:06:42,955 --> 01:06:47,046
- There are no lights
- anywhere on the airfield.
- 1268
- 01:06:47,090 --> 01:06:49,831
- And they tell the guy,
- "Okay, you taxi out there,
- 1269
- 01:06:49,875 --> 01:06:53,226
- turn right, 1/2 mile,
- you get to the main runway,
- 1270
- 01:06:53,270 --> 01:06:56,229
- turn right again, take off."
- 1271
- 01:06:56,273 --> 01:06:59,537
- So you're taking off
- on a runway in the dark.
- 1272
- 01:06:59,580 --> 01:07:02,540
- "Oh, by the way, don't worry
- about the control system.
- 1273
- 01:07:02,583 --> 01:07:05,847
- It's completely disconnected
- from all the controls.
- 1274
- 01:07:05,891 --> 01:07:07,632
- It just goes to a computer,
- 1275
- 01:07:07,675 --> 01:07:10,243
- and the computer operates
- the controls
- 1276
- 01:07:10,287 --> 01:07:13,029
- because the airplane's
- basically unstable.
- 1277
- 01:07:13,072 --> 01:07:14,900
- Good luck. You'll be fine."
- 1278
- 01:07:14,943 --> 01:07:18,164
- ♪♪
- 1279
- 01:07:18,208 --> 01:07:21,298
- Feest: You get acclimated
- to totally night-flying.
- 1280
- 01:07:21,341 --> 01:07:22,821
- We had flight surgeons
- and doctors
- 1281
- 01:07:22,864 --> 01:07:24,388
- that monitored what we did
- 1282
- 01:07:24,431 --> 01:07:27,434
- and decided that
- we had to do certain things
- 1283
- 01:07:27,478 --> 01:07:30,089
- to be able to fly at night
- and sleep during the day.
- 1284
- 01:07:30,133 --> 01:07:34,093
- So at Tonopah,
- we had room-darkening shades.
- 1285
- 01:07:34,137 --> 01:07:37,401
- They Velcroed black
- across our windows.
- 1286
- 01:07:37,444 --> 01:07:38,924
- So when we were in there
- during the day,
- 1287
- 01:07:38,967 --> 01:07:41,231
- you couldn't tell
- what time of day it was.
- 1288
- 01:07:41,274 --> 01:07:43,755
- They also had a rule
- that, at night,
- 1289
- 01:07:43,798 --> 01:07:45,800
- after flying,
- we had to be in our rooms
- 1290
- 01:07:45,844 --> 01:07:48,281
- before the sun came up,
- because the doctors said,
- 1291
- 01:07:48,325 --> 01:07:50,327
- "If the sun came up,
- your mind would go,
- 1292
- 01:07:50,370 --> 01:07:52,111
- 'Oh, something's wrong here.'"
- 1293
- 01:07:52,155 --> 01:07:54,287
- All of us are
- daytime creatures.
- 1294
- 01:07:54,331 --> 01:07:57,812
- We don't usually live
- in the black world.
- 1295
- 01:07:57,856 --> 01:08:01,120
- When you consider
- that there were something
- 1296
- 01:08:01,164 --> 01:08:06,560
- like 10,000 people
- that worked on the F-117
- 1297
- 01:08:06,604 --> 01:08:12,218
- and they all kept
- this secret for 21 years,
- 1298
- 01:08:12,262 --> 01:08:18,094
- that's a remarkable piece
- of American history.
- 1299
- 01:08:18,137 --> 01:08:22,446
- On August 6th, in response to
- the unprovoked Iraqi invasion
- 1300
- 01:08:22,489 --> 01:08:24,361
- of Kuwait,
- I ordered the deployment
- 1301
- 01:08:24,404 --> 01:08:28,495
- of U.S. military forces to Saudi
- Arabia and the Persian Gulf.
- 1302
- 01:08:28,539 --> 01:08:31,803
- Iraq's brutality, aggression,
- 1303
- 01:08:31,846 --> 01:08:34,675
- and violations
- of international law
- 1304
- 01:08:34,719 --> 01:08:37,722
- cannot be allowed to succeed.
- 1305
- 01:08:37,765 --> 01:08:43,162
- President Bush made the decision
- to deploy 42 F-117s
- 1306
- 01:08:43,206 --> 01:08:47,775
- from Tonopah, Nevada,
- to Saudi Arabia.
- 1307
- 01:08:50,387 --> 01:08:54,086
- I'd been briefed on the F-117
- for a number of years,
- 1308
- 01:08:54,130 --> 01:08:55,305
- and when it was deployed,
- 1309
- 01:08:55,348 --> 01:08:56,654
- you just had
- this sick feeling
- 1310
- 01:08:56,697 --> 01:08:58,177
- it was actually
- going to be used,
- 1311
- 01:08:58,221 --> 01:09:01,267
- that you're going to go to war.
- 1312
- 01:09:01,311 --> 01:09:03,443
- Mullins: A good friend of mine,
- Al Whitley,
- 1313
- 01:09:03,487 --> 01:09:06,185
- who was full colonel --
- 1314
- 01:09:06,229 --> 01:09:09,188
- On the first night of the war,
- 1315
- 01:09:09,232 --> 01:09:10,842
- Whitley and one
- of his young pilots
- 1316
- 01:09:10,885 --> 01:09:12,539
- were walking out to get
- in their airplanes.
- 1317
- 01:09:12,583 --> 01:09:14,759
- They were both going to Baghdad.
- 1318
- 01:09:14,802 --> 01:09:18,850
- The pilot said to Whitley,
- "I hope this [bleep] works."
- 1319
- 01:09:26,423 --> 01:09:34,387
- ♪♪
- 1320
- 01:09:34,431 --> 01:09:37,695
- Narrator:
- I had been convinced that
- stealth was the technology
- 1321
- 01:09:37,738 --> 01:09:42,221
- that will change the character
- of aerial warfare.
- 1322
- 01:09:42,265 --> 01:09:45,529
- If the enemy can't see
- the aircraft with radar,
- 1323
- 01:09:45,572 --> 01:09:47,966
- he can't hit it.
- 1324
- 01:09:48,009 --> 01:09:52,579
- The role of the 117
- in the Gulf War
- 1325
- 01:09:52,623 --> 01:09:56,844
- was to wipe out the whole
- command-and-control system
- 1326
- 01:09:56,888 --> 01:10:01,153
- of Iraq,
- flying night missions.
- 1327
- 01:10:01,197 --> 01:10:06,071
- The design of the F-117
- was to be the first ones in.
- 1328
- 01:10:08,160 --> 01:10:11,946
- We were told what the F-117
- radar cross-section was,
- 1329
- 01:10:11,990 --> 01:10:14,514
- how it would perform,
- 1330
- 01:10:14,558 --> 01:10:18,301
- so we had to trust
- the engineers to Skunk Works.
- 1331
- 01:10:18,344 --> 01:10:21,826
- But I can tell you, flying
- the first night of Desert Storm,
- 1332
- 01:10:21,869 --> 01:10:23,654
- we're not sure, as pilots,
- 1333
- 01:10:23,697 --> 01:10:28,441
- whether or not the stealth
- technology's going to work.
- 1334
- 01:10:28,485 --> 01:10:36,014
- On the first night of the war,
- well, I felt an --
- 1335
- 01:10:36,057 --> 01:10:38,669
- Every time I think about this,
- 1336
- 01:10:38,712 --> 01:10:42,847
- I felt an emotional attachment
- to these guys.
- 1337
- 01:10:42,890 --> 01:10:47,025
- This was their first-ever
- combat mission -- ever.
- 1338
- 01:10:47,068 --> 01:10:49,419
- [ Breathing shakily ]
- 1339
- 01:10:51,508 --> 01:10:55,425
- I used to go spend nights
- with them at Tonopah,
- 1340
- 01:10:55,468 --> 01:11:01,300
- so I knew these people
- and had become personal friends.
- 1341
- 01:11:01,344 --> 01:11:09,395
- ♪♪
- 1342
- 01:11:09,439 --> 01:11:14,095
- We promised them a lot,
- and we'd never proved it.
- 1343
- 01:11:14,139 --> 01:11:15,923
- It's one thing to test
- an airplane on a range
- 1344
- 01:11:15,967 --> 01:11:17,534
- where you measure this stuff.
- 1345
- 01:11:17,577 --> 01:11:19,840
- It's another thing to go
- to Baghdad at night.
- 1346
- 01:11:19,884 --> 01:11:24,323
- ♪♪
- 1347
- 01:11:24,367 --> 01:11:26,151
- Feest:
- The first night of Desert Storm,
- 1348
- 01:11:26,194 --> 01:11:30,068
- I was chosen to lead
- the first attack.
- 1349
- 01:11:30,111 --> 01:11:32,505
- It was 1,000 miles
- from our base to Baghdad,
- 1350
- 01:11:32,549 --> 01:11:36,204
- so these were long missions.
- 1351
- 01:11:36,248 --> 01:11:38,685
- We took off that night
- the way we practiced --
- 1352
- 01:11:38,729 --> 01:11:40,774
- no lights on the airplanes.
- 1353
- 01:11:40,818 --> 01:11:43,168
- We found our tankers.
- 1354
- 01:11:43,211 --> 01:11:47,215
- ♪♪
- 1355
- 01:11:47,259 --> 01:11:50,741
- We would top off with fuel
- and, at a designated time,
- 1356
- 01:11:50,784 --> 01:11:54,484
- stealth up our aircraft,
- bringing in the antennas
- 1357
- 01:11:54,527 --> 01:11:58,009
- so that you could no longer
- talk to anybody or hear anybody.
- 1358
- 01:11:58,052 --> 01:12:02,274
- Once we did that, we're gone.
- 1359
- 01:12:02,318 --> 01:12:05,321
- I had the first target,
- so my only goal right now
- 1360
- 01:12:05,364 --> 01:12:07,888
- was to find that target
- and hit it at the time
- 1361
- 01:12:07,932 --> 01:12:10,326
- they wanted me to hit it.
- 1362
- 01:12:10,369 --> 01:12:11,979
- I found the target.
- 1363
- 01:12:14,286 --> 01:12:16,984
- The weapons-bay doors
- automatically open.
- 1364
- 01:12:17,028 --> 01:12:20,031
- I pickle off the bomb.
- 1365
- 01:12:20,074 --> 01:12:22,512
- The doors slam shut.
- 1366
- 01:12:22,555 --> 01:12:25,036
- [ Explosion ]
- 1367
- 01:12:25,079 --> 01:12:30,171
- ♪♪
- 1368
- 01:12:30,215 --> 01:12:32,217
- I looked back
- over my left shoulder,
- 1369
- 01:12:32,260 --> 01:12:34,437
- and when I looked back,
- 1370
- 01:12:34,480 --> 01:12:38,223
- I always described it as looking
- at a giant fireworks display.
- 1371
- 01:12:38,266 --> 01:12:41,748
- ♪♪
- 1372
- 01:12:41,792 --> 01:12:44,098
- This was anti-aircraft
- artillery.
- 1373
- 01:12:44,142 --> 01:12:47,363
- I noticed it was coming at me,
- so I thought,
- 1374
- 01:12:47,406 --> 01:12:49,365
- "I'm getting out of here
- as fast as I can."
- 1375
- 01:12:49,408 --> 01:12:53,934
- ♪♪
- 1376
- 01:12:53,978 --> 01:12:56,197
- Man: We have to go to Baghdad.
- We're going to Bernard Shaw.
- 1377
- 01:12:56,241 --> 01:12:58,635
- Shaw:
- Something is happening outside.
- 1378
- 01:12:58,678 --> 01:13:01,115
- People are shooting
- towards the sky,
- 1379
- 01:13:01,159 --> 01:13:04,989
- and they are not aware or cannot
- see what they're shooting at.
- 1380
- 01:13:05,032 --> 01:13:07,731
- This is extraordinary.
- 1381
- 01:13:07,774 --> 01:13:09,428
- We're being told
- to get off this platform
- 1382
- 01:13:09,472 --> 01:13:12,039
- and get inside
- into the air-raid sh--
- 1383
- 01:13:12,083 --> 01:13:15,608
- Holliman:
- We still have seen no signs
- of any airplanes coming in here.
- 1384
- 01:13:15,652 --> 01:13:20,787
- All we're seeing is the
- Iraqi response from the ground.
- 1385
- 01:13:20,831 --> 01:13:23,399
- I have a statement by the
- President of the United States.
- 1386
- 01:13:23,442 --> 01:13:26,663
- The liberation of Kuwait
- has begun.
- 1387
- 01:13:26,706 --> 01:13:31,407
- When they broke in and said that
- the first attacks had happened,
- 1388
- 01:13:31,450 --> 01:13:36,542
- I knew that the Skunk Works jets
- were in doing their job.
- 1389
- 01:13:36,586 --> 01:13:38,762
- Just prayed that everybody
- made it home safe.
- 1390
- 01:13:38,805 --> 01:13:42,287
- Five months ago, Saddam Hussein
- started this cruel war
- 1391
- 01:13:42,330 --> 01:13:43,941
- against Kuwait.
- 1392
- 01:13:43,984 --> 01:13:47,640
- Tonight, the battle
- has been joined.
- 1393
- 01:13:47,684 --> 01:13:50,600
- The U.S. air strike was almost
- certainly designed to begin
- 1394
- 01:13:50,643 --> 01:13:53,385
- with these stealth fighters.
- 1395
- 01:13:53,429 --> 01:13:55,474
- Feest:
- The sky over Baghdad was lit up.
- 1396
- 01:13:55,518 --> 01:13:57,215
- I thought about the guys
- that were flying with me
- 1397
- 01:13:57,258 --> 01:13:58,956
- that night and I thought,
- 1398
- 01:13:58,999 --> 01:14:02,699
- "Those going into Baghdad
- are going to have it tough."
- 1399
- 01:14:02,742 --> 01:14:04,570
- Cappucio: The pilots on the 117
- were very dicey.
- 1400
- 01:14:04,614 --> 01:14:08,008
- "Are they shooting at me?
- We know they're shooting."
- 1401
- 01:14:08,052 --> 01:14:12,622
- The question gets to be,
- "Why is the pattern so erratic?"
- 1402
- 01:14:12,665 --> 01:14:17,496
- Baghdad air defenses could not
- see that aircraft coming.
- 1403
- 01:14:17,540 --> 01:14:19,411
- Why? Because it was stealth.
- 1404
- 01:14:19,455 --> 01:14:22,806
- ♪♪
- 1405
- 01:14:22,849 --> 01:14:25,722
- All hell has broken loose
- because they are just firing
- 1406
- 01:14:25,765 --> 01:14:29,508
- stuff up in the air
- pretty much regardless,
- 1407
- 01:14:29,552 --> 01:14:33,643
- you know,
- not knowing where anybody is.
- 1408
- 01:14:33,686 --> 01:14:36,689
- The only way they knew the 117s
- were overhead
- 1409
- 01:14:36,733 --> 01:14:38,474
- was things started blowing up.
- 1410
- 01:14:38,517 --> 01:14:43,348
- ♪♪
- 1411
- 01:14:43,391 --> 01:14:46,482
- It was a harrowing experience,
- and I thought it was unique
- 1412
- 01:14:46,525 --> 01:14:48,396
- that I was able
- to make it through there.
- 1413
- 01:14:48,440 --> 01:14:50,834
- And now I snapped
- the aircraft back
- 1414
- 01:14:50,877 --> 01:14:53,532
- to head back to Saudi Arabia.
- 1415
- 01:14:53,576 --> 01:14:57,057
- I had a list of all 12 pilots
- flying in that first go,
- 1416
- 01:14:57,101 --> 01:15:00,147
- and I wanted to hear them
- all check in.
- 1417
- 01:15:00,191 --> 01:15:02,541
- I checked in my wingman,
- and he answered.
- 1418
- 01:15:02,585 --> 01:15:04,064
- And then as we rejoined,
- 1419
- 01:15:04,108 --> 01:15:05,979
- I heard other pilots
- checking in,
- 1420
- 01:15:06,023 --> 01:15:09,592
- and I checked off the names
- as their call signs were read.
- 1421
- 01:15:09,635 --> 01:15:11,594
- And right before approaching
- my tanker,
- 1422
- 01:15:11,637 --> 01:15:14,292
- I looked down and I had a check
- mark next to every call sign,
- 1423
- 01:15:14,335 --> 01:15:17,121
- so I knew everybody was
- coming home that first night.
- 1424
- 01:15:17,164 --> 01:15:19,515
- Our 12 aircraft came back.
- 1425
- 01:15:19,558 --> 01:15:24,128
- There was not one single thing
- wrong with any of those planes.
- 1426
- 01:15:24,171 --> 01:15:27,348
- We all realized,
- "This stealth technology works."
- 1427
- 01:15:27,392 --> 01:15:32,702
- ♪♪
- 1428
- 01:15:32,745 --> 01:15:36,575
- The F-117 made up
- approximately 2.5%
- 1429
- 01:15:36,619 --> 01:15:39,535
- of the total Allied Air Force
- that was there,
- 1430
- 01:15:39,578 --> 01:15:41,537
- and they would wind up
- taking out about 40%
- 1431
- 01:15:41,580 --> 01:15:44,801
- of the high-value targets.
- 1432
- 01:15:44,844 --> 01:15:48,369
- Their value can't be overstated.
- 1433
- 01:15:48,413 --> 01:15:50,937
- Feest: We flew 1,271 sorties
- in Desert Storm
- 1434
- 01:15:50,981 --> 01:15:54,158
- and never got touched
- by anything.
- 1435
- 01:15:54,201 --> 01:15:57,727
- Statistically, nobody had ever
- seen anything like this before.
- 1436
- 01:15:57,770 --> 01:16:02,601
- The F-117 was a really
- major factor
- 1437
- 01:16:02,645 --> 01:16:05,212
- in the success
- in the First Gulf War.
- 1438
- 01:16:07,432 --> 01:16:11,828
- The accuracy was
- just unprecedented.
- 1439
- 01:16:11,871 --> 01:16:16,484
- The airplane did exactly
- what it was supposed to do.
- 1440
- 01:16:16,528 --> 01:16:19,836
- Bush: Six weeks since the start
- of Operation Desert Storm,
- 1441
- 01:16:19,879 --> 01:16:22,969
- our military objectives are met.
- 1442
- 01:16:23,013 --> 01:16:25,232
- Kuwait is liberated.
- 1443
- 01:16:25,276 --> 01:16:27,147
- Iraq's army is defeated.
- 1444
- 01:16:27,191 --> 01:16:30,847
- ♪♪
- 1445
- 01:16:30,890 --> 01:16:33,806
- Feest:
- The 117 had proved its worth
- to the American public,
- 1446
- 01:16:33,850 --> 01:16:35,634
- and after we got home,
- 1447
- 01:16:35,678 --> 01:16:37,114
- one of the stories
- we all would tell
- 1448
- 01:16:37,157 --> 01:16:42,162
- is how this aircraft
- saved our lives.
- 1449
- 01:16:42,206 --> 01:16:44,861
- We all came home
- because of the engineers.
- 1450
- 01:16:44,904 --> 01:16:48,734
- The engineers that built
- this aircraft built it right.
- 1451
- 01:16:48,778 --> 01:16:51,345
- Brown: With anything
- that you do like that,
- 1452
- 01:16:51,389 --> 01:16:53,521
- you always have it
- at the back of your mind,
- 1453
- 01:16:53,565 --> 01:16:55,480
- you know,
- did you think of everything?
- 1454
- 01:16:55,523 --> 01:16:58,962
- And we were
- very pleasantly surprised
- 1455
- 01:16:59,005 --> 01:17:01,138
- that we didn't have
- a single casualty
- 1456
- 01:17:01,181 --> 01:17:04,663
- in either of the Gulf Wars.
- 1457
- 01:17:04,707 --> 01:17:06,578
- You know, you put that much
- of your heart and soul
- 1458
- 01:17:06,622 --> 01:17:09,450
- and time away from your family
- and everything into something,
- 1459
- 01:17:09,494 --> 01:17:11,888
- it's kind of heartwarming
- to see it come to fruition
- 1460
- 01:17:11,931 --> 01:17:16,675
- and that everything you'd done
- had a good ending to it.
- 1461
- 01:17:16,719 --> 01:17:19,591
- Mullins: The bottom line is --
- it changed the nature
- 1462
- 01:17:19,635 --> 01:17:23,943
- of military combat aircraft
- permanently.
- 1463
- 01:17:23,987 --> 01:17:27,599
- Stealth was the most important
- technological change
- 1464
- 01:17:27,643 --> 01:17:30,297
- in military combat aircraft
- 1465
- 01:17:30,341 --> 01:17:32,604
- since the introduction
- of the jet engine.
- 1466
- 01:17:32,648 --> 01:17:35,520
- ♪♪
- 1467
- 01:17:35,563 --> 01:17:37,827
- Jacobsen:
- Before stealth technology,
- 1468
- 01:17:37,870 --> 01:17:40,568
- war planners
- used to think about,
- 1469
- 01:17:40,612 --> 01:17:43,746
- "How many aircraft do we need
- 1470
- 01:17:43,789 --> 01:17:47,575
- to take out
- a certain enemy facility?"
- 1471
- 01:17:47,619 --> 01:17:51,971
- After stealth, it was,
- "How many facilities do we want
- 1472
- 01:17:52,015 --> 01:17:55,409
- to take out
- with a single aircraft?"
- 1473
- 01:17:55,453 --> 01:17:58,804
- Narrator:
- It proved again our axiom.
- 1474
- 01:17:58,848 --> 01:18:01,894
- If you have a good man
- and let him go,
- 1475
- 01:18:01,938 --> 01:18:05,768
- he'll really perform.
- 1476
- 01:18:05,811 --> 01:18:09,597
- My own life
- has come full circle,
- 1477
- 01:18:09,641 --> 01:18:12,949
- but if God should
- call me tonight,
- 1478
- 01:18:12,992 --> 01:18:16,082
- I will have had more
- than my share of it all.
- 1479
- 01:18:22,959 --> 01:18:28,312
- ♪♪
- 1480
- 01:18:28,355 --> 01:18:31,576
- In the '90s, because of
- the evident success
- 1481
- 01:18:31,619 --> 01:18:33,534
- of stealth aircraft
- in the Gulf War,
- 1482
- 01:18:33,578 --> 01:18:36,363
- the Skunk Works really
- became famous in a sense.
- 1483
- 01:18:36,407 --> 01:18:37,800
- People started asking, you know,
- 1484
- 01:18:37,843 --> 01:18:39,323
- "Where did these airplanes
- come from?"
- 1485
- 01:18:39,366 --> 01:18:41,978
- And then, you know,
- the Skunk Works was it.
- 1486
- 01:18:42,021 --> 01:18:45,459
- Then Ben Rich publishes a book
- about the development of stealth
- 1487
- 01:18:45,503 --> 01:18:49,725
- and a longer history
- of the Skunk Works.
- 1488
- 01:18:49,768 --> 01:18:53,293
- And the book is a real gift
- to our family,
- 1489
- 01:18:53,337 --> 01:18:56,470
- because I learned a lot
- about his career.
- 1490
- 01:18:56,514 --> 01:18:58,081
- We knew he was an engineer,
- 1491
- 01:18:58,124 --> 01:19:00,170
- and we knew
- he worked for Lockheed.
- 1492
- 01:19:00,213 --> 01:19:01,606
- That was, you know --
- 1493
- 01:19:01,649 --> 01:19:05,262
- But details, you know,
- I did not know.
- 1494
- 01:19:05,305 --> 01:19:07,394
- And my sister --
- I remember her looking at me
- 1495
- 01:19:07,438 --> 01:19:09,875
- and saying, you know,
- "Dad worked on that?"
- 1496
- 01:19:09,919 --> 01:19:13,313
- ♪♪
- 1497
- 01:19:13,357 --> 01:19:15,359
- Westwick:
- And this book was a best-seller,
- 1498
- 01:19:15,402 --> 01:19:17,361
- and Skunk Works becomes
- kind of a buzzword
- 1499
- 01:19:17,404 --> 01:19:19,406
- in corporate-management circles,
- 1500
- 01:19:19,450 --> 01:19:21,626
- and every company has to go out
- and form their own Skunk Works,
- 1501
- 01:19:21,669 --> 01:19:23,193
- which is where you do
- these kind of secret,
- 1502
- 01:19:23,236 --> 01:19:25,630
- you know,
- cutting-edge projects.
- 1503
- 01:19:25,673 --> 01:19:30,461
- Other aerospace companies have
- their equivalent of Skunk Works.
- 1504
- 01:19:30,504 --> 01:19:32,376
- Westwick:
- Boeing has its Phantom Works,
- 1505
- 01:19:32,419 --> 01:19:35,509
- which is basically
- a Skunk Works knock-off.
- 1506
- 01:19:35,553 --> 01:19:41,428
- But they don't have 75 years
- of lessons learned
- 1507
- 01:19:41,472 --> 01:19:47,608
- and the continuous record
- of technological breakthroughs.
- 1508
- 01:19:47,652 --> 01:19:50,394
- A lot of the future technologies
- 1509
- 01:19:50,437 --> 01:19:53,527
- are being worked on
- by the Skunk Works right now.
- 1510
- 01:19:56,574 --> 01:19:58,619
- Crawford: They're constantly
- working on other things
- 1511
- 01:19:58,663 --> 01:20:00,099
- that have other missions.
- 1512
- 01:20:00,143 --> 01:20:01,448
- You just don't know about it.
- 1513
- 01:20:01,492 --> 01:20:04,364
- You have no need to know.
- 1514
- 01:20:04,408 --> 01:20:06,497
- Romig: People used to ask me
- all the time,
- 1515
- 01:20:06,540 --> 01:20:08,455
- "What's Skunk Works working on?"
- And I would --
- 1516
- 01:20:08,499 --> 01:20:10,806
- I kind of stopped
- once we got to the F-117,
- 1517
- 01:20:10,849 --> 01:20:13,460
- and people would say,
- "What are you doing now?
- Oh, you're doing nothing."
- 1518
- 01:20:13,504 --> 01:20:15,549
- And the answer is,
- "Of course we're doing a lot.
- 1519
- 01:20:15,593 --> 01:20:17,769
- Ask me in 25 years. I'll
- tell you what we were doing."
- 1520
- 01:20:17,813 --> 01:20:22,426
- ♪♪
- 1521
- 01:20:22,469 --> 01:20:25,342
- Jacobsen: What is known to
- the public about Skunk Works
- 1522
- 01:20:25,385 --> 01:20:30,695
- is maybe 10% of the actual work
- 1523
- 01:20:30,738 --> 01:20:34,133
- that Skunk Works
- has done so far.
- 1524
- 01:20:34,177 --> 01:20:36,875
- But there's also another thing
- that I found
- 1525
- 01:20:36,919 --> 01:20:41,097
- so interesting
- learning about the Skunk Works.
- 1526
- 01:20:41,140 --> 01:20:43,882
- The U-2 is still flying today.
- 1527
- 01:20:43,926 --> 01:20:47,146
- So when you think about that,
- it's remarkable.
- 1528
- 01:20:47,190 --> 01:20:49,888
- It's never been retired.
- 1529
- 01:20:49,932 --> 01:20:51,847
- There's been an effort
- to develop
- 1530
- 01:20:51,890 --> 01:20:54,240
- an unmanned aerial vehicle
- called the Global Hawk
- 1531
- 01:20:54,284 --> 01:20:57,113
- and others that could
- actually replace the U-2,
- 1532
- 01:20:57,156 --> 01:20:59,942
- but each time
- it's about to be retired
- 1533
- 01:20:59,985 --> 01:21:01,552
- and finally put to rest,
- 1534
- 01:21:01,595 --> 01:21:04,424
- if you will,
- there's a recognition
- 1535
- 01:21:04,468 --> 01:21:09,603
- that what it provides is
- still uniquely worth preserving.
- 1536
- 01:21:09,647 --> 01:21:13,694
- In Iraq and in Afghanistan,
- there were some specific battles
- 1537
- 01:21:13,738 --> 01:21:16,175
- in which the U-2
- was very, very useful, again,
- 1538
- 01:21:16,219 --> 01:21:19,483
- because of the precision
- of its optics
- 1539
- 01:21:19,526 --> 01:21:23,966
- and the resolution
- of the cameras.
- 1540
- 01:21:24,009 --> 01:21:26,577
- It is still very, very useful.
- 1541
- 01:21:26,620 --> 01:21:34,585
- ♪♪
- 1542
- 01:21:34,628 --> 01:21:37,893
- Justice:
- For me, it was the place to work
- because of the legacy
- 1543
- 01:21:37,936 --> 01:21:41,592
- with these incredible
- flying machines.
- 1544
- 01:21:41,635 --> 01:21:43,507
- The Skunk Works
- created airplanes
- 1545
- 01:21:43,550 --> 01:21:47,467
- that changed world history.
- 1546
- 01:21:47,511 --> 01:21:49,948
- What makes the Blackbird
- special to me is --
- 1547
- 01:21:49,992 --> 01:21:56,433
- it is this piece of sculpture
- that is sinister-looking,
- 1548
- 01:21:56,476 --> 01:22:01,307
- it is purposeful-looking,
- and it draws out an emotion.
- 1549
- 01:22:01,351 --> 01:22:05,442
- For me, it's a blend
- of excitement and pride
- 1550
- 01:22:05,485 --> 01:22:09,098
- and awe that such a machine
- even exists.
- 1551
- 01:22:12,057 --> 01:22:13,754
- Carpenter: Kelly Johnson --
- he always considered
- 1552
- 01:22:13,798 --> 01:22:15,626
- the SR his greatest achievement
- 1553
- 01:22:15,669 --> 01:22:18,107
- of all the airplanes
- that he had developed,
- 1554
- 01:22:18,150 --> 01:22:21,458
- starting in the '30s
- until he retired.
- 1555
- 01:22:21,501 --> 01:22:24,243
- Trimble:
- The retirement of the SR-71
- 1556
- 01:22:24,287 --> 01:22:27,333
- took place just a few months
- before he died.
- 1557
- 01:22:27,377 --> 01:22:29,596
- The Air Force, to sort of say
- "thank you"
- 1558
- 01:22:29,640 --> 01:22:32,121
- to the people
- of the Skunk Works,
- 1559
- 01:22:32,164 --> 01:22:34,427
- took one
- of the remaining aircraft
- 1560
- 01:22:34,471 --> 01:22:37,387
- and did a flyby
- over the runway at Burbank.
- 1561
- 01:22:37,430 --> 01:22:39,780
- ♪♪
- 1562
- 01:22:39,824 --> 01:22:42,827
- Law:
- And I know that Ben had gone
- to a hospital to get Kelly,
- 1563
- 01:22:42,870 --> 01:22:47,223
- and Ben said he really
- didn't talk very much.
- 1564
- 01:22:47,266 --> 01:22:49,616
- Trimble: Ben Rich
- picked up Kelly in a car
- 1565
- 01:22:49,660 --> 01:22:55,448
- and drove him out to the runway
- at Burbank to see the SR-71.
- 1566
- 01:22:55,492 --> 01:22:57,146
- They kept the windows up.
- 1567
- 01:22:57,189 --> 01:22:59,017
- They didn't let the employees
- come to see him,
- 1568
- 01:22:59,061 --> 01:23:02,847
- because they knew he may not
- even know who they were.
- 1569
- 01:23:02,890 --> 01:23:05,415
- There was some level of dementia
- that he lived with
- 1570
- 01:23:05,458 --> 01:23:08,940
- that got worse
- and worse and worse.
- 1571
- 01:23:08,984 --> 01:23:12,857
- But then, when he heard
- those engines of the SR-71,
- 1572
- 01:23:12,900 --> 01:23:14,685
- he responded.
- 1573
- 01:23:14,728 --> 01:23:20,821
- ♪♪
- 1574
- 01:23:20,865 --> 01:23:22,693
- And, all of a sudden,
- he came alive.
- 1575
- 01:23:25,087 --> 01:23:28,177
- He knew something special
- was happening.
- 1576
- 01:23:28,220 --> 01:23:37,142
- ♪♪
- 1577
- 01:23:37,186 --> 01:23:46,238
- ♪♪
- 1578
- 01:23:46,282 --> 01:23:48,936
- Then it wasn't too long
- after that he died.
- 1579
- 01:23:51,026 --> 01:23:53,941
- Beard: Aircraft designer
- Clarence "Kelly" Johnson died
- 1580
- 01:23:53,985 --> 01:23:56,509
- today at the age of 80
- after a long illness.
- 1581
- 01:23:56,553 --> 01:23:59,382
- Johnson helped to design
- more than 40 advanced aircraft
- 1582
- 01:23:59,425 --> 01:24:00,905
- during his long career
- at Lockheed.
- 1583
- 01:24:00,948 --> 01:24:02,994
- He organized Lockheed's
- Skunk Works unit
- 1584
- 01:24:03,038 --> 01:24:05,779
- and worked on
- the SR-71 Blackbird, the U-2,
- 1585
- 01:24:05,823 --> 01:24:07,868
- and the F-104 Starfighter.
- 1586
- 01:24:07,912 --> 01:24:09,348
- During his long career
- in aviation,
- 1587
- 01:24:09,392 --> 01:24:11,785
- Johnson received
- three presidential citations,
- 1588
- 01:24:11,829 --> 01:24:15,137
- including the Medal of Freedom.
- 1589
- 01:24:15,180 --> 01:24:18,879
- Carpenter:
- I equated the time I was able
- to spend with Kelly Johnson
- 1590
- 01:24:18,923 --> 01:24:21,882
- equivalent to the privilege of
- being able to fly the airplane
- 1591
- 01:24:21,926 --> 01:24:26,409
- because he was such a giant
- in his industry.
- 1592
- 01:24:26,452 --> 01:24:29,673
- He was the Leonardo da Vinci
- of aviation.
- 1593
- 01:24:29,716 --> 01:24:32,110
- His designs -- so unique.
- 1594
- 01:24:32,154 --> 01:24:35,331
- The guy's a genius.
- 1595
- 01:24:35,374 --> 01:24:39,422
- He combined really extraordinary
- technical knowledge
- 1596
- 01:24:39,465 --> 01:24:42,860
- with equally extraordinary
- leadership capacity.
- 1597
- 01:24:42,903 --> 01:24:44,601
- Kelly Johnson never,
- in a sense,
- 1598
- 01:24:44,644 --> 01:24:47,169
- got the credit
- that he was certainly due
- 1599
- 01:24:47,212 --> 01:24:50,389
- because of the covert nature
- of what was being done,
- 1600
- 01:24:50,433 --> 01:24:53,262
- but was not one, I don't think,
- who cared about that.
- 1601
- 01:24:53,305 --> 01:24:56,134
- He was devoted to, as we say,
- 1602
- 01:24:56,178 --> 01:25:00,138
- a mission larger than self
- that was of enormous importance,
- 1603
- 01:25:00,182 --> 01:25:02,706
- and he and his team
- performed near-miracles
- 1604
- 01:25:02,749 --> 01:25:04,490
- with cutting-edge work.
- 1605
- 01:25:06,884 --> 01:25:09,104
- Narrator:
- To do something spectacular
- 1606
- 01:25:09,147 --> 01:25:11,367
- required unconventional methods.
- 1607
- 01:25:13,412 --> 01:25:15,632
- It is amazing
- what can be accomplished
- 1608
- 01:25:15,675 --> 01:25:18,113
- when no one cares
- who gets the credit.
- 1609
- 01:25:20,376 --> 01:25:24,380
- You do what's right by
- sticking to your convictions,
- 1610
- 01:25:24,423 --> 01:25:26,251
- and you'll do okay.
- 1611
- 01:25:26,295 --> 01:25:31,778
- ♪♪
- 1612
- 01:25:31,822 --> 01:25:37,436
- ♪♪
- 1613
- 01:25:37,480 --> 01:25:40,004
- Like a lot of 12-year-old kids
- in the 1920s,
- 1614
- 01:25:40,047 --> 01:25:43,529
- Clarence "Kelly" Johnson liked
- drawing pictures of airplanes.
- 1615
- 01:25:43,573 --> 01:25:46,706
- Unlike those kids, Kelly Johnson
- never stopped drawing planes.
- 1616
- 01:25:46,750 --> 01:25:48,621
- I think it'd be
- a long, long time
- 1617
- 01:25:48,665 --> 01:25:50,188
- before we have an airplane
- 1618
- 01:25:50,232 --> 01:25:54,714
- that has higher performance
- than the SR-71.
- 1619
- 01:25:54,758 --> 01:25:58,196
- So we may be seeing, here, the
- highest-speed military airplane
- 1620
- 01:25:58,240 --> 01:26:02,244
- that there will be around
- for a long time.
- 1621
- 01:26:02,287 --> 01:26:04,289
- This is Dennis Quaid
- with "An American Portrait."
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