Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

by Leo Janos

The bid contained specific design and performance requirements for a fighter that weighed 17,000 pounds, carried 5,000 pounds of fuel, had a 275-square-foot wing, and a specific excess power rate. I was ready to put my design team on it and give the Air Force exactly what they asked for, but Kelly had other ideas. “Goddam it, Ben, this airplane isn’t carrying enough fuel. A fighter on afterburner uses a thousand pounds a minute, and every fighter that carried only five thousand pounds in Vietnam combat ran out in tough spots and the pilot wound up as a guest at the Hanoi Hilton. This is unacceptable. I won’t submit a proposal for something this wrong.” I pleaded with Kelly to go along. I said, “Give the Air Force what they ask for initially, and as the procurement process unfolds all kinds of changes and modifications will follow. That always happens; you know that. But if you cut us off before we even get up to the plate, there’s no way we can score.” He got sore. “Ben, if I teach you anything, it’s this: don’t build an airplane you don’t believe in. Don’t prostitute yourself for bucks.” In the end, he allowed us to submit his version of what he thought the Air Force should be requesting: a fighter weighing 19,000 pounds and carrying 9,000 pounds of fuel and a 310-square-foot wing. General Dynamics won the competition by sticking to exactly what the Air Force wanted. By the time their airplane, the F-16, became operational, it weighed 19,000 pounds, carried 7,400 pounds o...