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The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine
The extraordinary true story of Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works"--the radical innovation hub that designed the greatest airplanes of the twentieth century--and the visionary who made it all possible.
It began with a humble warehouse building in Burbank, California, and a charismatic young engineer named Kelly Johnson. In 1938, Johnson, who was then freshly out of the University of Michigan's school of engineering, got the idea for a small, agile, disruptive engineering shop--one that could help America's war machine innovate more quickly. By 1943, with the U.S. now in World War II and desperate for new technology, "Advanced Development Projects"--later nicknamed the "Skunk Works"--was born.
During Johnson's forty-seven years at Lockheed Martin, the Skunk Works developed at least half a dozen planes that would have been the capstone achievement of anyone else's career. There was the P-38 Lighting, which outdueled Axis pilots over Europe and the Pacific. The XP-80, America's first ever fighter jet, which did indeed help the Allies win World War II. The Constellation, the first passenger plane with a pressurized cabin, revolutionized commercial air travel. The U-2 spy plane, which could reach an astonishing altitude of 70,000 feet, enabling it could fly dangerous covert missions in Soviet airspace during the height of the Cold War. And perhaps most famous of all, the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most unusual, and iconic, planes ever designed.
But the planes were only part of Kelly Johnson's legacy. There was also his management style, which would come to shape organizations for decades to come. Under him, the Skunk Works' structure--flat management, no red tape, extraordinary speed--quickly became the model for nurturing innovation, and eventually would fuel the nimble startups of Silicon Valley. Half a century before Mark Zuckerberg coined the motto "move fast and break things," Kelly Johnson was living that mantra--and at the same time helping the Department of Defense secure the fate of the free world.
It began with a humble warehouse building in Burbank, California, and a charismatic young engineer named Kelly Johnson. In 1938, Johnson, who was then freshly out of the University of Michigan's school of engineering, got the idea for a small, agile, disruptive engineering shop--one that could help America's war machine innovate more quickly. By 1943, with the U.S. now in World War II and desperate for new technology, "Advanced Development Projects"--later nicknamed the "Skunk Works"--was born.
During Johnson's forty-seven years at Lockheed Martin, the Skunk Works developed at least half a dozen planes that would have been the capstone achievement of anyone else's career. There was the P-38 Lighting, which outdueled Axis pilots over Europe and the Pacific. The XP-80, America's first ever fighter jet, which did indeed help the Allies win World War II. The Constellation, the first passenger plane with a pressurized cabin, revolutionized commercial air travel. The U-2 spy plane, which could reach an astonishing altitude of 70,000 feet, enabling it could fly dangerous covert missions in Soviet airspace during the height of the Cold War. And perhaps most famous of all, the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most unusual, and iconic, planes ever designed.
But the planes were only part of Kelly Johnson's legacy. There was also his management style, which would come to shape organizations for decades to come. Under him, the Skunk Works' structure--flat management, no red tape, extraordinary speed--quickly became the model for nurturing innovation, and eventually would fuel the nimble startups of Silicon Valley. Half a century before Mark Zuckerberg coined the motto "move fast and break things," Kelly Johnson was living that mantra--and at the same time helping the Department of Defense secure the fate of the free world.
14 pages, Audiobook
First published May 19, 2026
About the author
Josh Dean
8 books48 followersJosh Dean is a New York based journalist whose work has appeared in Popular Science, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, GQ, Men's Journal, Rolling Stone, Inc., Fast Company, ESPN the Magazine, and many others, covering subjects as diverse as pee wee go-kart racing, snowboarding in Iran, the byzantine world of small production watchmakers, and a start-up nuclear fission company. He is a correspondent for Outside, a former deputy editor of Men's Journal, and one of the founding editors of PLAY, the New York Times Sports Magazine, where he had the great fortune to work with David Foster Wallace on the late writer's classic Roger Federer profile/essay. Josh is almost certainly the first person in history to play in both the WEPA Elephant Polo World Championships and the Quidditch World Cup. (Sadly, his teams won neither.) He is the author of SHOW DOG: The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred, an extremely real and yet still unbelievable trip inside the world of dog shows, and THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE STOPWATCH GANG, about Canada's infamous and prolific 1970s gang of bank robbers. His latest book, THE TAKING OF K-129, tells the incredible story of Project Azorian, the largest and most audacious covert operation in CIA history. He lives in Brooklyn (and sometimes in the Catskills) with his wife and two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 14, 2025
This is an incredible book, narrating the larger than life story of Kelly Johnson and Skunk Works - the Lockheed division that designed and produced fighter jets during the cold war.
John Dean definitely put in a lot of work. The Impossible factory is extremely documented, digging into the details of engineering and producing those mythical airplanes.
You will especially love the book if you are an engineer, a project manager, or an airplane nerd (or all three). I personally loved learning about all the problem solving that goes into designing, testing and producing airplanes as a defense contractor.
For instance, flying at an extremely high altitude requires a different type of fuel, which had to be especially engineered by Shell. Pilots needed special suits to make sure their blood would not (literally) boil. And of course, fighting the bureaucracy in order to deliver those exceptional airplanes in due time required political and managerial skills that were ahead of the time.
All in all, a fascinating book, written by a passionate author who really tried to understand aerospace engineering. I regret not having access to the (now declassified) blueprints and manuals, but the book ends with a promise to set up a website in order to share the sources.
Thank you so much NetGalley, Dutton and of course Josh Dean for sending me an ARC of this book. I learned a lot and cried a bit. So long, Kelly Johnson.
John Dean definitely put in a lot of work. The Impossible factory is extremely documented, digging into the details of engineering and producing those mythical airplanes.
You will especially love the book if you are an engineer, a project manager, or an airplane nerd (or all three). I personally loved learning about all the problem solving that goes into designing, testing and producing airplanes as a defense contractor.
For instance, flying at an extremely high altitude requires a different type of fuel, which had to be especially engineered by Shell. Pilots needed special suits to make sure their blood would not (literally) boil. And of course, fighting the bureaucracy in order to deliver those exceptional airplanes in due time required political and managerial skills that were ahead of the time.
All in all, a fascinating book, written by a passionate author who really tried to understand aerospace engineering. I regret not having access to the (now declassified) blueprints and manuals, but the book ends with a promise to set up a website in order to share the sources.
Thank you so much NetGalley, Dutton and of course Josh Dean for sending me an ARC of this book. I learned a lot and cried a bit. So long, Kelly Johnson.
June 27, 2026
The Impossible Factory is the story of how small teams of versatile, accountable people repeatedly achieved breakthroughs by cutting bureaucracy, embracing responsibility, and solving hard problems with relentless practicality. The book follows engineer Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson as he builds a culture where leaders make decisions, engineers own outcomes, and innovation comes from anticipating needs rather than waiting for customers to ask for them. It argues that enduring success requires bold risks, constant reinvention, close collaboration between design and execution, and a willingness to test ideas in the real world—even when they are imperfect. Ultimately, the book presents a philosophy of innovation: trust exceptional people, eliminate unnecessary process, stay years ahead of competitors, and judge everything by whether it helps deliver a better result.
Didn’t finish - but that’s on me, not the book. Had some great take-aways:
“The Skunk Works is a concentration of a few good people solving problems far in advance—and at a fraction of the cost—of other groups…by applying the simplest, most straightforward methods possible to develop and produce new projects. All it really is is the application of common sense to some pretty tough problems.”
“What was Kelly Johnson willing to say about this so-called stealth fighter, which was said to be invisible to radar? It was a question Safer knew his subject wouldn’t answer. The kind of question Kelly had been not answering for a half century. Kelly just stared back at his interlocutor and smirked. “If I can talk about it,” he said finally, “it’s obsolete.”
“Lockheed’s main plane at the time was the Vega, with a fuselage made from Sitka spruce, and Headle took each new Vega off the line for a check flight to make sure it was flight-worthy. Prior to doing this, however, he’d stroll through the assembly hangar and choose one lucky worker at random—a fitter, welder, or woodworker—and tap him on the shoulder. You, Headle would tell the man, have been selected to fly with me. Put on a parachute and let’s go.”
“Lockheed was a scrappy place that worked only because its hires were Swiss Army knives. “In those days, you couldn’t specialize,” Kelly later said. “You had to learn everything….”
‘Kelly also considered it his duty to truly stand behind his work. He believed that those who design planes, who choose their shapes and materials, should absolutely fly in them. “I figured I needed to have the hell scared out of me once a year in order to keep a proper balance and viewpoint on designing new aircraft,” he later wrote.’
“Lockheed’s design had numerous industry firsts. Most notably, the Constellation was the first plane with hydraulically assisted power controls (roughly, the equivalent of power steering in cars). This was an idea that Kelly had been kicking around for a while, especially as he envisioned a future with much larger planes that flew farther and carried more passengers. But Robert Gross, who signed off on budgets, had been skeptical; this seemed like added complexity. The customers weren’t demanding power controls. This chafed Kelly. Customers don’t drive innovation, and they probably aren’t going to ask for something that doesn’t exist yet. He was struggling to convince his boss when, one day, he saw a chance to make his point in the company parking lot. Kelly spotted Gross walking to his car, a late-model Chevrolet that he knew had power steering. You don’t need power steering to drive this nice car, he told Gross, but it sure makes it a hell of a lot easier. And, according to Kelly, that’s all it took. “I never heard another word of dissent about power steering in aircraft.”
“Designs that endure—the ones that define companies—are those that require the biggest risks. Incremental leaps might win in the short term, but both Kelly and Hibbard strongly believed that you had to look far ahead and take giant leaps to endure. “Failure through timidity” is how Kelly phrased it. Because no matter how advanced or triumphant a certain plane may be, the truth, Hibbard said, is that “it is necessary to start the design of its successor long before the sale of the first design has shown a profit.”
“Any layer of a process that can be cut, should be, so long as it doesn’t damage the end result.”
“He also insisted that his engineers run the flight-test program. Prior to the P-38, the industry standard for military planes was that engineers would design a prototype, then hand it off to the Army for testing. This was wrong, Kelly believed. It was the designer’s responsibility to prove a plane did what it was supposed to do. Therefore, the engineers and pilots “must live together,” and on the P-38, he dug in.”
“Urgency can force innovation. But that’s rarely a perfect process. And even the greatest innovations often come into use before all the kinks are worked out. Which was certainly the case with the P-38.”
“…women, especially, answered the call, filling every possible job—riveting, sure, but also stress analysis, expediting, engineering, inspection, and tooling. “Big airplanes are made up of small parts,” Courtlandt Gross said. “And women build small parts to perfection.” By June 1943, 40 percent of all workers—35,000 of the 94,000—were women.”
“The first P-38 built took 360,000 man-hours. The five hundredth plane took 17,000. And the last one, 10,000 fighters later, took only 3,800.”
“Throughout his early projects, Kelly had also been studying where the gaps were in traditional engineering hierarchies. Delays tended to occur most often because of poor or slow communication and a lack of timely decision-making—either because no one accepted responsibility or too many people had it. Probably the biggest rule, which is admittedly a little self-serving, was that there should be a single, strong, and knowledgeable leader. That was Kelly. He knew a lot and had the ability to learn and understand in great detail most technical aspects of airplane design. When he didn’t know something, he knew what question to ask and who should answer it. The only thing that truly matters is the end result. Does this part serve it? What about this person? Or that meeting you want to have? Also, don’t tell me it’s impossible. Always assume it can be done.”
Didn’t finish - but that’s on me, not the book. Had some great take-aways:
“The Skunk Works is a concentration of a few good people solving problems far in advance—and at a fraction of the cost—of other groups…by applying the simplest, most straightforward methods possible to develop and produce new projects. All it really is is the application of common sense to some pretty tough problems.”
“What was Kelly Johnson willing to say about this so-called stealth fighter, which was said to be invisible to radar? It was a question Safer knew his subject wouldn’t answer. The kind of question Kelly had been not answering for a half century. Kelly just stared back at his interlocutor and smirked. “If I can talk about it,” he said finally, “it’s obsolete.”
“Lockheed’s main plane at the time was the Vega, with a fuselage made from Sitka spruce, and Headle took each new Vega off the line for a check flight to make sure it was flight-worthy. Prior to doing this, however, he’d stroll through the assembly hangar and choose one lucky worker at random—a fitter, welder, or woodworker—and tap him on the shoulder. You, Headle would tell the man, have been selected to fly with me. Put on a parachute and let’s go.”
“Lockheed was a scrappy place that worked only because its hires were Swiss Army knives. “In those days, you couldn’t specialize,” Kelly later said. “You had to learn everything….”
‘Kelly also considered it his duty to truly stand behind his work. He believed that those who design planes, who choose their shapes and materials, should absolutely fly in them. “I figured I needed to have the hell scared out of me once a year in order to keep a proper balance and viewpoint on designing new aircraft,” he later wrote.’
“Lockheed’s design had numerous industry firsts. Most notably, the Constellation was the first plane with hydraulically assisted power controls (roughly, the equivalent of power steering in cars). This was an idea that Kelly had been kicking around for a while, especially as he envisioned a future with much larger planes that flew farther and carried more passengers. But Robert Gross, who signed off on budgets, had been skeptical; this seemed like added complexity. The customers weren’t demanding power controls. This chafed Kelly. Customers don’t drive innovation, and they probably aren’t going to ask for something that doesn’t exist yet. He was struggling to convince his boss when, one day, he saw a chance to make his point in the company parking lot. Kelly spotted Gross walking to his car, a late-model Chevrolet that he knew had power steering. You don’t need power steering to drive this nice car, he told Gross, but it sure makes it a hell of a lot easier. And, according to Kelly, that’s all it took. “I never heard another word of dissent about power steering in aircraft.”
“Designs that endure—the ones that define companies—are those that require the biggest risks. Incremental leaps might win in the short term, but both Kelly and Hibbard strongly believed that you had to look far ahead and take giant leaps to endure. “Failure through timidity” is how Kelly phrased it. Because no matter how advanced or triumphant a certain plane may be, the truth, Hibbard said, is that “it is necessary to start the design of its successor long before the sale of the first design has shown a profit.”
“Any layer of a process that can be cut, should be, so long as it doesn’t damage the end result.”
“He also insisted that his engineers run the flight-test program. Prior to the P-38, the industry standard for military planes was that engineers would design a prototype, then hand it off to the Army for testing. This was wrong, Kelly believed. It was the designer’s responsibility to prove a plane did what it was supposed to do. Therefore, the engineers and pilots “must live together,” and on the P-38, he dug in.”
“Urgency can force innovation. But that’s rarely a perfect process. And even the greatest innovations often come into use before all the kinks are worked out. Which was certainly the case with the P-38.”
“…women, especially, answered the call, filling every possible job—riveting, sure, but also stress analysis, expediting, engineering, inspection, and tooling. “Big airplanes are made up of small parts,” Courtlandt Gross said. “And women build small parts to perfection.” By June 1943, 40 percent of all workers—35,000 of the 94,000—were women.”
“The first P-38 built took 360,000 man-hours. The five hundredth plane took 17,000. And the last one, 10,000 fighters later, took only 3,800.”
“Throughout his early projects, Kelly had also been studying where the gaps were in traditional engineering hierarchies. Delays tended to occur most often because of poor or slow communication and a lack of timely decision-making—either because no one accepted responsibility or too many people had it. Probably the biggest rule, which is admittedly a little self-serving, was that there should be a single, strong, and knowledgeable leader. That was Kelly. He knew a lot and had the ability to learn and understand in great detail most technical aspects of airplane design. When he didn’t know something, he knew what question to ask and who should answer it. The only thing that truly matters is the end result. Does this part serve it? What about this person? Or that meeting you want to have? Also, don’t tell me it’s impossible. Always assume it can be done.”
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for an advance copy of this book that looks at the life and career of a pioneer in aviation, a man who created planes, created ways of designing planes, and created new branches to technology that made humans not only soar higher and farther, but even to break the bounds of gravity and soar to the stars.
The Cold War was a time of high tension, a time where things overthrowing governments and overflying borders was considered an acceptable risk. The Cold War is also responsible in many ways for the vast military industrial complex, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower called, it, something we are dealing with today. However it also changed the face of the world. Large spending on war, helped in some the people of the world. In a short period of time, planes went from propellers, to jets, to in some case touching the stars. Strides were made in making air planes, bigger, better, faster, and safer for everyone. And to help fuel rockets to travel to the Moon. Much of this technology came from the work, if not the mind of one man. A man with a unique vision, a unique drive, and a lot o gumption. A man who could look at a committee, and know that was no way to make an airplane. And a man who made it so. The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine by historian and writer Josh Dean is a book about aviation, espionage, education, grit, and scientific ingenuity, along with something that seems rare today, competence.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson was born to immigrant parents in the wilds of Northern Michigan. Blessed with a keen mind, an ability to work and a love of air planes, Kelly as he was called started early in his aviation designs working with models. In eye injury kept him out of the Army Air service, something that was probably quite lucky aviation history. Instead of flying planes, Kelly decided to learn how to build them. As the Depression was hindering the workforce Kelly traveled around, landing in California and a job offer from a airplane manufacturer that had seen better days. Lockheed, a place where Kelly would spend most of his life. Kelly excelled at Lockheed, seeing problems and more importantly finding solutions, working for weeks at a time without break, and getting results in the times he promised. A military job gave him an opportunity to create his own workspace, which took on the name the Skunk Works. Here, a small group would do all the work designing a plane, from plans to material to production. No committees, no input from others, just the team. The planes produced here are legendary. The U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, and others. The technology changed aviation history, and even helped in the space race.
A really very well-written book, and one that I found fascinating for a few reasons. The idea that one person was at the forefront of so much, passenger planes, World War II fighters, the Blackbird, which even 60 years later looks so cool, so of now and still able to do amazing things. The big takeaway from this book is competence. These guys were good at their job, something we as a nation seem to have lost. Keeping things small, working hard yes, but working smart, seems so rare. And lost. Dean does a good job of explaining things, from flight problems at high speed, and high altitudes, to little things like soil composition at Groom Lake. The book really reads well, and never slows down, with page after page of interesting tales, scientific discoveries, or just the beauty of flight.
A book for aviation fans, and a book for people who work in business. Maybe that Zoom meeting won't be necessary, is something that can be learned here. Also espionage fans will get quite a lot from this also with stories of U-2 flights and skullduggery. This is the second book by Dean I have read and I really enjoyed this, and eagerly await more.
The Cold War was a time of high tension, a time where things overthrowing governments and overflying borders was considered an acceptable risk. The Cold War is also responsible in many ways for the vast military industrial complex, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower called, it, something we are dealing with today. However it also changed the face of the world. Large spending on war, helped in some the people of the world. In a short period of time, planes went from propellers, to jets, to in some case touching the stars. Strides were made in making air planes, bigger, better, faster, and safer for everyone. And to help fuel rockets to travel to the Moon. Much of this technology came from the work, if not the mind of one man. A man with a unique vision, a unique drive, and a lot o gumption. A man who could look at a committee, and know that was no way to make an airplane. And a man who made it so. The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine by historian and writer Josh Dean is a book about aviation, espionage, education, grit, and scientific ingenuity, along with something that seems rare today, competence.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson was born to immigrant parents in the wilds of Northern Michigan. Blessed with a keen mind, an ability to work and a love of air planes, Kelly as he was called started early in his aviation designs working with models. In eye injury kept him out of the Army Air service, something that was probably quite lucky aviation history. Instead of flying planes, Kelly decided to learn how to build them. As the Depression was hindering the workforce Kelly traveled around, landing in California and a job offer from a airplane manufacturer that had seen better days. Lockheed, a place where Kelly would spend most of his life. Kelly excelled at Lockheed, seeing problems and more importantly finding solutions, working for weeks at a time without break, and getting results in the times he promised. A military job gave him an opportunity to create his own workspace, which took on the name the Skunk Works. Here, a small group would do all the work designing a plane, from plans to material to production. No committees, no input from others, just the team. The planes produced here are legendary. The U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, and others. The technology changed aviation history, and even helped in the space race.
A really very well-written book, and one that I found fascinating for a few reasons. The idea that one person was at the forefront of so much, passenger planes, World War II fighters, the Blackbird, which even 60 years later looks so cool, so of now and still able to do amazing things. The big takeaway from this book is competence. These guys were good at their job, something we as a nation seem to have lost. Keeping things small, working hard yes, but working smart, seems so rare. And lost. Dean does a good job of explaining things, from flight problems at high speed, and high altitudes, to little things like soil composition at Groom Lake. The book really reads well, and never slows down, with page after page of interesting tales, scientific discoveries, or just the beauty of flight.
A book for aviation fans, and a book for people who work in business. Maybe that Zoom meeting won't be necessary, is something that can be learned here. Also espionage fans will get quite a lot from this also with stories of U-2 flights and skullduggery. This is the second book by Dean I have read and I really enjoyed this, and eagerly await more.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
So how much do you know of aviation history? Can you name any American airplanes form the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, or any recent ones? Have you heard of "The Skunk Works" and do you know where the term originated? Even if you can name the airplane, can you name the aircraft designer? If any of this catches your eye, pick up and read Josh Dean's The Impossible Factory which tells the story of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, a poor boy from Michigan who fulfilled his dream of creating and building iconic airplanes!
Kelly Johnson was an iconic airplane engineer who graduated from the University of Michigan and moved out to California to work for Lockeed in 1933 and helped launch the Lockheed Electra. During this time Kelly Johnson helped build planes for Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, and Amelia Earhart. He also worked with Howard Hughes to build the Constellation passenger plane for TWA which was used as the C-69 by the Army Air Corp during WWII. Then England came calling and Kelly Johnson sold them the Hudson anti-sub/bomber plane which he redesigned over a weekend. This achievement was followed by the P-38 Lightning - a twin-engine design that was a radical departure from current aircraft, but was a great fighter plane that made history, especially in the Pacific campaigns. And the Skunk Works was born when Kelly Johnson got the go-ahead to create the first American jet fighter in June 1943 and the prototype flew in January 1944 as Lulu Belle (aka P-80 Shooting Star). In 1953, Kelly Johnson and Lockheed built the F-104 Starfighter for the US Air Force. Then in 1954, Lockheed and Kelly Johnson got involved in creating spy planes. They did the U-2, then in 1961, the A-12 Blackbird which morphed into the SR-71. The final project that Kelly Johnson was involved with at Lockheed was another secret project - the F-117 - a design he did not like it could fly but worked due to its mathematically created shape. Josh Dean includes the interesting details that bring the stories he tells to life.
In The Impossible Factory, Josh Dean provides a look into aviation design history embodied in one man, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson who helped shape some of the most iconic aircraft for the United States and Lockheed! Read and enjoy!
Thanks Netgalley and Dutton for the chance to read this title!
Kelly Johnson was an iconic airplane engineer who graduated from the University of Michigan and moved out to California to work for Lockeed in 1933 and helped launch the Lockheed Electra. During this time Kelly Johnson helped build planes for Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, and Amelia Earhart. He also worked with Howard Hughes to build the Constellation passenger plane for TWA which was used as the C-69 by the Army Air Corp during WWII. Then England came calling and Kelly Johnson sold them the Hudson anti-sub/bomber plane which he redesigned over a weekend. This achievement was followed by the P-38 Lightning - a twin-engine design that was a radical departure from current aircraft, but was a great fighter plane that made history, especially in the Pacific campaigns. And the Skunk Works was born when Kelly Johnson got the go-ahead to create the first American jet fighter in June 1943 and the prototype flew in January 1944 as Lulu Belle (aka P-80 Shooting Star). In 1953, Kelly Johnson and Lockheed built the F-104 Starfighter for the US Air Force. Then in 1954, Lockheed and Kelly Johnson got involved in creating spy planes. They did the U-2, then in 1961, the A-12 Blackbird which morphed into the SR-71. The final project that Kelly Johnson was involved with at Lockheed was another secret project - the F-117 - a design he did not like it could fly but worked due to its mathematically created shape. Josh Dean includes the interesting details that bring the stories he tells to life.
In The Impossible Factory, Josh Dean provides a look into aviation design history embodied in one man, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson who helped shape some of the most iconic aircraft for the United States and Lockheed! Read and enjoy!
Thanks Netgalley and Dutton for the chance to read this title!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was delighted to receive an ARC of Josh Dean's upcoming text entitled "The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine" being published by Dutton. The book is an eminently readable examination of one of the most signiificant innovators in an industry, aviation, that thrives on innovation. The book looks at the extremely significant achievements of Kelly Johnson and Lockheed in terms of weapons procurement. corporate management, and the evolution of the modern aircraft industry through the prism of one extraordinary engineer's insistence on "there has to be a better way." Kelly Johnson may be the single most important innovator in the science of aviation technology in the twentieth century. From the early years and the first big government pushes into the evolving aviation industry, through the design and development of many of the best known aircraft of his time, Kelly Johnson left a truly massive legacy. Indeed, the "Skunk Works" has become emblematic of a kind of corporate guerrilla warfare against needlessly bureaucratic management techniques most spectacularly associated with weapons programs and military procurement procedures. There are very important lessons to be learned here related to the relationships between weapons developers and military procurement procedures, critically important in the modern world. From figures like the Wright brothers and Howard Hughes to McNamara and his "whiz kids", there is a colorful and influential cast of characters here. Achievements like the Lockheed Electra and Constellation, not to speak of the Lightning and the U-2 and Blackbird attest to Johnson's vision and determination to get the job done. Anyone interested in aviation or modern management needs to take a look at this.
December 3, 2025
I requested an ARC for this in the most optimistic was "oo, jets, I don't know as much about jets." Then when it came to read, I was like "what was I thinking? Do I really want to slog through a book about engineering? How will I give a fair review when it's super dull?"
I'm happy to report back it was not a slog. Dean smartly creates a framework of Kelly Johnson so by the time he starts engineering, you know and like him as a person and are ready to go along. I won't lie, there is engineering in the book but it is softened with the people who do it so this aviation history nerd who never passed pre cal much less physics could understand. He keeps Kelly the person in the forefront of the story,
He really sells Johnson and the Skunk works and makes you root for them. It is definitely great hero-centered storytelling. And you feel bad when business slows down. But why- this is the center of the military industrial complex and why the country spends so much on defense. Skunk Works has this huge fancy building employing thousands and engineers- but that means they need work.
So I was torn- loving and rooting for Skunk Works but knowing what it created. And the nature of the beast of this topic and Dean tried to address it a bit towards the end. The book was good and well-written. I really liked Kelly Johnson throughout. As a pre-jet historian, I normally skip past the jets when I go to the Smithsonian but now I will stop and appreciate it.
It took me a long time to read because I had to stop for book club and library books a few times. It's not a reflection of my interest in the book.
ATY prompt: A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal
I'm happy to report back it was not a slog. Dean smartly creates a framework of Kelly Johnson so by the time he starts engineering, you know and like him as a person and are ready to go along. I won't lie, there is engineering in the book but it is softened with the people who do it so this aviation history nerd who never passed pre cal much less physics could understand. He keeps Kelly the person in the forefront of the story,
He really sells Johnson and the Skunk works and makes you root for them. It is definitely great hero-centered storytelling. And you feel bad when business slows down. But why- this is the center of the military industrial complex and why the country spends so much on defense. Skunk Works has this huge fancy building employing thousands and engineers- but that means they need work.
So I was torn- loving and rooting for Skunk Works but knowing what it created. And the nature of the beast of this topic and Dean tried to address it a bit towards the end. The book was good and well-written. I really liked Kelly Johnson throughout. As a pre-jet historian, I normally skip past the jets when I go to the Smithsonian but now I will stop and appreciate it.
It took me a long time to read because I had to stop for book club and library books a few times. It's not a reflection of my interest in the book.
ATY prompt: A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I remember growing up and hearing vague whispers and rumors about a super-secret aviation laboratory where all kinds of magical and unusual airplanes and products were being developed. The name of the facility was "Skunk Works". Now here I am, many many years later, and I find an advance reading copy of this book being offered to me by NetGalley and the publisher. And, it was well worth the wait!
The book was about the man responsible for the development of the Skunk Works, Kelly Johnson. He worked for Lockheed Martin, got the facility up and running, and stayed for 47 years.
Skunk Works was responsible for some of the most fascinating, top-secret planes ever. There was the P-38 Lighting, the XP-80, America’s first ever fighter jet, the Constellation, the U-2 spy plane, and the most famous of all, the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most unusual, and iconic, planes ever designed. And these are just the ones we (the public) know about! Who can imagine what else is in the works!
The success of the Skunk Works seems to be in the management practices of Johnson. Work hard, no red tape, work fast. Keep management out of the way. Seems Johnson may have been the predecessor to today's entrepreneurs like Jobs, Musk, and Zuckerburg.
All in all, this was a good book. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about these unreported discoveries and developments.
The book was about the man responsible for the development of the Skunk Works, Kelly Johnson. He worked for Lockheed Martin, got the facility up and running, and stayed for 47 years.
Skunk Works was responsible for some of the most fascinating, top-secret planes ever. There was the P-38 Lighting, the XP-80, America’s first ever fighter jet, the Constellation, the U-2 spy plane, and the most famous of all, the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most unusual, and iconic, planes ever designed. And these are just the ones we (the public) know about! Who can imagine what else is in the works!
The success of the Skunk Works seems to be in the management practices of Johnson. Work hard, no red tape, work fast. Keep management out of the way. Seems Johnson may have been the predecessor to today's entrepreneurs like Jobs, Musk, and Zuckerburg.
All in all, this was a good book. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about these unreported discoveries and developments.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.
“The Impossible Factory” is a non-fiction book by Josh Dean. This book is both a biography of Kelly Johnson and a discussion about Lockheed Skunk Works. On the plus side, I never found this book dry (it tended to keep the engineering talk readable for non-engineers). Johnson’s management style is examined quite a bit - as it should be - as it was different from other styles of the day. Some of Johnson’s styles are used to this day (I cannot count how many times I’ve heard mentioned the KISS principle, though that was more in the 1990s). If you’re into aviation (military aircraft especially) you’ll get some exposure to those. Overall, I found this book well researched and surprisingly readable.
“The Impossible Factory” is a non-fiction book by Josh Dean. This book is both a biography of Kelly Johnson and a discussion about Lockheed Skunk Works. On the plus side, I never found this book dry (it tended to keep the engineering talk readable for non-engineers). Johnson’s management style is examined quite a bit - as it should be - as it was different from other styles of the day. Some of Johnson’s styles are used to this day (I cannot count how many times I’ve heard mentioned the KISS principle, though that was more in the 1990s). If you’re into aviation (military aircraft especially) you’ll get some exposure to those. Overall, I found this book well researched and surprisingly readable.
June 6, 2026
Excellent management biography and engineering history. I’ve read a few books in this genre (history of advanced military engineering program) and this is probably one of the better ones just a step below Richard Rhodes book on the atomic bomb and American Prometheus.
May 21, 2026
In the same vein as Skunk Works and Kelly: More than my share of it all. Excellent read 5/5
June 14, 2026
4.5 stars
June 21, 2026
Terrific
A well written biography of a genius at work. Well worth the read and hard to put down. Kelly Johnson was incredibly important in his time and still today
A well written biography of a genius at work. Well worth the read and hard to put down. Kelly Johnson was incredibly important in his time and still today
November 18, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for the advanced readers e-book.
I loved this book!
The title of the book is the recap! The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine
It is incredibly researched and absolutely fascinating! From the incredible details on the history of when, who and where things took place to the heart-pounding test flights, this book has it all. There is a little something in here for everyone. History buffs (like me) to mechanical engineers to war enthusiasts to people interested in flight will find enjoyment reading this exceptional book.
The number of hours and years that Josh Dean (author) must have spent on this ... truly a remarkable labor of love!
I loved this book!
The title of the book is the recap! The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine
It is incredibly researched and absolutely fascinating! From the incredible details on the history of when, who and where things took place to the heart-pounding test flights, this book has it all. There is a little something in here for everyone. History buffs (like me) to mechanical engineers to war enthusiasts to people interested in flight will find enjoyment reading this exceptional book.
The number of hours and years that Josh Dean (author) must have spent on this ... truly a remarkable labor of love!
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