The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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6eeret NOFOAN
Chapter 2
As it turned out, no review of the contract was necessary at the
three-fourths point. Lockheed delivered the aircraft not only on time
but under budget. During the final contract negotiations in the spring
of 1958, Lockheed and the US Government agreed on a price for the
original 20 aircraft of $17,025,542 plus a profit of $1,952,055 for a
total of $18,977,597-less than $1 million for each aircraft. Because
its design was based on Lockheed's F-104, the U-2 was relatively in­
expensive even though only a small number of aircraft had been or­
dered. Only the wings and tail were unique; Lockheed manufactured
the other portions of the aircraft using the F-104's jigs and dies.
MAJOR DESIGN FEATURES OF THE U-2
Aware of the great need for secrecy in the new project, Kelly Johnson
placed it in Lockheed's Advanced Development facility at Burbank,
California, known as the Skunk Works. 10 Lockheed had established
this highly secure area in 1945 to develop the nation's first jet aircraft,
the P-80 Shooting Star. The small Skunk Works staff began making
the _detailed drawings for the U-2, which was nicknamed the "Angel"
because it was to fly so high.
Kelly Johnson's approach to prototype development was to have
his engineers and draftsmen located not more than 50 feet from the
aircraft assembly line. Difficulties in construction were immediately
brought to the attention of the engineers, who gathered the mechanics
around the drafting tables to discuss ways to overcome the difficul­
ties. As a result, engineers were generally able to fix problems in the
design in a matter of hours, not days or weeks. There was no empha­
sis placed on producing neatly typed memorandums; engineers sim­
ply made pencil notations on the engineering drawings in order to
keep the project moving quickly. 11
A little more than a week after he had been authorized to begin
the project, Kelly Johnson wrote a 23-page report detailing his most
recent ideas on the U-2 proposal. The aircraft, he explained, would be
designed to meet load factors of only 2.5 g's, which was the limit for
transport aircraft rather than combat planes. The U-2 would have a
'" The Lockheed '"Skunk Works" was named after the Kickapoo Joy Juice factory known
as the .. Skonk Works" in Al Capp·s comic strip Li'/ Abner.
Ben A. Rich (current head of the "Skunk Works"). interview by Donald E. Welzenbach
and Gregory W. Pedlow, Burbank, California, 26 August 1988.
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