Skunk Works

To save time and money and maintain high quality standards, we did our own milling and forging and at one time approached the ability of our vendor’s plants to roll parts to precise dimensions. We even developed our own cutting fluid that would not corrode titanium. To prevent oxidation of the titanium—which caused brittleness—we welded in specially constructed chambers with an inert nitrogen gas environment. In all we had about twenty-four hundred trained fabricators, machinists, and mechanics working on the project, all of them specially trained and carefully supervised. And at the height of production, in the mid-1960s, we employed a huge force of nearly eight thousand workers and delivered one Blackbird per month. While we were trying to build that first airplane, the unions were giving Kelly fits because he ignored seniority rules and chose the best workers, so Kelly had the union heads cleared and walked them through the plant and showed them the airplane. He said, “Gents, this airplane is vital for our nation’s security. The president of the United States is counting on it. Please don’t get in my way here.” They backed off.

For security and other reasons, the airplane was assembled in various buildings in the complex. One unique, extremely time-saving technique was to build the fuselage on the half shell. The left half and right half were assembled independently to create easier worker access, then fit together and riveted into place. That was a major first in aircraft manufacturing.