Clarence kelly johnson retirement planning
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He remained on the board of directors until 1980.
Clarence Leonard Johnson died 21 December 1990 at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Burbank, California, after a long period of hospitalization. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.
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Swopes
1910 – 1990
Aeronautical and systems engineer
Johnson was born in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Ishpeming on November 27, 1910 to immigrant Swedish parents. He later moved to Flint where his father had a construction business. The list is seemingly endless: The F-94 Starfire, F-104 Starfighter, U-2, A-12 Oxcart and the SR-71 Blackbird.
Kelly Johnson was married three times.
He graduated from Flint Junior College and then the University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1932 He went on to received his Master of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1933.
He joined the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1933. In their wisdom, Lockheed officials said they had complete faith in Clarence “Kelly” Johnson.
In time, it proved to be one of the most important decisions in the company’s history.
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He was the third of five children of Peter Johnson, a stone mason, and Kjrstie Anderson Johnson.He won the Frank Sheehan Scholarship in Aeronautics, which enabled him to continue at the University to earn a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering (M.S.E.) in 1933.
Kelly Johnson started working as a tool designer for the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Burbank, California, in 1933.
He married Miss Althea Louise Young, who worked in Lockheed’s accounting department, in 1937. She died 13 October 1980 of complications of diabetes. His parents were immigrants from Sweden.
Kelly Johnson attended Flint Central High School, graduating in 1928. She died of cancer in December 1969. Johnson had no children.
Kelly Johnson retired from Lockheed in 1975 as a senior vice president.
He graduated from Flint High School. AeroE.). He was subsequently promoted to Vice President, Advanced Development Projects in 1958 And Senior Vice President in 1969 Created or developed:
- P-80 “Shooting Star”, the first U. S. jet fighter in service
- XFV-1, vertical takeoff plane
- T2V “Sea star” jet trainer
- C-130 “Hercules” turbojet transport
- High-altitude U-2
- C-140 “Jetstar” transport
- Agena-D space satellite
- Mach 3 YF-12A interceptor
- SR-71 “Blackbird” reconnaissance aircraft
Kelly was awarded two Collier Trophies – 1958 for his Mach 2 F-104 “Starfighter” created to combat Soviet MiGs; 1963 for the USAF A-11 Mach 3 Aircraft precursor to the YF-12 and SR-71. He helped develop the P-38 “lightning” interceptor, the model 18 “Lodestar, the B-37, “Ventura, and PV-1 Bombers, and the “Constellation” airliners. He was Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, 1974.
References:
Clarence L.
Kelly Johnson Wikipedia.
Kelly Johnson: Architect of Air
In the summer of 1938, a twenty-eight-year-old farm boy from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan found himself holed up in a London hotel room. He designed the beautiful Constellation airliner. He graduated in 1932 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering (B.S.E.
Johnson also served as a flight test engineer for the airplane.
A genius of aeronautical engineering and design, he was responsible for all of Lockheed’s most famous aircraft: the Lockheed Hudson and Neptune medium bombers, the P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighter, the P-80 Shooting Star, America’s first full-production jet fighter. He then married Miss Maryellen Elberta Meade, his secretary, at Solvang, California, 20 May 1971.
Clarence Leonard (“Kelly”) Johnson was born at Ishpeming, Michigan, United States of America, 27 February 1910. He worked summers during high school saving money for flying lessons but the Instructor suggested that Kelly go to school. Johnson identified a stability problem with the airplane’s design, and he was sent back to the University of Michigan to conduct a wind tunnel study which resulted in his proposal of the twin vertical tail configuration which was a characteristic of many Lockheed airplanes that followed.
He had just seventy-two hours to design a new aircraft, one that the British Air Ministry needed to prepare for a war that looked more likely with each passing day
The young engineer’s name was Clarence Johnson, but ever since he’d trounced a local bully in grade school, he went by the more defiant nickname: “Kelly,” which suited his fierce and pugnacious personality.
Shortly after being hired by Lockheed six years earlier, Johnson had walked into his new boss’s office, pointed to the company’s promising new aircraft, the Electra, revealed a critical instability and then proceeded to correct the errors to the company’s amazement.
He lived by the motto “Be quick, be quiet, be on time.” So, while in London to finalize the sale of the new Hudson bomber, the British Air Ministry requested numerous design changes, and Johnson took on the challenge over three nearly sleepless days.
Although amazed by the new design’s precision, Air Ministry officials asked if they could entrust the future of their air force to someone so young.
After transferring to the engineering department, he was assigned to the company’s Model 10 Electra project.