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Never Built: Lockheed CL-1201

foundandexplained.com

1–4 of 4 posts

Re: Never Built: Lockheed CL-1201

#3

I guess the weight of the documentation never exceeded the lift capacity so the place was never built.

Lockheed's Skunk Works was famous for having a very streamlined process. U2 monthly reports, for example, from Kelly Johnson (Lockheed) to Bissel (CIA) were 5 pages. Per some books, it was only because of poor quality control over titanium parts for SR-71 ("A-12") that Johnson agreed to put in place a typical papertrail process. (Fun fact: we got most of titanium from USSR via shell companies. The Russians thought it was for making ovens.)

Re: Never Built: Lockheed CL-1201

#4

I guess the weight of the documentation never exceeded the lift capacity so the place was never built.

Lockheed's Skunk Works was famous for having a very streamlined process. U2 monthly reports, for example, from Kelly Johnson (Lockheed) to Bissel (CIA) were 5 pages. Per some books, it was only because of poor quality control over titanium parts for SR-71 ("A-12") that Johnson agreed to put in place a typical papertrail process. (Fun fact: we got most of titanium from USSR via shell companies. The Russians thought it…

The titanium story was classic. I think the cover story was bicycle frames.