Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson was an American aeronautical and systems engineer. He is recognized for his contributions to a series of important aircraft designs, most notably the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Besides the first production aircraft to exceed Mach 3, he also produced the first fighter capable of Mach 2, the United States' first operational jet fighter, as well as the first fighter to exceed 400 mph, and many other contributions to various aircraft.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson, c. 1975
Kelly Johnson and Gary Powers in front of a U-2.
Kelly Johnson participated in the design of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, testing a model with a single vertical stabilizer in the wind tunnel of the University of Michigan.
A design of the Lockheed A-3 (Mach 3 ramjet), sketch from Johnson's notebook
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering.
Lockheed U-2
Original U-2A at USAF Museum
Model "B" U-2 camera on display at the National Air and Space Museum
U-2 at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford
