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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds. Here are up-close portraits of the maverick band of scientists and engineers who made the Skunk Works so renowned. Filled with telling personal anecdotes and high adventure, with narratives from the CIA and from air force pilots who flew the many classified, risky missions, this book is a riveting portrait of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the 20th century.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Skunk Works
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- BH
- 2018-04-25
A must for aviation buffs
The book is set up kind of strange. The first half is devoted to the most recent F117 development history before going backward to spend the latter half discussing the U2 and then SR71. Chronologically it only makes sense if you consider that he must have wanted to hook readers on what was then the most recent Skunkworks development before getting into the old stuff.
Also worth remembering as you listen is that this was originally published in 1994, so for some of his later predictions and discussions about the "current" political climate you would do well to keep that in mind.
Fantastic stories about the inner sanctum of the military industrial complex though. Highly recommended.
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- Colleen
- 2023-10-25
Wow! Well done!
This was technology, corporate training and history for dummies, and all walks of life should be able to enjoy this and leave knowing more than when they started. I highly recommend this to men and women, everywhere.
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-10-15
Great Narrator! Easy to listen to.
Great listen, had no idea it was out there! It’s fun to hear the perspectives of the executives, even if this is older information.
Worth your while!
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-10-14
Absolutely riveting
Chock full of incredible stories and firsthand accounts of monumental aircraft! Loved it from start to finish.
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- Andrew Lipp
- 2022-08-01
Inspring, informing and encouraging
Running a small business and loving aircraft as a boy, made this book outstanding to me. I've listened to it twice now and will likely review with a pen and paper.
The upshot to it's content is Pete Larkin's accent and flair. His performance seems to match the portrayal of who Mr Rich must've been- humorous and energetic.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-03-24
I would love more
Sometimes I miss what the reader said due to normal monologue monotone reading (as the information was hard to provide at a fast pace)
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- Charles
- 2022-02-18
story on the skunk works
Great book and easy to follow and understand! The narrator make you feel like you listen to Ben Rich himself!
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-12-10
Really interesting stories, great narrator
Ben tells stories from developing the F-117A stealth fighter, the U2 spy plane, the SR-71 blackbird, and some others.
I work in product development so this book was of particular interest. Very well written and narrated. Stories are really interesting, and certainly do justice to the extraordinary subject matter. It really is another world. Written very plainly and humbly.
Highly recommended. I was sad when it ended.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-04-23
Good overall book
They need to change the narrator for the different perspectives as to not confuse the storyline
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- Grant
- 2020-02-11
Good stories, but overall is a little convoluted
The individual stories are entertaining, but the overall book jumps around from stealth fighter to U2 to Blackbird and back and forth.
It's sometimes also difficult to follow who is talking at a given part, since other contributors are weaved in and out of the narrative.
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