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|death_place =Los Angeles, California, U.S. |resting_place= |resting_place_coordinates= |education =Flint Junior College University of Michigan |spouse= |parents= |children= |discipline =Systems Engineering |institutions= |practice_name= |employer =Lockheed Martin |significant_projects =P-38 Lightning Skunk Works Lockheed U-2 SR-71 Blackbird |significant_design =Lockheed U-2 |significant_advance= |significant_awards= |signature= }} Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson (February 27, 1910 – December 21, 1990) was an American systems engineer and aeronautical innovator. He is recognised for his contributions to a series of important aircraft designs, most notably the Lockheed 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 its first successful twin-engine fighter, and many other contributions to a large number of aircraft. As a member and first team leader of the Lockheed Skunk Works, Johnson worked for more than four decades and is said to have been an "organizing genius". He played a leading role in the design of over forty aircraft, including several honored with the prestigious Collier Trophy, acquiring a reputation as one of the most talented and prolific aircraft design engineers in the history of aviation. In 2003, as part of its commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight, ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'' ranked Johnson 8th on its list of the top 100 "most important, most interesting, and most influential people" in the first century of aerospace. Hall Hibbard, Johnson's Lockheed boss, referring to Johnson's Swedish ancestry once remarked to Ben Rich: "That damned Swede can actually see air."〔 Johnson also helped to design the Lockheed AQM-60 Kingfisher a decade before the famous SR-71. The Kingfisher was a highly successful single engine mach 4.3 capable Ramjet composed mainly of steel, which was used to test American air defenses against nuclear missiles. The information and experience Johnson gained was later used to produce the A-12 spy plane for the Central Intelligence Agency. Johnson then used the combined knowledge of the Kingfisher and A-12 to produce the SR-71 Blackbird, his most famous aircraft. ==Life== Kelly Johnson was born in the remote mining town of Ishpeming, Michigan. His parents were Swedish, from the city of Malmö, county of Scania. Kelly was ashamed of his family's poverty, and vowed to return one day in prominence. Johnson was 13 years old when he won a prize for his first aircraft design. He worked his way through Flint Central High School and graduated in 1928, then went to Flint Junior College, now known as Mott Community College, and finally to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. While attending grade school in Michigan, he was ridiculed for his name, Clarence. Some boys started calling him "Clara". One morning while waiting in line to get into a classroom, one boy started with the normal routine of calling him "Clara". Johnson tripped him so hard the boy broke a leg. The boys then decided that he was not a "Clara" after all, and started calling him "Kelly". The nickname came from the popular song at the time, "Kelly With the Green Neck Tie". Henceforth he was always known as "Kelly" Johnson.〔Partly supported by 〕 In 1937, Johnson married Althea Louise Young, who worked in Lockheed's accounting department; she died in December 1969. In May 1971, he married his secretary Mary Ellen Elberta Meade of New York; she died after a long illness on October 13, 1980, aged 38. He married Meade's friend Nancy Powers Horrigan in November 1980. His autobiography, titled ''Kelly: More Than My Share of it All'', was published in 1985. Johnson died at the age of 80 at St. Joseph Medical Center after an undisclosed illness that lasted for several years. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles, California. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kelly Johnson (engineer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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