Dennis D. McDonald (ddmcd@ddmcd.com)consults from Alexandria Virginia. His services include writing & research, proposal development, and project management.
Did Kelly Johnson and the people at Lockheed, the CIA, and the U.S. Air Force realize they were developing a “platform” whose utility would extend over decades? Probably not. Aeronautical history of the time is littered with failed jets and engines designs. Survivors are few and the U-2 stands out.
A lot of this book makes for unpleasant reading but it is an important record of the times, told by the author from an older and wiser perspective. He is lucky to have survived.
Perhaps the best that we can say is that there was a lot of experimentation but the means of organizing and controlling technology did not advance as rapidly as the technologies themselves.
Karam tells about the last voyage of the 28-year-old Thresher class PLUNGER submarine assigned to spy on a Northern Pacific Soviet naval base in the closing days of the Cold War.
I can’t help but wonder when reading about these exciting times what it might have been like had the U.S. and Soviet Union cooperated in space exploration earlier on. Would the combined resources have resulted in greater joint accomplishments like a moon base or a landing on Mars? Or was the competition and secrecy effective in pushing both sides ahead?