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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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Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
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A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
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Chasing the Demon
- A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier, and the Band of American Aces Who Conquered It
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In the aftermath of World War II, the United States accelerated the development of technologies that would give it an advantage over the Soviet Union. Airpower, combined with nuclear weapons, offered a formidable check on Soviet aggression. In 1947, the United States Air Force was established. Meanwhile, scientists and engineers were pioneering a revolutionary new type of aircraft which could do what no other machine had ever done: reach mach 1 - a speed faster than the movement of sound - which pilots called "the demon."
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Not at all what it purports to be
- By John A Stevenson on 11-20-18
By: Dan Hampton
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A Fiery Peace in a Cold War
- Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon
- By: Neil Sheehan
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From Neil Sheehan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic A Bright Shining Lie, comes this long-awaited, magnificent epic. Here is the never-before-told story of the nuclear arms race that changed history - and of the visionary American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever, who led the high-stakes effort. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War is a masterly work about Schriever’s quests to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, to penetrate and exploit space for America, and to build the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust.
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Schriever rhymes with beaver.
- By John Gardner on 11-13-09
By: Neil Sheehan
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The Crash Detectives
- Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters
- By: Christine Negroni
- Narrated by: Christine Negroni
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Crash Detectives, veteran aviation journalist and air safety investigator Christine Negroni takes us inside crash investigations from the early days of the jet age to the present, including the search for answers about what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As Negroni dissects what happened and why, she explores their common themes and, most important, what has been learned from them to make planes safer.
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MISSLEADING TITLE.
- By Daniel Schneider on 11-02-16
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Flying from the Black Hole
- The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
- By: Robert O. Harder
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.
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Today I learned something new.
- By Rob Wilson on 02-20-21
By: Robert O. Harder
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Freedom's Forge
- How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Arthur Herman pens this fascinating look at how two businessmen turned the U.S. into a military powerhouse during World War II. In 1940, FDR asked General Motors CEO William Knudsen to oversee the production of guns, tanks, and planes needed for the war. Meanwhile, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser presided over the building of “Liberty ships” - vessels that came to symbolize America’s great wartime output.
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Enlightening. Amazing, Great Narration
- By G. Sanders on 08-26-12
By: Arthur Herman
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Topgun
- An American Story
- By: Dan Pedersen
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Pedersen takes listeners on a colorful and thrilling ride - from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace - through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.
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I loved it!
- By "airplane_cfii" on 10-09-19
By: Dan Pedersen
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The Taking of K-129
- How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History
- By: Josh Dean
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early hours of February 25, 1968, a Russian submarine armed with three nuclear ballistic missiles set sail from its base in Siberia on a routine combat patrol to Hawaii. Then it vanished. As the Soviet navy searched in vain for the lost vessel, a small, highly classified American operation using sophisticated deep-sea spy equipment found it - wrecked on the sea floor at a depth of 16,800 feet, far beyond the capabilities of any salvage that existed.
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One of the great stories in history
- By Ben Newman on 11-21-17
By: Josh Dean
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Vulcan Boys
- From the Cold War to the Falklands: True Tales of the Iconic Delta V Bomber
- By: Tony Blackman
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Vulcan, the second of the three V bombers built to guard the UK during the Cold War, has become an aviation icon like the Spitfire, its delta shape instantly recognizable, as is the howling noise it makes when the engines are opened for takeoff. Vulcan Boys is the first Vulcan book recounted completely firsthand by the operators themselves.
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a compelling work but slow to start
- By Josh Boyle on 08-06-16
By: Tony Blackman
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First Man
- The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
- By: James R. Hansen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
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SR-71, the Blackbird, Q&A
- By: Terry Pappas
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Higher, farther, faster - what every real aviator aspires to. The SR-71 was the epitome of this dream for three decades. The only way to beat the SR-71 was to rocket into space, and every astronaut in the office with me in the 1960s would have loved to have flown the Blackbird. In many ways it placed greater demand on piloting proficiency than any spacecraft.
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Great in sight on life and times of Blackbird crew
- By J Bo on 11-11-15
By: Terry Pappas
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Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves
- The Inside Story of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution
- By: Alec Bierbauer, Col. Mark Cooter USAF (Ret.), Michael Marks
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves is the character-driven story behind the origins of the Predator drone program and the dawn of unmanned warfare. A firsthand account told by an Air Force team leader and a CIA team leader, Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves takes the listener into the back offices and secret government hangars where the robotic revolution went from a mad scientist idea to a pivotal part of global air power.
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Excellent story
- By Nestor Perez on 02-08-22
By: Alec Bierbauer, and others
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Blandly written story about DARPA politics
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Great Story About a Flawed Spacecraft
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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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- Gian Johl
- 07-27-15
Great listen
A little hard to keep up with who the author is speaking for but great book and story on skunkworks
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14 people found this helpful
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- Take it or Leave it
- 12-27-18
Glad the Skunks Works are an American Company!
Loved this books. Would have given it 5 on story but there are occasions when the book gets a little geeky on production, finance, procurement, accounting issues which are necessary but get a little boring. But the books was still great.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Neil 1946
- 05-05-16
A GREAT INSIDERS ACCOUNT
IF YOUR AT ALL INTERESTED IN HOW THE U-2, SR-71 AND B117 WERE CONCEIVED, BUILT AND USED BY THE PEOPLE THAT DID IT, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU
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3 people found this helpful
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- Hunter Deeds
- 04-08-16
wonderful story. narrator nyaaaaa
An amazing recount of events from several different people. And an amazing and informative dump truck of information. The story jumping is easy to follow and keeps the momentum going. That planning alone speaks for a wonderfully organized mind, GREAT JOB AUTHOR!!! The order in which this storyis retold is just intelligent. Thanks guys.
BUT. The ehhhh New Ehhhh Englander Scotch drinking narrator gets old about 2/3 of the way through the book. So cocky sounding after awhile. If I was the producer I would have REALLY PUSHED this guy to loosen the Polo and get into the individual people's personalities and vocal stylings a lot more. He has to have the ability to do more than his own voice and his voice with his nose plugged. His cadence and emotion was great. (I can understand time constraints to get the book out quicker and less time given to planning how to tell the facts).
I know it's live account of events and has to be delivered as facts from each person's statement. Your telling a story too though. Weave it, let yourself get drawn in deeper.
Would I choose another narrator, emphatically NO. But I wouldn't push record until about four fingers of scotch and some more passion is showing.
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- Arizona Bob
- 02-25-17
A Must Read or listen book.
Every avation fan should read or listen to this book. Stories about production of U2,Blackbird and stealth fighter are an eye opener....
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- D. Orr Jr.
- 09-07-16
Fantastic look into the Skunk Works!
This was a great one! I've been a huge plane guy since I was 10 years old and hearing how these guys did what that did with limited technology, by today's standards, was phenomenal! Wish there was more in regards to the 5th gen air crafts but these are more or less after his time there so I knew there wouldn't be so it's not a negative. It was just so good I wanted more! If you love planes, especially military planes, then this one is a must! Fantastic!
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- Chris and Erica Steeves
- 09-06-17
Skunk Works
This book was an amazing story of what a few determined men can do given the opportunity. Ben and Kelly developed some of our countries greatest planes on minimal budgets.
I have found myself looking for additional information about Ben and Kelly on the internet. It was very interesting to see how things have progressed since this book was written in the 90's, almost exactly as Ben predicted.
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- Kamal
- 10-14-17
great book on problem solving
loved it! just what I needed to understand what it takes to mesh research with development.
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- DJ
- 09-18-18
Great....However
This story is unmatched. A
This is a fantastic read,however
This story is unmatched it makes me proud to be an American, and the Skunk Works could only happen here in a free country and under a profound free enterprise system. However why does an author,any author suppose that by frequent taking the name of the Lord in vain makes this or any story more real or authentic is beyond me and is extremely offensive and as a result will not pass on an otherwise wonderful story. This is not only unacceptable but extremely offensive. D J
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- Donald L. Davis
- 01-07-20
A Good Read
interesting but dated. Hubris spun memoir of a good man. who was "right there" during the heyday of the US aerospace industry.
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