Chapter 10, Getting Off the Ground Summary and Analysis

The Blackbird was hard to control, hard to build, hard to fly and hard to sell. It was shockingly beautiful but extremely expensive. And it would break from time to time. When the Blackbird was announced to the public in the fall of 1964, many communities started to complain that the Blackbird had shattered windows across their communities; some of these complaints were genuine. Nonetheless, Kelly was an excellent salesmen in Washington. The Blackbird had changed the balance of power. Skunk Works produced a variety of 'add-ons' to increase the sales-pitch, such as ICBM launches that required little propulsion, since they were launched from high speeds. The contract for the Blackbird was solid, but the original budget had doubled.

Their main contact in Washington, Bissel and his boss, Allen Dulles, had to resign over...