Louis Schalk Jr

A graduate of West Point, Schalk joined the new branch of the U.S. military, the "Air Force". He graduated first in his class from the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he worked under Chuck Yeager and flight-tested fighters. Later, as a test pilot for Lockheed's famous "Skunk Works", Schalk helped design the cockpit of the A-12 Blackbird, the prototype for the SR-71 high-altitude reconnaissance plane. On April 26, 1962, over Nevada, he was the first to take the A-12 on a flight. He got it up to over 90,000 feet and reached a top speed of 2,287 mph -- top secret information at the time. He died in Virginia on August 16 from leukemia and pneumonia. He was 76. From This is True for 18 August 2002 Suggestions for further reading: Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed by Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos Amazon Price: $10.87 Customer Review: What a great book. It details the saga of America's leading aerospace corporation, its rise to technological excellence and financial success is to a large extent the story of how an extraordinarily gifted and at times overbearing aeronautical engine...   Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History by Jay K. Miller Amazon Price: Customer Review: The book had an excellent photographic review of Lockheed's history. The text was poor. There were several misspelled words and paragraphs that were hard to read. It could have used a better editor. Ben Rich's book is more entertaining and easier ...   Lockheed Secret Projects: Inside the Skunk Works (Motorbooks ColorTech) by Dennis R. Jenkins Amazon Price: Customer Review: It is truly amazing what the Skunk Works will attempt to design. From the first operational US jet fighter, to the first operational Mach 2 airplane, to UAVs and suborbital spacecraft (the X-33) ... Skunk Works has tried it all. Normally they succeed...   Lockheed Skunk Works by Steve Pace Amazon Price:   Lockheed's Skunk Works: The First Fifty Years by Jay Miller Amazon Price: $29.95   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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