Message posted by Vahe Demirjian (Member since 04/28/2022) on May 21, 2024 at 15:18:16 PST:
Last April, former Lockheed Skunk Works chief Sherman Mullin passed away: Mullin will be remembered for his role starting in 1985 as the manager for development of the F-22, which won the ATF competition in 1991, but his enlistment in the Skunk Works began in 1982 when Ben Rich tapped him as manager for the F-117 program. Given the end of F-117 production and the fact that Lockheed joined forces with Boeing to create a revised Quartz design following tests of Lockheed's subscale demonstrator for the Quartz by the time that Mullin succeeded Ben Rich as head of the Lockheed Skunk Works in 1990, it'd be interesting to see if Mullin took part in Lockheed's teaming up with Boeing to create their revised Quartz design, design work for the Tier III requirement, and management of the initial phase of the RQ-3 Darkstar program. My thoughts and prayers are with Mullin's family, and those who took part in flight tests of the F-117 but also F-22 test pilots like Dave Ferguson and Paul Metz will remember his contributions to development of the F-117 and F-22 dearly.
https://www.instagram.com/afftmuseum/p/C6Xlf8NLTfn/?locale=sl
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