How Fast Did Lockheed Build a Submarine Hunting Plane?

David Senra says Kelly Johnson won Lockheed an order for 200 airplanes, the largest aircraft production order placed in the United States up to that time, after a five-day prototype sprint and a 72-hour redesign with almost no sleep. He was 28.

In 1938 he was promoted to chief research engineer at Lockheed. World War II pushed the company to design aircraft and then mass produce them, work Lockheed had never done before the war. Officials from Britain came to the United States to see if Lockheed could build what they needed to fight the Germans, an aircraft that could destroy submarines. Kelly Johnson heard about the visit only five days before they arrived, and the team built a prototype in five days. The British came on a Friday, suggested changes, and the group worked the whole weekend, then asked them back on Monday. The visitors were impressed enough to invite Lockheed to England to meet technical people. On a three-day holiday weekend, Kelly Johnson worked a solid 72 hours on the redesign, catnapping only when he had to, and took his clothes off for the first time in 72 hours when he finally slept. The Air Ministry then gave Lockheed the order for 200 airplanes.