Kelly Johnson had accepted the U.S. Air Force ... A natural arrangement for a twin-engine airplane, the design had been used before; it ensured that if one engine failed, the slipstream of the ...

The factory-fresh airplane took to the air after 2,700 ... Left to right: Designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, test pilot Tony LeVier, and an unidentified man with a Lockheed XP-80A prototype.