engineers identified the assembly shed as the Skunk Works where Kelly was stirring up some kind of potent brew. Although World War II ended before the P-80 could see combat in it, the aircraft proved itself during the Korean War in 1950 when the Shooting Star won history's first all-jet battle.

Among Johnson's military aircraft from the Skunk Works following the Shooting Star were the T-33 trainer, the aerial “schoolroom” responsible for teaching more pilots to fly jets than any other plane; the record-setting 1,300-mph F-104 Starfighter, the first operational airplane to fly twice the speed of sound in level flight; and the P2V Neptune antisubmarine patrol plane, which established a nonstop distance record of 11,235 miles in 1946.

Johnson also played a major role in the development of the Constellation, which started out as a commercial airliner design, then was taken over by the military during World War II as a transport, and once again was a pace-setting commercial airliner after the war in addition to a number of military versions produced by Lockheed. But far bigger challenges were in store for the Skunk Works and Johnson, who became Lockheed's chief engineer in 1952, vice president for research and development in 1958, and vice president for Advanced Development Projects in 1958.

In urgent need for a reconnaissance aircraft that could safely fly high over the Soviet Union to photograph missile and other military operations and return with the valuable data, the U.S. government again turned to Johnson and the Skunk Works. Out of the Skunk Works in 1955 came the long-winged U-2 jet, which could fly above 70,000 feet with a range of 4,000 miles on its U.S. Air Force missions. The U-2 was also a money saver. Johnson returned to the U.S. government approximately $2 million saved on the $20 million U-2 contract, producing an extra six planes for the same money intended to cover twenty aircraft.