BornJune 18, 1925 - Baku, Azerbaijan (raised in Los Angeles, California)
DiedJanuary 5, 1995 - Los Angeles, California (prostate cancer)
AliasesBenjamin Robert Rich, Father of Stealth
Service1950-1991 (Lockheed Skunk Works)
ClearanceTS/SCI (former, Skunk Works director-level access)
Summary
Ben Rich was the second director of Lockheed's Skunk Works advanced development division and the principal engineer behind the F-117 Nighthawk, the world's first operational stealth aircraft. Near the end of his life, he made a series of statements - in private correspondence and at a 1993 UCLA alumni event - suggesting that classified U.S. programs possessed propulsion technology capable of interstellar travel. These claims, delivered by one of the most credentialed aerospace engineers in American history, remain among the most debated secondhand testimonies in UAP research.
Roles
- -Director, Lockheed Skunk Works (1975-1991)
- -Lead Engineer - U-2 Reconnaissance Aircraft Program
- -Lead Engineer - SR-71 Blackbird Program
- -Program Director - F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter
Organizations
Lockheed CorporationLockheed Skunk WorksU.S. Air Force (contractor)
Education
- -B.S. Mechanical Engineering, UCLA, 1950
- -M.S. Thermodynamics, UCLA, 1950
Early Career
- -Joined Lockheed's Skunk Works division in Burbank, California in 1950 under founder Kelly Johnson
- -Served as lead thermodynamic engineer on the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft (1955)
- -Led propulsion and thermal engineering for the A-12/SR-71 Blackbird program (1959-1968)
- -Named deputy director of Skunk Works by Kelly Johnson in 1965