Chapter 15, The Two-Billion-Dollar Bomber Summary and Analysis

Kelly's memory continues to regulate Ben's actions. He keeps Kelly's rules going forward. Ben also followed Kelly's rule of only taking projects that he believed in, and Ben often gave up projects - even during hard economic times - for this reason. Early in the chapter, Ben Rich becomes outraged at a Reagan speech where he promises to build a 'hypersonic' jet, or one that can fly five times the speed of sound. Someone on Reagan's technical team messed up - it would not be possible to build such a jet for at least fifty years. The government made odd errors of this sort all the time. For instance, dealing with the Pentagon on a regular basis seemed to have no connection to merit.

This observation leads into a recounting of Skunk Works' competition with...