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While I agree that this piece clearly tries to paint Boyd as a saint, and Johnson as a "full of himself idiot" I have always thought that Lockheed never took the LWF program seriously so an early withdrawal makes sense. I might be wrong, but when you compare the enties from Northrop, GD, Vought or even Boeing an spruced up F-104 derivative does not exactly scream "we really want to win this contract". They tried, saw it was going to require more effort than expected, and moved on with focus on other areas/contracts.Edit: Most of Lockheeds bids to fighter programs in the late 60's & early 70's did not seem to be serious bids compared to their contenders with a heavy reliance on design concepts used in other Lockheed products used in far different roles. It was only till the ATF program that they again started to become serious contenders in the fighter business - and even then it required GD's design absorbtion into their own to become a properly viable contender.
While I agree that this piece clearly tries to paint Boyd as a saint, and Johnson as a "full of himself idiot" I have always thought that Lockheed never took the LWF program seriously so an early withdrawal makes sense. I might be wrong, but when you compare the enties from Northrop, GD, Vought or even Boeing an spruced up F-104 derivative does not exactly scream "we really want to win this contract". They tried, saw it was going to require more effort than expected, and moved on with focus on other areas/contracts.
Edit: Most of Lockheeds bids to fighter programs in the late 60's & early 70's did not seem to be serious bids compared to their contenders with a heavy reliance on design concepts used in other Lockheed products used in far different roles. It was only till the ATF program that they again started to become serious contenders in the fighter business - and even then it required GD's design absorbtion into their own to become a properly viable contender.
