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{{Short description|Aerospace research facility in the United States}}
:'''''Skunkworks''' redirects here. For the heavy metal album by Bruce Dickinson, please see [[Skunkworks (album)]]''[[Image:SR-71 LASRE cold test.jpg|250px|thumb|A modern Skunk works project leverages an older: [[LASRE]] and [[SR-71 Blackbird]].]]
{{Redirect|Skunk works|other uses|Skunkworks (disambiguation)}}
'''Skunk works''' is a term used in engineering and technical applications for secret ([[black project|black]]) projects.
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Skunk works Logo.svg|thumb|Skunk Works logo]]


'''Skunk Works''' is an official [[pseudonym]] for [[Lockheed Martin]]'s '''Advanced Development Programs''' ('''ADP'''), formerly called '''Lockheed Advanced Development Projects.''' It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified research and development programs, and exotic aircraft platforms. Known locations include [[United States Air Force Plant 42]] (Palmdale, California), [[United States Air Force Plant 4]] (Fort Worth, Texas), and Marietta, Georgia.<ref name="GA">{{Cite web |title=Marietta, Georgia - Where Legacies Begin |url=https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/careers/locations/marietta-georgia.html |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Lockheed Martin |language=en}}</ref>
== Lockheed's Skunk Works ==
'''Skunk Works'''—the unofficial name for [[Lockheed Martin]]'s Advanced Development Programs, formerly '''Lockheed Advanced Development Projects Unit'''—has been responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]], the [[SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71]], and the [[F-117 Nighthawk|F-117]]. Its largest current project is the [[F-35 Joint Strike Fighter|F-35 JSF]] (Joint Strike Fighter), which will be used in the [[air force]]s of several countries around the world. Production is expected to last for up to four decades.


Skunk Works' history started with the [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|P-38 Lightning]] in 1939<ref name="Bodie51" /><ref name=Wilson1969/> and the [[Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star|P-80 Shooting Star]] in 1943. Skunk Works engineers subsequently developed the [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]], [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71 Blackbird]], [[Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk|F-117 Nighthawk]], [[Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor|F-22 Raptor]], and [[Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II|F-35 Lightning II]], the latter being used in the [[air force|air forces]] of several countries.
The Skunk Works began during [[World War II]] when [[Lockheed]] was tasked with building the United State's first operational jet fighter--the [[P-80 Shooting Star]]. A small team of engineers led by [[Kelly Johnson]] created the first prototype in only 143 days. (Kelly Johnson headed the Skunk Works until [[1975]]. He was succeeded by [[Ben Rich]].


The Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip ''[[Li'l Abner]]''. Derived from the Lockheed use of the term, the designation [[Skunkworks project|"skunk works"]] or "skunkworks" is now widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, with the task of working on advanced or secret projects.
In [[1955]], the the Skunk Works received a contract to build a spyplane known as the [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] with intention of overflying the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was tested at [[Area 51|Groom Lake]] in the [[Nevada]] desert. The first overflight took place in July [[1956 in aviation|1956]]. The U-2 ceased overflights when [[Francis Gary Powers]] [[U-2 Crisis of 1960|was shot down]] during a mission on [[May 1]], [[1960 in aviation|1960]], when over Russia.


==History==
The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 had a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. The CIA agreed. The Skunk Works got a contract in late [[1959]] to build five [[A-12 Oxcart|A-12]] aircraft at a cost of $96 million dollars. Building a [[Mach number|Mach]] 3.0 aircraft out of [[titanium]] posed enormous difficulties and the first flight did not occur until [[1962]]. Several years later, the [[U. S. Air Force]] became interested in the design, and it ordered the [[SR-71 Blackbird]], an improved two seater version of the A-12. This aircraft first flew in [[1966]] and remained in service until [[1989]].
[[File:F117-palmdale-040625-01.jpg|thumb|right|Entrance plaza at the Skunk Works in [[Palmdale, California]]]]


There are conflicting observations about the birth of Skunk Works.
The [[D-21]] [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|drone]], similar in design to the Blackbird, was built to overfly [[People's Republic of China|China]]. This drone sat on top of a specially modified A-12, known as M-21, of which there were two built. No D-21s were successfully launched from M-21s, although a few were deployed from [[B-52]]s.


Engineer [[Ben Rich (engineer)|Ben Rich]] sets the origin as June 1943 in [[Burbank, California]].<ref name="bennis_biederman">{{Cite book |last1=Bennis |first1=Warren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1m-qnHJdY4C |title=Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration |last2=Biederman |first2=Patricia Ward |publisher=Perseus Books |year=1997 |page=117|isbn=9780201339895 }}</ref> [[Kelly Johnson (engineer)|Kelly Johnson]] has made contradictory statements, some agreeing with Rich, and others putting the origin earlier, in 1939.<ref name=Look1964/> The official [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] Skunk Works story states:
After the [[Cold War]] ended in [[1989]], Lockheed reorganized its operations and relocated the Skunk Works to Site 10 at [[Plant 42|U. S. Air Force Plant 42]] in [[Palmdale]], [[California]] where it remains in operation today.


{{quote|text=The Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) of the Army Air Force met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its need for a jet fighter. A rapidly growing German jet threat gave Lockheed an opportunity to develop an airframe around the most powerful jet engine that the allied forces had access to, the British [[de Havilland Goblin|Goblin]]. Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development and its previous contracts with the Air Force. One month after the ATSC and Lockheed meeting, the young engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and other associate engineers hand delivered the initial [[Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star|XP-80]] proposal to the ATSC. Two days later the go-ahead was given to Lockheed to start development and the Skunk Works was born, with Kelly Johnson at the helm.
The term "Skunk Works" is a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin; the company also holds several registrations of it with the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]. They have filed several challenges against registrants of domain names containing variations on the term under anti-[[cybersquatting]] policies.


The formal contract for the XP-80 did not arrive at Lockheed until October 16, 1943; some four months after work had already begun. This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, with no contracts in place, no official submittal process. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven fewer than was required.<ref name="origin" />}}
=== Aircraft ===

* [[P-38 Lightning]]
Warren M. Bodie, journalist, historian, and Skunk Works engineer from 1977 to 1984, wrote that engineering independence, elitism and secrecy of the Skunk Works variety were demonstrated earlier when Lockheed was asked by Lieutenant [[Benjamin S. Kelsey]] (later air force brigadier general) to build for the [[United States Army Air Corps]] a high speed, high altitude [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] to compete with German aircraft. In July 1938, while the rest of Lockheed was busy tooling up to build [[Lockheed Hudson|Hudson]] reconnaissance bombers to fill a British contract, a small group of engineers was assigned to fabricate the first prototype of what would become the [[P-38 Lightning]]. Kelly Johnson set them apart from the rest of the factory in a walled-off section of one building, off limits to all but those involved directly.<ref name="Bodie23">Bodie, 2001, p. 23.</ref> Secretly, a number of advanced features were being incorporated into the new fighter including a significant structural revolution in which the aluminum skin of the aircraft was [[Joggle bending|joggled]], fitted and flush-riveted, a design innovation not called for in the army's specification but one that would yield less aerodynamic drag and give greater strength with lower mass.
* [[P-80 Shooting Star]]

As a result, the XP-38 was the first 400-mph fighter in the world. The Lightning team was temporarily moved to the 3G Distillery, a smelly former bourbon works where the first YP-38 (constructor's number 2202) was built.<ref name="Bodie51">Bodie, 2001, p. 51.</ref> Moving from the distillery to a larger building, the stench from a nearby plastic factory was so vile that [[Irv Culver]], one of the engineers, began answering the intra-Lockheed "house" phone "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking!"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Skunk Works® Legacy |url=https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/skunk-works-origin-story.html |access-date=2024-01-14 |website=Lockheed Martin |language=en}}</ref>

In [[Al Capp|Al Capp's]] comic strip [[Li'l Abner]], Big Barnsmell's Skonk Works — spelled with an "o" — was where [[Kickapoo Joy Juice]] was brewed from skunks, old shoes, kerosene, anvils, and other strange ingredients. When the name leaked out, Lockheed ordered it changed to "Skunk Works" to avoid potential legal trouble over use of a copyrighted term. The term rapidly circulated throughout the aerospace community, and became a common nickname for research and development offices. The once informal nickname is now a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin.<ref name=":0" />

In November 1941, Kelsey gave the unofficial nod to Johnson and the P-38 team to engineer a [[drop tank]] system to extend range for the fighter, and they completed the initial research and development without a contract. When the Army Air Forces officially asked for a range extension solution it was ready.<ref name="Bodie72">Bodie, 2001, p. 72.</ref> The range modifications were performed in Lockheed's Building 304, starting with 100 P-38F models on April 15, 1942.<ref name="Bodie94">Bodie, 2001, p. 94.</ref> Some of the group of independent-minded engineers were later involved with the XP-80 project, the prototype of the [[P-80 Shooting Star]].

[[Mary G. Ross]], the first [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] female engineer, began working at Lockheed in 1942 on the mathematics of compressibility in [[high-speed flight]]<ref name=Ross/>—a problem first seriously encountered in the P-38.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/SP-4219/Chapter3.html |chapter=Research in Supersonic Flight and the Breaking of the Sound Barrier |last=Anderson |first=John D., Jr |page=72 |title=Engineering Science to Big Science |editor=Pamela E. Mack |publisher=NASA |date=1998 |isbn=978-0160496400}}</ref> In 1952, she was invited to join the Skunk Works team.<ref name=Ross>{{Cite news |last=Briggs |first=Kara |date=December 24, 2008 |title=Cherokee rocket scientist leaves heavenly gift |work=[[Cherokee Phoenix]] |agency=NMAI Newservice |url=http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/2470}}</ref>

===1950s to 1990s===
[[File:SR71 factoryfloor SkunkWorks.jpg|thumb|alt=SR-71 at Lockheed Skunk Works|Assembly line of the SR-71 Blackbird at Skunk Works]]

In 1955, the Skunk Works received a contract from the [[CIA]] to build a spyplane known as the [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] with the intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was tested at [[Area 51|Groom Lake]] in the [[Nevada]] desert, and the Flight Test Engineer in charge was [[Joseph F Ware Jr|Joseph F. Ware, Jr]]. The first overflight took place on July 4 [[1956 in aviation|1956]]. The U-2 ceased overflights when [[Francis Gary Powers]] [[U-2 Crisis of 1960|was shot down]] during a mission on May 1, 1960, while over Russia.

The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 would have a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. The CIA agreed. In late 1959, Skunk Works received a contract to build five [[A-12 Oxcart|A-12]] aircraft at a cost of $96 million. Building a [[Mach number|Mach]] 3.0+ aircraft out of [[titanium]] posed enormous difficulties, and the first flight did not occur until 1962. (Titanium supply was largely dominated by the Soviet Union, so the CIA used several [[shell corporations]] to acquire source material.) Several years later, the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] became interested in the design, and it ordered the [[SR-71 Blackbird]], a two-seater version of the A-12. This aircraft first flew in 1966 and remained in service until 1998.

The [[Lockheed D-21|D-21]] [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|drone]], similar in design to the Blackbird, was built to overfly the [[Lop Nur]] nuclear test facility in [[People’s Republic of China|China]]. This drone was launched from the back of a specially modified A-12, known as M-21, of which there were two built. After a fatal mid-air collision on the fourth launch, the drones were re-built as D-21Bs, and launched with a rocket booster from [[B-52]]s. Four operational missions were conducted over China, but the camera packages were never successfully recovered. Kelly Johnson headed the Skunk Works until 1975. He was succeeded by Ben Rich.

In 1976, the Skunk Works began production on a pair of stealth technology demonstrators for the [[U.S. Air Force]] named ''[[Have Blue]]'' in Building 82 at Burbank. These scaled-down demonstrators, built in only 18 months, were a revolutionary step forward in aviation technology because of their extremely small [[radar cross-section]]. After a series of successful test flights beginning in 1977, the Air force awarded Skunk Works the contract to build the [[F-117]] stealth fighter on November 1, 1978.

During the entirety of the [[Cold War]], the Skunk Works was located in Burbank, California, on the eastern side of [[Bob Hope Airport|Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport]] ({{coord|34.200768|-118.351826|display=inline}}). After 1989, Lockheed reorganized its operations and relocated the Skunk Works to Site 10 at [[Plant 42|U.S. Air Force Plant 42]] in [[Palmdale, California]], where it remains in operation today. Most of the old Skunk Works buildings in Burbank were demolished in the late 1990s to make room for parking lots. One main building still remains at 2777 Ontario Street in Burbank (near San Fernando Road), now used as an office building for digital film post-production and sound mixing. During the late 1990s when designing Pixar's building, [[Edwin Catmull]] and [[Steve Jobs]] visited a Skunkworks Building which influenced Jobs' design.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Catmull |first=Edwin |url=https://archive.org/details/creativityincove0000catm |title=Afterword: The Steve We Knew |publisher=Creativity Inc |year=2014 |isbn=9780812993011}}</ref> In 2009, the Skunk Works was inducted into the [[International Air & Space Hall of Fame]] at the [[San Diego Air & Space Museum]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame |publisher=Donning Co. Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-57864-397-4 |editor-last=Sprekelmeyer |editor-first=Linda}}.</ref>

==Projects==

===2015 projects===
Next generation optionally-manned [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] aircraft. During September 2015 the proposed aircraft was deemed to have developed into more of a [[tactical reconnaissance]] aircraft, instead of [[strategic reconnaissance]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drew |first=James |date=September 14, 2015 |title=Lockheed Skunk Works' next-generation U-2 morphs into 'TR-X' |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/lockheed-skunk-works-next-generation-u-2-morphs-int-416709/ |access-date=December 24, 2015 |website=Flight Global}}</ref>

===Aircraft===
[[File:SR-71 LASRE cold test.jpg|thumb|A modern Skunk Works project leverages an older one: [[LASRE]] atop the [[SR-71 Blackbird]].]]

{{Div col}}
* [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning]] (unofficial)<ref name=Bodie23/><ref name=Wilson1969/>
* [[Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star]]
* [[Lockheed XF-90]]
* [[Lockheed XF-90]]
* [[Lockheed U-2]]
* [[Lockheed F-104 Starfighter]]
* [[Lockheed U-2]] <!--replacement: http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2015-09-13/tr-x-skunk-works-studies-new-high-altitude-jet -->
* [http://www.PRIZECREW.ORG QT-2PC PRIZE CREW ]
* [[Lockheed X-26 Frigate]]
* [http://www.YO-3A.com Army-Lockheed YO-3A]
* [[A-12 Oxcart]]
* [[Lockheed YO-3]]
* [[SR-71 Blackbird]]
* [[Lockheed A-12]]
* [[D-21 Tagboard]]
* [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird]]
* [[Lockheed XST|XST]]
* [[Lockheed D-21]]
* [[F-117 Nighthawk]]
* [[Lockheed Have Blue|Lockheed XST (Have Blue)]] and [[Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk]]
* [[Lockheed YF-22]] and [[Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor]]
* [[F-35 Joint Strike Fighter]]
* [[Lockheed X-27]]
* [[Lockheed Martin X-33]]
* [[Lockheed Martin X-35]] and [[Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II]]
* [[Lockheed CL-1200 Lancer|Lockheed X-27]]
* [[Lockheed Martin Polecat]]
* [[Quiet Supersonic Transport]]
* [[Lockheed Martin Cormorant]]
* [[Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk]]
* [[Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel]]
* [[Lockheed Martin X-55]]
* [[Lockheed Martin SR-72]]
* [[Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST]]
{{Div col end}}

===Other===
* [[High beta fusion reactor]]
* [[Sea Shadow]]


==Term origin==
==Term origin==
[[Image:Skunkworks-logo.jpg|250px|thumb|The Skunk Works logo as seen on one of Lockheed Martin's hangars.]]
[[File:Skunkworks-logo.jpg|thumb|The Skunk Works logo as seen on one of Lockheed Martin’s hangars.]]


The term "Skunk works" came from the then-popular [[Al Capp]] [[comic strip]] ''[[Li'l Abner]]'', which was popular in the 1940s. In the comic, the "Skonk Works" was a backwoods still operated by Big Barnsmell, known as the "inside man at the Skonk Works." In his secret facility, he made "kickapoo joy juice" by grinding dead [[skunks]] and worn shoes into a smoldering vat.
The term "Skunk Works" came from [[Al Capp]]'s [[satirical]], [[hillbilly]] [[comic strip]] ''[[Li’l Abner]]'', which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s.<ref name="origin">{{Cite web |title=Skunk Works® Origin Story |url=https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/skunk-works-origin-story.html |access-date=2018-07-24 |website=Lockheed Martin}}</ref> In the comic, the “Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of [[Dogpatch]], in the backwoods of [[Kentucky]]. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the toxic fumes of the concentrated "skonk oil", which was brewed and barreled daily by "Big Barnsmell" (known as the lonely "inside man" at the Skonk Works), by grinding dead [[skunk]]s and worn shoes into a smoldering [[still]], for some mysterious, unspecified purpose.


In mid-1939<ref>{{Cite news |date=1939-06-25 |title=Aircraft Company Remodels Old Distillery |page=V-3 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60957928/aircraft-company-remodels-old-distillery |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}{{open access}}</ref> when Lockheed was expanding rapidly, the YP-38 project was moved a few blocks away to the newly purchased 3G Distillery, also known as Three G or GGG Distillery.<ref name="Bodie51" /> Lockheed took over the building but the sour smell of bourbon mash lingered, partly because the group of buildings continued to store barrels of aging whiskey.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cefaratt |first=Gil |title=Lockheed: The People Behind the Story |date=2002 |publisher=Turner Publishing |isbn=9781563118470 |pages=89, 110}}</ref> The first YP-38 was built there before the team moved back to Lockheed's main factory a year later.<ref name="Bodie51" /><ref name="Wilson1969">{{Cite book |title=Current Biography Yearbook |date=1969 |publisher=H. W. Wilson Co. |page=199 |quote=At that time, Lockheed did not as yet have a formal engineering building, and so Johnson and his staff improvised a development plant using unoccupied corners in hangars and an old distillery. The results of this 'skunk works' approach was the legendary P-38 Lightning.}}</ref> In 1964, Johnson told [[Look (American magazine)|''Look'']] magazine that the bourbon distillery was the first of five Lockheed skunk works locations.<ref name=Look1964>{{Cite magazine |last=Kocivar |first=Ben |date=1964-10-06 |title=Collier Trophy |magazine=[[Look (American magazine)|Look]] |volume=28 |page=36 |quote=He calls his development plants 'skunk works'. There have been five of them&nbsp;– the first, an abandoned distillery. |number=20}}</ref>
The original Lockheed facility, during the development of the [[P-80]], was located downwind of a malodorous plastics factory. According to Ben Rich's memoir, an engineer showed up to work one day wearing a [[Civil defense|Civil Defense]] gas mask as a gag. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, Irving Culver, referd to the facility as "Skonk Works". One day, when the [[Department of the Navy]] was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the [[P-80]] project, the call was accidentally transfered to Culver's desk. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver". "What?" replied the voice at the other end. "Skonk Works" Culver repeated. The name stuck. Culver lated said at an interview conducted in 1993 that "when Kelly [Johnson] heard about the incident, he promptly fired me. It didn't really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways." <ref>Pace, Steve, ''Lockheed Skunk Works'', p. 11. Rich, Ben, ''Skunk Works''.</ref>


During the development of the [[P-80 Shooting Star]], Johnson's engineering team was located adjacent to a [[wikt:malodorous|malodorous]] plastics factory.<ref name="bennis_biederman" /> According to Ben Rich’s memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a [[Civil defense|Civil Defense]] gas mask. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, [[Irv Culver]], referred to the facility as "Skonk Works". As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. One day, when the [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culver’s desk. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver". "What?" replied the voice at the other end. "Skonk Works", Culver repeated. The name stuck. Culver later said at an interview conducted in 1993 that "when Kelly Johnson heard about the incident, he promptly fired me. It didn’t really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways."<ref>{{Cite book |last =Pace |first=Steve |title = Lockheed Skunk Works | page = 11 | isbn = 978-0879386320 | year = 1992| publisher = Motorbooks Intl }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Rich |first=Ben |title = Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed| page = | isbn = 978-0316743006 | year = 1996 | publisher = Back Bay Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How the Skunk Works got its name |url=http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/skunkworks/name.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308114336/http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/skunkworks/name.html |archive-date= 2011-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fanz7WrrIgA&ab |title=Skunk Works Story {{!}} Aviation Revolutions, Lockheed, And Kelly Johnson |via=YouTube |access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>
At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.<ref>Boyne, Walter J., ''Beyond the Horizons'', p. 154.</ref>


At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.<ref>[[Walter J. Boyne|Boyne, Walter J.]], ''Beyond the Horizons'', p. 154.</ref> The company also holds several registrations of it with the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]. They have filed several challenges against registrants of domain names containing variations on the term under anti-[[cybersquatting]] policies, and have lost a case under the [[.uk]] domain name dispute resolution service against a company selling cannabis seeds and paraphernalia, which used the word "skunkworks" in its domain name (referring to "[[Cannabis (drug)#New breeding and cultivation techniques|Skunk]]", the pungent smell of the cannabis flower). Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. The respondent company argued that Lockheed "used its size, resources and financial position to employ 'bullyboy' tactics against... a very small company."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-04-23 |title=Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service – DRS 04100 – Lockheed Martin Corporation vs. UK Skunkworks Ltd – Decision of Appeal Panel |url=http://www.nic.uk/digitalAssets/18073_ukskunkworks_appeal.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226192423/http://www.nic.uk/digitalAssets/18073_ukskunkworks_appeal.pdf |archive-date=2009-02-26 |publisher=Nominet UK}}</ref>
== References in popular culture ==
On TV's ''[[King of the Hill]]'', [[Hank Hill]]'s boss, Mr. Strickland, refers to the men's room as the "skunk works," on account of the smell. He frequently holds meetings there while on the toilet.


In Australia, the trademark for use of the name "Skunkworks" is held by Perth-based television accessory manufacturer The Novita Group Pty Ltd. Lockheed Martin formally registered opposition to the application in 2006, however the Australian government's intellectual property authority, [[IP Australia]], rejected the opposition, awarding Novita the trademark in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guan |first=Lilia |date=2008-05-27 |title=Skunkworks wins trade name battle |url=http://www.crn.com.au/News/112210,skunkworks-wins-trade-name-battle.aspx |access-date=2011-12-31 |publisher=CRN Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-05-28|title=Skunkworks wins naming right fight|url=https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Skunkworks-wins-naming-right-fight|access-date=2022-01-08|website=Business News|language=en}}</ref>
The computer game, ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'', includes a base facility, 'Skunkworks,' which allows any base in which it is built to construct units that have not yet been prototyped without the usual increased mineral penalty.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory]]
* [[Area 51]]
* [[Area 51]]
* [[Have Blue]]
* [[Boeing Phantom Works]]
* [[USAF Plant 42]]
* [[Swamp Works]]
* [[Cormorant (aircraft)|Cormorant]]


==External links==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=11787&rsbci=0&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400 Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works Celebrates Diamond Anniversary] (Lockheed Martin Press Release)
* [http://www.pacifict.com/Story/ The Graphing Calculator Story] A story of how Pacific Tech's Graphing Calculator started out as a skunkworks project in [[Apple Computer]]
* [http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/aviation/1280596.html Skunk Works Magic] Popular Mechanics article on Skunk Works
{{Mapit-US-cityscale|34.639811|-118.074102}}


==Notes==
== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Bodie |first=Warren M. |title=The Lockheed P-38 Lightning: The Definitive Story of Lockheed's P-38 Fighter |publisher=Widewing Publications |year=2001 |isbn=0-9629359-5-6 |location=Hayesville, North Carolina}}
<references />
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Jay |title=Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History |publisher=Aerofax |year=1995 |isbn=1-85780-037-0}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Rich |first1=Ben |url=https://archive.org/details/skunkworks00benr |title=Skunk Works |last2=Leo |first2=Janos |publisher=Little, Brown & Company |year=1996 |isbn=0-316-74300-3 |author-link=Ben Rich (engineer) |url-access=registration}}

==External links==
* {{official website|https://lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Jim |date=September 1999 |title=Skunk Works Magic |url={{google books|SmYEAAAAMBAJ|page=60|plainurl=yes}} |magazine=Popular Mechanics}}
* {{Cite press release |title=Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works Celebrates Diamond Anniversary |date=June 17, 2003 |publisher=Lockheed Martin |url=https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2003-06-17-Lockheed-Martins-Skunk-Works-Celebrates-Diamond-Anniversary}}
* {{Cite web |date=June 14, 2018 |title=75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works |url=http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2018/06/13/BlackMagic_SkunkWorks_75.pdf |website=Aviation Week & Space Technology |access-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615163317/http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2018/06/13/BlackMagic_SkunkWorks_75.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite news |last=Trimble |first=Stephen |date=June 15, 2018 |title=75 years on, Lockheed's Skunk Works is still innovating |work=Flightglobal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-75-years-on-lockheeds-skunk-works-is-sti-449343/}}
* {{Cite news |date=June 15, 2018 |title=Opinion: Johnson's Skunk Works legacy is in safe hands |work=Flightglobal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/opinion-johnsons-skunk-works-legacy-is-in-safe-han-449493/}}
* {{Cite news |last=Trimble |first=Stephen |date=June 15, 2018 |title=Analysis: Does Skunk Works hiring binge indicate secret new programme? |work=Flightglobal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-does-skunk-works-hiring-binge-indicate-sec-449492/}}


{{Lockheed Martin}}
==Literature==
* Rich, Ben; Janos, Leo. (1996) ''Skunk Works''. Little, Brown & Company, ISBN 0316743003


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Latest revision as of 14:55, 10 October 2024

"Skunk works" redirects here. For other uses, see Skunkworks (disambiguation).

Skunk Works logo

Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified research and development programs, and exotic aircraft platforms. Known locations include United States Air Force Plant 42 (Palmdale, California), United States Air Force Plant 4 (Fort Worth, Texas), and Marietta, Georgia.[1]

Skunk Works' history started with the P-38 Lightning in 1939[2][3] and the P-80 Shooting Star in 1943. Skunk Works engineers subsequently developed the U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning II, the latter being used in the air forces of several countries.

The Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner. Derived from the Lockheed use of the term, the designation "skunk works" or "skunkworks" is now widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, with the task of working on advanced or secret projects.

History

[edit]
Entrance plaza at the Skunk Works in Palmdale, California

There are conflicting observations about the birth of Skunk Works.

Engineer Ben Rich sets the origin as June 1943 in Burbank, California.[4] Kelly Johnson has made contradictory statements, some agreeing with Rich, and others putting the origin earlier, in 1939.[5] The official Lockheed Skunk Works story states:

The Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) of the Army Air Force met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its need for a jet fighter. A rapidly growing German jet threat gave Lockheed an opportunity to develop an airframe around the most powerful jet engine that the allied forces had access to, the British Goblin. Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development and its previous contracts with the Air Force. One month after the ATSC and Lockheed meeting, the young engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and other associate engineers hand delivered the initial XP-80 proposal to the ATSC. Two days later the go-ahead was given to Lockheed to start development and the Skunk Works was born, with Kelly Johnson at the helm. The formal contract for the XP-80 did not arrive at Lockheed until October 16, 1943; some four months after work had already begun. This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, with no contracts in place, no official submittal process. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven fewer than was required.[6]

Warren M. Bodie, journalist, historian, and Skunk Works engineer from 1977 to 1984, wrote that engineering independence, elitism and secrecy of the Skunk Works variety were demonstrated earlier when Lockheed was asked by Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey (later air force brigadier general) to build for the United States Army Air Corps a high speed, high altitude fighter to compete with German aircraft. In July 1938, while the rest of Lockheed was busy tooling up to build Hudson reconnaissance bombers to fill a British contract, a small group of engineers was assigned to fabricate the first prototype of what would become the P-38 Lightning. Kelly Johnson set them apart from the rest of the factory in a walled-off section of one building, off limits to all but those involved directly.[7] Secretly, a number of advanced features were being incorporated into the new fighter including a significant structural revolution in which the aluminum skin of the aircraft was joggled, fitted and flush-riveted, a design innovation not called for in the army's specification but one that would yield less aerodynamic drag and give greater strength with lower mass.

As a result, the XP-38 was the first 400-mph fighter in the world. The Lightning team was temporarily moved to the 3G Distillery, a smelly former bourbon works where the first YP-38 (constructor's number 2202) was built.[2] Moving from the distillery to a larger building, the stench from a nearby plastic factory was so vile that Irv Culver, one of the engineers, began answering the intra-Lockheed "house" phone "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking!"[8]

In Al Capp's comic strip Li'l Abner, Big Barnsmell's Skonk Works — spelled with an "o" — was where Kickapoo Joy Juice was brewed from skunks, old shoes, kerosene, anvils, and other strange ingredients. When the name leaked out, Lockheed ordered it changed to "Skunk Works" to avoid potential legal trouble over use of a copyrighted term. The term rapidly circulated throughout the aerospace community, and became a common nickname for research and development offices. The once informal nickname is now a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin.[8]

In November 1941, Kelsey gave the unofficial nod to Johnson and the P-38 team to engineer a drop tank system to extend range for the fighter, and they completed the initial research and development without a contract. When the Army Air Forces officially asked for a range extension solution it was ready.[9] The range modifications were performed in Lockheed's Building 304, starting with 100 P-38F models on April 15, 1942.[10] Some of the group of independent-minded engineers were later involved with the XP-80 project, the prototype of the P-80 Shooting Star.

Mary G. Ross, the first Native American female engineer, began working at Lockheed in 1942 on the mathematics of compressibility in high-speed flight[11]—a problem first seriously encountered in the P-38.[12] In 1952, she was invited to join the Skunk Works team.[11]

1950s to 1990s

[edit]
SR-71 at Lockheed Skunk Works
Assembly line of the SR-71 Blackbird at Skunk Works

In 1955, the Skunk Works received a contract from the CIA to build a spyplane known as the U-2 with the intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was tested at Groom Lake in the Nevada desert, and the Flight Test Engineer in charge was Joseph F. Ware, Jr. The first overflight took place on July 4 1956. The U-2 ceased overflights when Francis Gary Powers was shot down during a mission on May 1, 1960, while over Russia.

The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 would have a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. The CIA agreed. In late 1959, Skunk Works received a contract to build five A-12 aircraft at a cost of $96 million. Building a Mach 3.0+ aircraft out of titanium posed enormous difficulties, and the first flight did not occur until 1962. (Titanium supply was largely dominated by the Soviet Union, so the CIA used several shell corporations to acquire source material.) Several years later, the U.S. Air Force became interested in the design, and it ordered the SR-71 Blackbird, a two-seater version of the A-12. This aircraft first flew in 1966 and remained in service until 1998.

The D-21 drone, similar in design to the Blackbird, was built to overfly the Lop Nur nuclear test facility in China. This drone was launched from the back of a specially modified A-12, known as M-21, of which there were two built. After a fatal mid-air collision on the fourth launch, the drones were re-built as D-21Bs, and launched with a rocket booster from B-52s. Four operational missions were conducted over China, but the camera packages were never successfully recovered. Kelly Johnson headed the Skunk Works until 1975. He was succeeded by Ben Rich.

In 1976, the Skunk Works began production on a pair of stealth technology demonstrators for the U.S. Air Force named Have Blue in Building 82 at Burbank. These scaled-down demonstrators, built in only 18 months, were a revolutionary step forward in aviation technology because of their extremely small radar cross-section. After a series of successful test flights beginning in 1977, the Air force awarded Skunk Works the contract to build the F-117 stealth fighter on November 1, 1978.

During the entirety of the Cold War, the Skunk Works was located in Burbank, California, on the eastern side of Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (34°12′03″N 118°21′07″W / 34.200768°N 118.351826°W / 34.200768; -118.351826). After 1989, Lockheed reorganized its operations and relocated the Skunk Works to Site 10 at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, where it remains in operation today. Most of the old Skunk Works buildings in Burbank were demolished in the late 1990s to make room for parking lots. One main building still remains at 2777 Ontario Street in Burbank (near San Fernando Road), now used as an office building for digital film post-production and sound mixing. During the late 1990s when designing Pixar's building, Edwin Catmull and Steve Jobs visited a Skunkworks Building which influenced Jobs' design.[13] In 2009, the Skunk Works was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[14]

Projects

[edit]

2015 projects

[edit]

Next generation optionally-manned U-2 aircraft. During September 2015 the proposed aircraft was deemed to have developed into more of a tactical reconnaissance aircraft, instead of strategic reconnaissance.[15]

Aircraft

[edit]
A modern Skunk Works project leverages an older one: LASRE atop the SR-71 Blackbird.

Other

[edit]

Term origin

[edit]
The Skunk Works logo as seen on one of Lockheed Martin’s hangars.

The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner, which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s.[6] In the comic, the “Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch, in the backwoods of Kentucky. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the toxic fumes of the concentrated "skonk oil", which was brewed and barreled daily by "Big Barnsmell" (known as the lonely "inside man" at the Skonk Works), by grinding dead skunks and worn shoes into a smoldering still, for some mysterious, unspecified purpose.

In mid-1939[16] when Lockheed was expanding rapidly, the YP-38 project was moved a few blocks away to the newly purchased 3G Distillery, also known as Three G or GGG Distillery.[2] Lockheed took over the building but the sour smell of bourbon mash lingered, partly because the group of buildings continued to store barrels of aging whiskey.[17] The first YP-38 was built there before the team moved back to Lockheed's main factory a year later.[2][3] In 1964, Johnson told Look magazine that the bourbon distillery was the first of five Lockheed skunk works locations.[5]

During the development of the P-80 Shooting Star, Johnson's engineering team was located adjacent to a malodorous plastics factory.[4] According to Ben Rich’s memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a Civil Defense gas mask. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, Irv Culver, referred to the facility as "Skonk Works". As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. One day, when the Department of the Navy was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culver’s desk. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver". "What?" replied the voice at the other end. "Skonk Works", Culver repeated. The name stuck. Culver later said at an interview conducted in 1993 that "when Kelly Johnson heard about the incident, he promptly fired me. It didn’t really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways."[18][19][20][21]

At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.[22] The company also holds several registrations of it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. They have filed several challenges against registrants of domain names containing variations on the term under anti-cybersquatting policies, and have lost a case under the .uk domain name dispute resolution service against a company selling cannabis seeds and paraphernalia, which used the word "skunkworks" in its domain name (referring to "Skunk", the pungent smell of the cannabis flower). Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. The respondent company argued that Lockheed "used its size, resources and financial position to employ 'bullyboy' tactics against... a very small company."[23]

In Australia, the trademark for use of the name "Skunkworks" is held by Perth-based television accessory manufacturer The Novita Group Pty Ltd. Lockheed Martin formally registered opposition to the application in 2006, however the Australian government's intellectual property authority, IP Australia, rejected the opposition, awarding Novita the trademark in 2008.[24][25]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Marietta, Georgia - Where Legacies Begin". Lockheed Martin. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Bodie, 2001, p. 51.
  3. ^ a b c Current Biography Yearbook. H. W. Wilson Co. 1969. p. 199. At that time, Lockheed did not as yet have a formal engineering building, and so Johnson and his staff improvised a development plant using unoccupied corners in hangars and an old distillery. The results of this 'skunk works' approach was the legendary P-38 Lightning.
  4. ^ a b Bennis, Warren; Biederman, Patricia Ward (1997). Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration. Perseus Books. p. 117. ISBN 9780201339895.
  5. ^ a b Kocivar, Ben (October 6, 1964). "Collier Trophy". Look. Vol. 28, no. 20. p. 36. He calls his development plants 'skunk works'. There have been five of them – the first, an abandoned distillery.
  6. ^ a b "Skunk Works® Origin Story". Lockheed Martin. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Bodie, 2001, p. 23.
  8. ^ a b "The Skunk Works® Legacy". Lockheed Martin. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  9. ^ Bodie, 2001, p. 72.
  10. ^ Bodie, 2001, p. 94.
  11. ^ a b Briggs, Kara (December 24, 2008). "Cherokee rocket scientist leaves heavenly gift". Cherokee Phoenix. NMAI Newservice.
  12. ^ Anderson, John D., Jr (1998). "Research in Supersonic Flight and the Breaking of the Sound Barrier". In Pamela E. Mack (ed.). Engineering Science to Big Science. NASA. p. 72. ISBN 978-0160496400.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Catmull, Edwin (2014). Afterword: The Steve We Knew. Creativity Inc. ISBN 9780812993011.
  14. ^ Sprekelmeyer, Linda, ed. (2006). These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4..
  15. ^ Drew, James (September 14, 2015). "Lockheed Skunk Works' next-generation U-2 morphs into 'TR-X'". Flight Global. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  16. ^ "Aircraft Company Remodels Old Distillery". Los Angeles Times. June 25, 1939. p. V-3 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  17. ^ Cefaratt, Gil (2002). Lockheed: The People Behind the Story. Turner Publishing. pp. 89, 110. ISBN 9781563118470.
  18. ^ Pace, Steve (1992). Lockheed Skunk Works. Motorbooks Intl. p. 11. ISBN 978-0879386320.
  19. ^ Rich, Ben (1996). Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0316743006.
  20. ^ "How the Skunk Works got its name". Archived from the original on March 8, 2011.
  21. ^ Skunk Works Story | Aviation Revolutions, Lockheed, And Kelly Johnson. Retrieved February 24, 2024 – via YouTube.
  22. ^ Boyne, Walter J., Beyond the Horizons, p. 154.
  23. ^ "Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service – DRS 04100 – Lockheed Martin Corporation vs. UK Skunkworks Ltd – Decision of Appeal Panel" (PDF). Nominet UK. April 23, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2009.
  24. ^ Guan, Lilia (May 27, 2008). "Skunkworks wins trade name battle". CRN Australia. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
  25. ^ "Skunkworks wins naming right fight". Business News. May 28, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2022.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Bodie, Warren M. (2001). The Lockheed P-38 Lightning: The Definitive Story of Lockheed's P-38 Fighter. Hayesville, North Carolina: Widewing Publications. ISBN 0-9629359-5-6.
  • Miller, Jay (1995). Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History. Aerofax. ISBN 1-85780-037-0.
  • Rich, Ben; Leo, Janos (1996). Skunk Works. Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 0-316-74300-3.
[edit]

34°36′53″N 118°07′07″W / 34.614734°N 118.118676°W / 34.614734; -118.118676

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