TOP SECRET : Lockheed’s ‘Skunk Works’ Turns 50
It was 50 years ago this month that Lockheed and its renowned aeronautical engineer Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson promised the U.S. Army Air Forces they would build a prototype for a jet fighter in 180 days.
World War II was raging as Johnson brought together a team of 23 engineers and 105 production people to design and build the XP-80. They worked under an order of absolute secrecy in a well-guarded shop building and circus tent-covered production area on Lockheed’s Burbank facility.
In just 143 days, Lulu-Belle, as the plane was nicknamed, was ready for flight.
It was the first of many aeronautical milestones for the super-secret unit that came to be known as the Skunk Works. These days, the Skunk Works continues to operate in secret in Palmdale, where it is being relocated as Lockheed shuts down its Burbank plant.
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The name Skunk Works, now a registered service mark of Lockheed, came from the comic strip “L’il Abner” which had a “skonk works” where the hillbillies made their moonshine. The team that created the XP-80 would say they were working in a place where Skunk Works chief Kelly Johnson was “stirring up some kind of potent brew.”
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One Pilot Remembers
Testing advanced aircraft requires the right stuff. Just ask Tony LeVier, one of four test pilots in the original Skunk Works team. There’s one flight from the early days that LeVier, 80, remembers well.
It was March 20, 1945, and LeVier flew an XP-80A out of Muroc Dry Lake, now Edwards Air Force Base. He climbed to an altitude of 15,000 feet and intentionally went into a dive. He was supposed to level out the jet at 10,000 feet but at 11,000 feet the engine blew up and sliced off the aircraft’s tail.
“You can’t believe what it was like,” he says. “I was subjected to very severe punishment in that cockpit.”
LeVier bailed out. The plane was lost.
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P-80: America’s first operational jet fighter. Evolved from the XP-80, the jet that led to the formation of Skunk Works, formally known as Lockheed Advanced Development Co. First flight: January, 1944.
T-33: A two-seat training version of the P-80 and the only Air Force jet trainer until 1957. Derivatives were also used by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force and sold to other nations around the globe. Some are still in use. First flight: March, 1948.
YC-130: Prototype to the C-130 Hercules airlifter, a troop and cargo transporter still in use. Ability to land on short, make-shift runways. First flight: August, 1954.
XF-104: The first operational fighter capable of flying at twice the speed of sound. Used by Air Force, NASA and other military forces around the world. First flight: March, 1954.
U-2: Advanced reconnaissance and research aircraft still being flown. Highest-flying, single-engine jet. On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down pilot Francis Gary Powers when he was flying over Soviet territory. First flight: August, 1955.
Have Blue: A “low observable” plane built to test a radar-evading design, it eventually led to development of the F-117A Stealth Fighter. Only two prototypes were built under a 1975 contract awarded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which has released only minimal information about the aircraft. Both prototypes were destroyed in accidents. First flight: December, 1977.
F-117A Stealth Fighter: First operational aircraft designed for low observability. Used extensively in Operation Desert Storm. The Stealth fighter was actually operational for several years before the government acknowledged its existence. First flight: June, 1981.
YF-22: A Lockheed-Boeing-General Dynamics team in 1991 won the ATF contract over a Northrop-led team to build this prototype for the Advanced Tactical Fighter. The Air Force originally said it would buy 750 of the next-generation fighters but later reduced the number to 648. The Air Force is now considering reducing the order further--to just 422 ATFs. Lockheed’s prototype YF-22 was destroyed by fire in a 1992 crash at Edwards Air Force Base. First flight: September 1990
