The ORIGINAL Skunkworks!

Our government demanded we build a jet plane in 150 days! Kelly took the challenge, but all of Lockheed's manufacturing areas were taken up with manufacturing P-38's, so Kelly built a tent for the production work - BUT it was near a smelly plastics factory.

1943. Al Capp was drawing a running gag about stinky places.



and Big Barnsmell, the inside man.


Each member of Kelly Johnson’s team was cautioned that design and production of the new XP-80 must be carried out in strict secrecy. No one was to discuss the project outside the small organization, and team members were even warned to be careful about how they answered the phones.

A team engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp. One day, Culver's phone rang and he answered it by saying "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking."

Fellow employees quickly adopted the name for their mysterious division of Lockheed. "Skonk Works" became "Skunk Works."



The CIA got involved when they had the "Skunkworks" build the U-2 plane, and many others, moving on to Area 51.


Mystery solved.