Quote Originally Posted by lizbud
My son is an aero engineer & works at L/M. Although he works mostly
on missiles, he's always had a fascination with planes. They look
awesome.

Tell him, Good Job!

I live about 6 miles away from Burbank Airport..

That is where the "Skunk Works' was located for years. The Skunk Works was where all the prototypes of the secret Lockheed planes were designed and built.

Since planes like the SR-71 and the F-117 were built there, they could not be flown during the daylight hours because of their secret nature.

So, they would fly them out at night!

Either by deduction or 'loose lips', people soon would find out that (I seem to remember that it was a Thursday night) the planes would depart at a certain hour, on a certain day of the month.

People would flock to the end of the runway to see "what" was going to fly that night. I do remember reading a newspaper article about people who made this a party..I think that most of them were designers and engineers who wanted to see their handiwork work!

The airfield lights would go out and ZOOOOM, the planes would take off, not to return....they were going to Nevada - Area 51 - to be flight tested there.
I do remember the nights they would leave because nothing flies out of Burbank after 9:00 p.m. and these flights were VERY LATE at night!


In 93 I met a woman who was a secretary at Lockheed and knew Kelly Johnson, the famed test pilot for Lockheed.....She gave me a very nice poster of the f-22 with KJ flying the plane!

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Here is a bit of trivia regarding the SR - 71 spy plane. This story was told to me by one of the engineers that worked on it...


If you looked at the decals/markings on the plane there was a picture of a rabbit "flipping the bird" skyward.

If I remember correctly, some honcho came out to see the plane and commented on it..

"Why was it there?"

They Lockheed tech giving the tour explained that when the aircraft took off it scared the local desert fauna to death. The rabbits would dash across the landing strip, only to be burnt to a crisp from the engine's exhaust...

So, to honor the bunnies, someone drew up the picture and painted it on the rear fuselage....

there is a museum for the SR 71!

http://www.edwards.af.mil/museum/doc...d_airpark.html

They are beautiful planes, I have been to the park and the only rabbits to be seen around are the ones hopping around in the surrounding desert!