Geek Trivia: Skunk Works of art

by Jay Garmon | Oct 10, 2006 7:51:00 PM

Tags: Aerospace & Defense, Jay Garmon, Skunk Works, SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Geek Trivia Newsletter

3 comment(s)

Takeaway: What comic strip is responsible for the nickname of the famous Lockheed Martin Skunk Works?

The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works is arguably the most revered and notorious aerospace development lab on the planet. Outfitted to design cutting-edge military aircraft, the Skunk Works has produced almost as many legends as it has warplanes. Don't believe me? Just take a look at the most respected accomplishment on the Skunk Works' record-breaking resume: the SR-71 Blackbird.

Even eight years out of service, the SR-71 still holds a number of U.S. and international speed records�not to mention a service record that remains largely classified. Moreover, we're talking about a 40-year-old aircraft design; the first SR-71 took to the air in 1966.

That's right: Skunk Works engineers designed and built this legendary craft without the aid of personal computers. Instead, they made history with slide rules. And the SR-71 is just one of several aircraft to have emerged from the Skunk Works.

P-38 Lightning: This memorable twin-boomed prop fighter distinguished itself in World War II.
P-80 Shooting Star: This was the United States' first operational jet fighter.
U-2 Dragon Lady: This was the long-tenured high-altitude spy plane used by the U.S. Air Force continuously since the 1950s. Francis Gary Powers was flying this plane when shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, and this was the model craft that photographed the Soviet installations that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
F-117A Nighthawk: This was the world's first operational stealth fighter.
F-35 Lightning II: The so-called Joint Strike Fighter, this craft can adapt to multiple roles for multiple armed services by multiple countries. It's the Swiss Army Knife of military aircraft.

Yet, for all its declassified distinction, the Skunk Works' most geek-worthy aspect is one lost on all but its most ardent fanboys�the origin of the Skunk Works name. The outfit's formal designation is the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects Unit, which doesn't mention a skunk anywhere.

That's particularly fitting because the origin of the Skunk Works title comes from a once-famous comic strip, one that never actually featured a skunk either.

WHAT COMIC STRIP IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NICKNAME OF THE FAMOUS LOCKHEED MARTIN SKUNK WORKS?

What once-famous comic strip is indirectly responsible for the Skunk Works nickname bestowed on the legendary Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Projects unit�despite the fact that the comic strip didn't explicitly feature a skunk?

The comic strip in question is Li'l Abner, drawn by the late, great Al Capp. The "Skonk Works" (note the spelling) was a notorious location within the Abnerverse�a backwoods moonshine still run by the character Big Barnsmell. Known as "the inside man at the Skonk Works," Barnsmell brewed his 'shine from dead skunks and old shoes�rather than corn�to produce his trademark "kickapoo joy juice."

According to Lockheed lore, it was engineer Irving Culver�a member of the P-80 Shooting Star project�that applied the Skonk Works name to the Lockheed Martin research lab. It seems that during the 1940s, the location of the future Skunk Works facility was downwind from a plastics factory, which made the surrounding area stink of chemicals.

Culver�an apparent Abner fan�thus took to answering his desk phone with the phrase "Skonk Works, inside man Culver." It became so habitual that when the Department of the Navy tried to reach the P-80 project office and accidentally got Culver, he said that exact joke answer to a high-level military muckety-muck.

And so was born a legend�and an informal nickname began its rise to notoriety. Originally, the Skunk Works was the Skonk Works, but Abner's copyright holders asked for a name change. Skunk Works became Lockheed Martin's official nickname in the 1960s�just in time for the SR-71 to make it famous.

The Skunk Works moniker is so well-known in aviation circles that at least one actual Skunk Works-designed aircraft will takes its name from the Skunk Works itself� well, sort of. Developed at Skunk Works, the P-175 Polecat Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is named in the facility's indirect honor�a polecat being a nickname for a skunk. That's not just an air of grandeur�it's aromatic and aerodynamic Geek Trivia.

Get ready for the Geekend

The Trivia Geek's blog has been reborn as the Geekend, an online archive of all things obscure, obtuse, and irrelevant�unless you're a hardcore geek with a penchant for science fiction, technology, and snark. Get a daily dose of subcultural illumination by joining the seven-day Geekend.

The Quibble of the Week

If you uncover a questionable fact or debatable aspect of this week's Geek Trivia, just post it in the discussion area of the article. Every week, yours truly will choose the best post from the assembled masses and discuss it in the next edition of Geek Trivia.

This week's quibble comes from the September 13 edition of Geek Trivia, "Elements of surprise." TechRepublic member Kramerjb suggested that I left off a couple of key items from my list of synthetic elements.

"I think astatine and francium would have [be] to added to that group of [synthetic] elements with atomic numbers below [uranium]. While it is true that tiny amounts do exist on the Earth as a product of other elements decaying, the same is true of [technetium], which exists in tiny quantities as a product of U-235 natural fission. At least [technetium] can be created in macroscopic quantities, which is not true of [francium]."

Well, this comment got me searching, and I tracked down this exact question as asked to a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, which knows a little something about atomic sciences. Here's what the scientist�one Jim Swenson�had to say.

"'Synthetic' can be a fuzzy question, a matter of human opinion more than science fact� If it were my choice, I would merely color all the elements with no stable isotope (43, 61, 83+) and then tell [my students] some stories about how some of the unstable ones manage to be encountered in nature, and that many of them are deliberately synthesized by man."

Thus, astatine (atomic number 85) and francium (atomic number 87) would be synthetic by this standard. I should have drawn my line of demarcation at bismuth (83)�not uranium (92). Thanks for the quick physics lesson, and keep those quibbles coming.

Falling behind on your weekly Geek fix?

Check out the Geek Trivia Archive, and catch up on the most recent editions of Geek Trivia.

Test your command of useless knowledge by subscribing to TechRepublic's Geek Trivia newsletter. Automatically sign up today!

The Trivia Geek, also known as Jay Garmon, is a former advertising copywriter and Web developer who's duped TechRepublic into underwriting his affinity for movies, sci-fi, comic books, technology, and all things geekish or subcultural.

3 comment(s)