Jim, Tom, all : According to the 1997 book " Area 51, The Dreamland
Chronicles " by David Darlington, and all about the highly secret military
base
and complex at Groom Lake, Nevada ...... this " Skunk Works " name for
Lockheed' s Palmdale, California facility for the development of experimental
aircraft, such as the incredible A12SR-71 Blackbird, came about because
of one employee . This individual was a " Li' l Abner " ( comic strip
character
similar to our own Keith Turk ) fan, and borrowing that term from the strip,
would
answer his phone with, " Skunk Works ! " At least that's the way the author
tells it ! He also says of the division' s former director, Kelly Johnson,
a true
genius at aircraft design, that his work motto was : " Be quick, be quiet,
and be on time, " and he often used the acronym : KISS ...... which meant :
" KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID ". This very interesting book mentions
some WAY OUT vehicles MUCH faster than our land speed racers !
Darrell and I saw some of the facility's buildings as we left from our
only
trip to El Mirage dry lake, and he still talks about seeing an SR-71 plane
land
at an airshow at Beale AFB in Northern California ....... he was very
impressed !
Bruce, where it rained as much today as Jim probably gets in a year
........
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