Skunk Works in Burbank, CA.

I understand that "skunkworks" is now located in the Palmdale area or up at Edwards Air force Base in the Mojave Desert. I just wanted to start a thread about the exact location(s) of the top secret facility.

My 2 cents: I was born and raised in Burbank CA. My grandfather came to the Burbank area in 1942 from Minnesota. Met his future wife, married, had a couple of kids (my mother being one), and lived up on the hill of Burbank for over 50 years.
He used to tell me about this story. Every Wednesday night at 10:30PM, a cargo plane (C130, I believe) would come into Burbank and land at this side field runway adjacent to Burbank airport. (That does not exist any longer) From what he gathered from others in town that once the plane landed, about a dozen or so armed soldiers would jump out of the cargo bay from the end of the plane. They would have weapons dawn and encircled the plane as they unloaded and loaded cargo. Assumable top secret aircraft parts and sections and take off again within a couple hour period. No one really knew exactly what they were doing during these operations, but after skunkworks moved out the stories came out little by little. Apparently this site was the original skunkworks facility? In about 1987/88/89 or so that facility was dismantled and laid barren for a few years. Just dirt. Then in about 1990 or so, a few of those construction trailers were erected on that site, and the land there was tilled and tilled and moved out and around. Around this time I was a teenager and worked part-time for "copy central" kind of like a "Kinko’s" and once a week for about 6 months I would deliver boxes of photocopies to these construction trailers. One day I asked a lady that worked in one of the trailers, what are you guys doing over here? She told me that "Lockheed" used to build jets and aircraft on this site and that the fuels and whatnot were toxic and the land had to be cleaned. She even went as far to say that this land can never be used because it was so toxic. I remember saying to myself and a few friends, dang that site will never be anything because of the toxins.
Well my friends, do you know what is on that site to today?

google.com/maps< br />
www.zelman.com...

That's right, a shopping center with several restaurants that prepare food that we eat. Some of you may have frequented this shopping center before. I think it just weird that they actually built in this site.

Anyway that is my 2 cents.

Comments?


Mod Edit: Link format edited. Please review this post.


[edit on 18-1-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

All I know is that when my dad was part of Skunk Works (SR-71 Navigator), he was stationed at Edwards AFB. That was in the late 80's. Skunk Works is the official title for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs. This program has made the SR-71, the U-2, the F-117, and the F-35 JSF. You're right. It used to be located in Burbank, as I found on Wikipedia. It was and still is one of the most highly classified projects run by a civilian defense contractor.

See thats exactly why I don't go over to the Burbank Media Center Mall. Can't trust it! Besides there are way too many bored cops in Burbank, giving out sketeboarding tickets and what have you.

I always thought though that the skunkworks building was the one located inside the Burbank airport across from the passanger drop off for American Airlines, and Southwest Air.

EIther way I think Burbank is pretty lived and grew up in N. Hollywood for a while but not a place i would want to live. Although I had fond memories of taking Karate at the Verdugo Park.

Brubanks was the Origional home of the Lockheed Skunk Works. In fact if you read the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, you will find that at one time, they use to use the runway of Burbank International Airport for the C-5's that would pick up secret projects and shuttle them to places like Groom Lake.

Tim

that was a great book!

I loved the stories the SR-71 pilots tell in the middle half of the book. About Flying through french airspace without permision, and flipping the french interceptor pilots the bird once they slowed down enough to let them "escort" them while demanding for authorization codes to fly over, and then hitting the after burners and breaking the escort leaving the french chumps in their exhaust.

Or about how they would make the SR-71 take off for overflights of russia from japanese air bases at specific times and at certain angles so that the plane would be better siluetted to be photographed by the russian "fishing Trawlers" hanging around out side the base. Just to show off because they knew the russians had nothing close to the SR-71 in tech.

A great read for anybody into skunkworks.

But I knew they had design houses located in burbank but that the first mock ups and prototypes were actually built at the hanger across from the passanger drop off at burbank airport. The one that they demolished after lockheed left and is now still an barren pit. From there they would sneek them out (Secret Aircraft)on the back of trucks or with transport aircraft in the middle of the night.

Wanted to mention a story my papa (Grandfather) told me about, not too significant... but here it is:

My Grandfather, Earl was a mechanic for over 30 years in Glendale and Burbank. He had a customer that trusted him with his vehicles. This gentleman was an air force pilot that piloted the SR-71 Blackbird. Papa told me one day that this gentleman brought one of his cars in for papa to look at that that this gentleman asked my grandfather one day, hey Earl have I ever told what I did for a living? Papa said, "No", and this gentleman said that he was a pilot that flew the SR-71.

To cut to the point he said that when he took off from Edwards with full after burners going that he would get so high up in altitude and at such a fast rate of speed that once he was over Arizona he would run out of fuel and glide down, he would end up in Florida or the US Virgin Islands.

I think that is amazing, since this was back in the 70's.

From what I understand, the SR-71 (that was created in the 50's/60's for the CIA) has about 60,000 horsepower per engine.

Amazing...


[edit on 1/20/2007 by Illuminated_1]

[edit on 1/20/2007 by Illuminated_1]

Thank you For sharing your interesting story.

I also grew up in north hollywood. I remember the plane every wednesday coming over my house. I asked John lear what plane it was, He said it was a Lockheed Constellation , But he said it went out on mondays. I had heard from people i knew that did private contracting with lockheed That they was building secret aircraft at the burbank airport. And someone was talking about the burbank cops Yea, they would pull you over for doing just one mile an hour over the limit. I tried to steer clear of that town, Never drove to far past Cahuenga blvd. Magnolia was the worst stretch to drive through. Man this thread brings back memories. Anyone go to north hollywood high I graduated in 1987. and i lived at the corner of magnolia and denny. a hint to anyone that may have known me back then. I also got to see the stealth do a touch and go on the runway at burbank airport before it was known to the public of there existence. Maybe around 100 of us standing along the fence waiting for it. ( lockheed inside info) thats how i heard about it. Then in 1996 or so, i was living in palmdale and got to see the stealth bomber around 40 feet above my head passing open an open field in the middle of nowhere.
It was close enough to see the red rectangles cut out throughout the bottom of it.very cool indeed.