![]() This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. ![]() 16, 1943, four months after work had already begun. The formal contract for the XP-80 didn’t arrive at Lockheed until Oct. This project marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works®, with founder Kelly Johnson at its helm. Shortly after, the go-ahead was given for Lockheed to start developing the United States' first jet fighter. Johnson and his hand-picked team of engineers and mechanics delivered the XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter proposal to the ATSC. ![]() One month later, a young engineer named Clarence "Kelly" L. Army’s Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its dire need for a jet fighter to counter a rapidly growing German jet threat. The triangular mountain peak (just right of center in the far distance) is Tikaboo Peak, the single remaining location from where the curious can catch a faraway glimpse of Area 51.In June 1943, the U.S. Jacobsen writes of the picture at left, "A rare perspective on Area 51 looking northeast in 1955. This slideshow features several photos from her book. ![]() She also interviewed a number of military veterans who worked there at the time. Jacobsen dove through thousands of recently-declassified documents to reveal what happened in the 1940s, '50s and '60s at the government-restricted area near Groom Lake, Nevada. A new book by Los Angeles Times journalist Annie Jacobsen, "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base" (Little Brown), tells the story of the famous site that has spurred tales and rumors of intrigue and cover-ups. ![]()
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