Origin of the name "Skunk Works"
The name originated from cartoonist Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip, which featured an outdoor still called the "Skonk Works" in which "Kickapoo Joy Juice" was manufactured from old shoes and dead skunks. Kelly Johnson's elite engineering group was originally housed in a rented circus tent adjacent to a smelly plastics factory. One day an aircraft designer answered the phone and said, "skonk works." The name stuck, and later became today's Skunk Works©, the "Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Program."
Skunk Works is a trademark of the Lockheed Martin Corporation