It was a dangerous life. Struts broke into pieces, engines failed, wing fabric ripped, and landing wheels collapsed. Quite a few would-be pilots never made a second flight.

Pumps whine as jet fuel flows through the hollow boom into the F-16 at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. In just under seven minutes, nearly 10,000 pounds of fuel are transferred and the thirsting fighter is topped off.

Skunk Works looks back proudly on fifty years of the most innovative accomplishments in aerospace engineering ever recorded. To celebrate the milestone, the company has pulled the wraps off some of its lesser-known historically significant projects.