Guy visits all SR-71 Blackbird planes - photos

[mklotz]

It's important to note that the U2 and SR-71 were the product of a skunkworks development atmosphere. This work climate was characterized by a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy. Briefly, the engineers were "set loose" and allowed to develop not what management wanted but rather what would work for the problem to hand.

It's even more important to note how seldom the lesson of the success of the skunkworks has been adopted in other businesses.