Piece of aviation history towed away

As printed in the Burbank Leader, Sep. 5, 2001. Written by Ryan Carter

BURBANK-A 60-foot trailer used in the last days of the Lockheed era at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport is more than just an old, discarded building for Gil Cefaratt.

For the 73-year-old North Hollywood resident, the trailer he said he bought for a dollar from the airport is the last link to days of old for Lockheed-Martin Corp. "It's the last unit around," Cefaratt said. "It had been at Plant B-6 for Skunk Works."

Skunk Works was the name for Lockheed-Martin's top-secret development plant, where planes such as the supersonic SR-71 were designed.

But Cefaratt's frantic search to find a local aviation outlet failed. That's why Sunday crews came to tow the trailer away. Cefaratt donated the trailer to March Field Air Museum in Riverside. But it was not without a bit of sadness.

"I wanted to keep it in the area for the Burbank Aviation Museum" Cefaratt said. "But they never could come up with a space for it." The museum wanted it but didn't have the space or money to rent a space for one, said Ron Dickson, a Director for the museum.

In its prime, the mobile unit - tagged with the code 364-T on the outside - was probably used by Lockheed in an area northeast of the current tower beginning in the 1970s.

"I would say it's the last building that hasn't been recycled," Dickson said.

Cefaratt, who's working on a book about Lockheed employees, said he found the trailer last year when taking photographs of an airport demolition project.

The trailer will probably be used as storage and office space, said Sally Ann Maas, director of the March Field Air Museum.

Gil Cefarratt with the last unaltered Lockheed building in Burbank.

As printed in the Burbank Leader, Sep. 5, 2001. Written by Ryan Carter