Lockheed Martin is known today for sleek, dominant machines like the F-22, but the road to aviation mastery was paved with prototypes that range from the visionary to the downright bizarre. Here are six Lockheed designs that challenged physics and logic but never entered mass production.

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in traffic near the IKEA in Burbank or catching a flight out of Hollywood Burbank Airport, you’ve walked the grounds of what was once a massive, dusty sheep ranch. The city we know today as the "Media Capital of the World" didn't start with movie studios; it started with a dentist from New Hampshire named Dr. David Burbank.

Burbank, California, is world-renowned today as the "Media Capital of the World," but before the silver screen took over, the city’s pulse was driven by the roar of radial engines and the scent of aviation fuel. The catalyst for this transformation? A sleek, wooden wonder called the Lockheed Vega.