The true Soviet motivation became clear in 1957, when Sputnik was launched on top of a liquid hydrogen-powered rocket.Įven though aspects of the project were a success, the Skunk Works team was unable to solve two problems with hydrogen-powered aircraft which still confront designers today. The Americans became convinced that the Soviets were developing their own space plane/spy plane, or a high-flying, high-speed interceptor to shoot down the U-2.
The electric plane leading a revolutionĮngineers believed they were in a "hydrogen race" against the Soviets after U-2 flights over the Soviet Union spotted the construction of liquid hydrogen plants. The Skunk Works, based in Burbank California, was a business-within-a-business that was free of the usual corporate oversight. Led by Lockheed's genius designer and secretive Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson, the dartlike flying machine was intended to fly at Mach 2.5 at 30,000m (100,000ft) with a skin temperature of 177✬ (350✯), have a range of 4,800km (3,000 miles) and be powered by liquid hydrogen – that is, hydrogen cooled down to cryogenic temperatures of around -423✯ (-253C). The Lockheed CL-400 Suntan was more like a space plane, or a Thunderbird, than a spy plane. This was the code name given to the "beyond top-secret" project to build the replacement for the Lockheed U-2 spy plane, which began in 1956. Rather than producing fertiliser for farmers, the site was probably the world’s largest producer of liquid hydrogen, which was needed for one thing: Project Suntan. 
The 10-square-mile (25.9 sq km) site was a clandestine government facility that, in the late 1950s, was at the heart of American efforts to spy on the Soviet nuclear arsenal.
It was one of the few clues that the Apix Fertilizer factory once hid a secret. A faded sign reading "CAMERAS FIREARMS NOT PERMITTED ON THIS PROPERTY" was attached to a gate blocking a forgotten access road. Few of the thousands of tourists who visit West Palm Beach, Florida, every year for its beaches notice the abandoned industrial site on the edge of town.
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