Safronov. Soon after the MiG was hit, the destruction of the U-2 was confirmed. [97]
The confusion of the Soviet air defenses was echoed by that of U.S. intelligence. The Soviet radio transmissions had been intercepted. They were interpreted as indicating the U-2 had gradually descended for a half hour before being shot down. It was assumed the U-2 had flamed out. A cover story was issued that an unarmed civilian weather plane had crossed the Soviet border after the pilot had reported problems with his oxygen system.
Several days later, Khrushchev revealed that Powers had been captured and had confessed to spying. As Eisenhower feared, the U-2 wreckage was put on display in Moscow. Eisenhower made the unprecedented admission that he had personally authorized the overflights. No head of state had ever before admitted that his country spied in peacetime. The Paris Summit ended when Khrushchev demanded Eisenhower apologize for the overflights. Eisenhower would only give a promise that no future overflights would be made. Powers underwent a show trial and was sentenced to ten years. He was exchanged in February 1962 for a Soviet spy. He later worked for Lockheed as a U-2 test pilot.[98]
The U-2 detachments were brought home following the loss of Powers's aircraft. The number of CIA U-2 pilots was cut from about twenty-five to only seven.[99] The Detachment D headquarters squadron moved from the Ranch to North Base at Edwards Air Force Base in June 1960. The Lockheed test operation was moved to Burbank.[100] Groom Lake was about to become home for the greatest Dark Eagle ever built.
CHAPTER 3
The Archangel from Area 51
The A-12 Oxcart
What is called 'foreknowledge' cannot be elicited from spirits, nor from gods, nor by analogy with past events, nor by calculations. It must be obtained from men who know the enemy situation.
The December 24, 1962, issue
Behind those bland words was the greatest achievement of aeronautical technology. The program had already been under way for six years. The full dimension of the achievement of this greatest of the Dark Eagles would not be revealed for another three decades.
Despite the success of the U-2, its top speed of just over 400 knots was slower than that of some World War II prop fighters. It could only survive through height. With development of the SA-2 SAM, this was no longer enough. Well before Powers was shot down, it was clear any U-2 successor would have to fly both higher and faster. Much faster.
There had been early, pre-U-2 studies of high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. One was by Bell aircraft of the 'RX-1,' a second-generation X-l rocket-powered research aircraft with camera equipment. In the early 1950s, the X-1A reached a speed of Mach 2.44 and an altitude of 90,440 feet, both world records. The RX-1 would be carried to the target area by a 47 bomber; it would then be released, make the overflight, and be retrieved. It does not appear the idea progressed beyond the concept stage.[102]
A somewhat more practical idea was the air force-AVRO Canada's Project Y, also called WS-606A. This was a vertical-takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that used six Armstrong-Siddeley Viper jet engines, a CF-105 fuselage, and a disk-shaped wing. It was 37 feet long, with a dish-span of 29 feet. The top speed was Mach 3 to 4, with a maximum altitude of 95,000-plus feet. The combat radius was a mere 800 nautical miles in the VTOL mode. Although WS-606A had 1-A priority for a time in the mid-1950s,
What proved to be the most serious of these early attempts grew out of early 1950s work on aircraft fueled by liquid hydrogen. In early 1956, Johnson proposed to the air force a study design for a hydrogen-powered reconnaissance aircraft called the CL-400. It had a top speed of Mach 2.5, an altitude of 100,000 feet, and a range of 2,200 nautical miles. Johnson said he could have the prototype ready in eighteen months.
The CL-400 would be a huge aircraft—164.8 feet long with a wingspan of 83.8 feet. It used a T-tail and a retractable vertical fin that spanned nearly 30 feet. The fuselage was nearly 10 feet in diameter. The plane's two engines were located on the wingtips. It used a bicycle-type landing gear with the outriggers retracting into the engine pods. In shape, the CL-400 resembled a scaled-up F-104. The plane's insulated tanks held 21,440 pounds of liquid hydrogen. It had a crew of two and 1,500 pounds of reconnaissance equipment.
Lieutenant General Donald Putt, the deputy chief of staff for development, was very impressed with the CL- 400 proposal and indicated that the air force wanted such a high-speed aircraft within two or three years (the expected operating lifetime of the U-2). In February 1956, Pratt and Whitney was selected to build the engines, and Lockheed was given a contract for two prototypes. This was soon followed by a contract for six production CL-400s. By April, a full three months before the first U-2 overflight of the USSR, work on the project was under way. Lieutenant Colonel John Seaberg, who had set in motion the U-2, was named to manage the liquid hydrogen tanks, airframe, and systems. Major Alfred J. Gardner was to manage the engines, while Capt. Jay R. Brill would work on the logistical problems of producing, transporting, and storing liquid hydrogen.
The CL-400 was to be a Black airplane, due to the advanced technology and the need for rapid development. It was classified Top Secret (Codeword) and only twenty-five people had full access to the project. To speed development, near complete power to issue contracts was given to the managers. The project number was changed regularly and some contracts were written by other air force offices to hide their connection with the CL- 400.
At contractors' plants, CL-400 personnel were isolated from other employees. The project was given the code name 'Sun Tan.'[103]
Johnson saw the development of Sun Tan as more than aeronautical; the plane would require the routine production and transport of huge quantities of liquid hydrogen. Ben R. Rich, the Skunk Works engineer with dual responsibility for propulsion and hydrogen handling, liked to talk about 'acre-feet' of liquid hydrogen (code named 'SF-1' fuel). This was at a time when the
A major concern was the danger of hydrogen fire and explosion. The vivid images of the destruction of the
The tests were done at Fort Robertson, a converted bomb shelter near the Skunk Work's. Surprisingly,
Despite the high level of security that enveloped Sun Tan, several incidents occurred, funny in retrospect, that threatened to expose the project.
All of these related to the use of liquid hydrogen. The first such hydrogen 'leak' occurred when a female Skunk Works engineer (a rarity in the 1950s) attended a conference on hydrogen. Another engineer recognized her and began to wonder why Lockheed was interested in liquid hydrogen.
Another problem was the semitrailer used to transport liquid hydrogen.
Because of the light weight of liquid hydrogen (one gallon weighed one pound), the vehicle had only a single axle instead of the two a trailer of this size normally required. The single-axle arrangement attracted undue attention every time it went through state weighing stations. At one weigh station, a trailer was found to be 100
