The fastest plane in the world龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com
全球最快的飞机龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com

外文来源：http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/10/travel/sr71-blackbird-worlds-fastest-plane/index.html

Warner Robins, Georgia (CNN)Al Joersz and George Morgan remember the day they joined the ranks of the fastest men alive.
Warner Robins, Georgia (CNN)艾尔霍尔兹和乔治摩根回忆起他加入世界最快男人行列的那一天。

In 1976 they smashed the world aviation speed record by blasting across the Western United States in America's super spy plane, the Lockheed SR-71.
1976年，他们驾驶美国最先进的侦察机洛克希德SR-71跨越美国西部，打破了飞行速度纪录。

Official speed: 2,193 mph.
权威速度记录：2193英里/小时。

"It wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal," Joersz said on the phone from his home in Temple, Texas.
霍尔兹在他德克萨斯州坦普尔的家用电话中说，“我们本没期待会创造奇迹，”

But it's still kind of a big deal. That was nearly 40 years ago, and their record still stands.
但是，这依然是一个奇迹。这个记录创造于40年前，今天，仍未被打破。

"We knew we were going to be setting some records, but we didn't look at it as something that would endure this long."
“我们当时知道，我们将会创造一些记录，但是，我们并没有期望这个记录会保持这么久。”

The two Air Force officers had been picked to fly a special U.S. military demonstration for the World Air Sports Federation, the international group that oversees aviation records.
这两名飞行员被选中为航空活动同盟进行特技军事飞行表演，国际组织负责测量飞行记录。

Morgan, who spoke with CNN by phone from his home in Hoodsport, Washington, said they were lucky to get the assignment. "We didn't go as fast as we could. We just went as fast as we needed to go to set the record."
摩根，在华盛顿Hoodsport他自己的家中接受CNN的电话采访，他说，他们能得到这个任务很幸运。“我们没有达到我们最大的速度，我们只是尽可能的达到创造记录的速度。”

Moving at 2,193 mph may be hard to wrap your head around.
时速2193英里可能让你很难想象。

This may help:
下面这些可能对你有帮助：

? Think about moving more than three times faster than the speed of sound, aka Mach 3.
想象下移动速度超过音速3倍，又称3马赫。

? Consider this: It's more than 33 miles per minute.
想象下这个：每分钟33英里。

? Somebody call Superman: Joersz and Morgan literally flew "faster than a speeding bullet."
一些人叫他们超人：毫不夸张的说，霍尔兹和摩根的飞行速度“超越了子弹。”

Airmen Al Joersz, left, and George Morgan hold a bicentennial American flag after breaking the world aviation speed record in 1976.
霍尔兹，左，和摩根在1976年打破世界飞行速度记录后，一起拿着美国建国200年旗帜。

Clearly this flying machine was special. In fact, the SR-71 proved itself from the 1960s through the 1990s as an important intelligence tool that helped ease rising U.S.-Soviet tensions during the Cold War.
很明显，这个飞行器是特殊的。事实上，SR-71作为从1960年代到1990年代最重要的侦察工具，有效缓解了美苏冷战的紧张感。

Spirits were high at California's Beale Air Force Base on July 28, 1976, as the ground crew buckled Joersz and Morgan into their seats — Joersz, the pilot, in front; Morgan, the reconnaissance officer in charge of surveillance equipment, sitting in a separate cockpit, behind.
1976年7月28日的加利福尼亚比尔空军基地充满了喜悦气氛，地勤人员们让霍尔兹和摩根坐在他们的座位上——霍尔兹，驾驶员，在前；摩根，负责监控设备的侦查员，在后，坐在独立的飞行员座舱里。

They looked like astronauts in their helmets and pressurized flight suits, which were required because the plane flies so high. Joersz recalls that the tanks were almost full — filled with a unique fuel developed especially for the plane's two huge, powerful engines.
戴上头盔并穿上加压飞行服的他们看起来就像宇航员，这些装备是必须的，因为飞机速度太快了。霍尔兹回忆说，油箱几乎是满的——充满了一种特殊的燃料，为了供应这架飞机的两个巨大又高效的发动机。

After making final checks of their equipment, Joersz lined up the long, black, ominous aircraft at the end of the runway. Ground crews signaled a green light for departure. Then Joersz put his left hand on the throttle, pushed it forward and aircraft Number 17958 took off.
在做了最终设备检查后，霍尔兹走向停在跑道尽头的一长排黑色恐怖的飞机。地勤人员发出准许飞行的蓝色信号灯。霍尔兹左手握住油门，推向前方，编号为17958的飞机离地而起。

"We climbed directly to our target altitude right from brake release," Joersz remembered. Soon they were soaring at 80,600 feet — more than twice the altitude of passenger jets — so high that Joersz remembers seeing the curvature of the Earth.
“我们松开制动器，爬升到目标高度，”霍尔兹回忆道。不久，他们爬升到80600英尺——相当于客机的一倍——如此之高，以至于霍尔兹回忆说他看到了地球的弧线。

After leveling off, he shot the plane at full throttle across most of the first pass of the 15 kilometer straight-line course.
飞机开始平行飞行，他把油门开到最大，第一次穿越离地15千米高的航线。

In the seat behind him, Morgan helped Joersz follow the mission checklist and made sure they remained on track. "I was watching very closely to make sure we were right on the money," Morgan said. "And we were."
在他座位的后方，摩根帮助霍尔兹保持既定航线，确信他们没有偏离航线。“我非常紧张的观察，确定我们在正确的航线上，”摩根说，“我们确实在。”

To break the record, the rules called for Joersz to turn the plane around and repeat the same path at virtually the same altitude. Morgan fed Joersz audio cues alerting him when to change course.
为了打破纪录，规范要求霍尔兹调整飞机，让飞机在同一高度同一航线飞行。摩根给霍尔兹声音提示，在他偏离航线时，提前警告他。

"I powered back ... and began the turn — 90 degrees to the left, then a 270-degree turn to the right," Joersz said. The jet re-entered the course at precisely 80,600 feet. That's about 15 miles high.
“我减小油门。。。开始以90度转角转向左方，然后270度转角转向右方，”霍尔兹说。飞机在80600英尺（15英里）高度重新进入航线。

Morgan and Joersz encouraged each other over their headsets, Morgan recalled." 'What do you think? Are we gonna make this thing? Oh, yeah, piece of cake!' "
摩根和霍尔兹在耳机通话中互相鼓励，摩根回忆，“‘你在想什么？我们会完成这个任务吗？噢，会的，小菜一碟！’”

As Joersz remembers, after flying over four states, they landed safely back at Beale about 55 minutes after they took off.
霍尔兹回忆，飞越四个州之后，他们安全返航，降落在比尔基地，距他们起飞大约55分钟。

The plane came to a stop. Joersz and Morgan climbed out of their cockpits and were met by a crowd of VIPs saluting, shaking hands and back-slapping. The celebration included generals, Lockheed executives and a congratulatory phone call with the commander in chief of the Air Force Strategic Air Command.
飞机停下后，霍尔兹和摩根爬出机舱，得到达官贵人们的欢迎，握手和宴请。欢迎人群包括将军们，洛克希德高层和空军基地司令的电话慰问。

Per the rules, the official speed was an average of both legs. Final calculations showed that Joersz and Morgan had broken the previous record by 123 mph -- set by a similar Air Force spy plane, the YF-12A, in the '60s.
根据规则，官方数据来自多个结果的平均数。最终结果表明，霍尔兹和摩根比之前的记录快了123英里/小时——那个记录是一架类似的空军侦察机YF-12A在60年代创造。

They actually thought they could do better, hoping for 2,200 mph, said Joersz. "We got pretty close — within 7 mph."
他们确实认为自己会做的更好，希望能达到2200英里/小时，霍尔兹说，“我们已经很接近了——只差7英里/小时。”

Superhot
超级热度

Now, four decades later, the plane Joersz and Morgan flew that day holds court inside a hangar at the Museum of Aviation near Georgia's Warner Robins Air Force Base.
现在，四十年后，霍尔兹和摩根创造记录的那架飞机停留在乔治亚州华纳罗宾斯空军基地附近的航空博物馆的机库中。

Stenciled on its towering tail is a white snake and the number 17958. It's easy to imagine it streaking across the sky that day in 1976.
飞机的机尾上印刷着一条白蛇和编号17958.很容易让人联想到它1976年飞越天空的样子。

From tip to tail, the jet shows engineering details that scream speed:
从头到尾，这架飞机的发动机展示出惊人的速度：

? Dramatically sweeping delta-shaped wings
引人注目的三角形机翼

? Giant, custom made engines that gulped 8,000 gallons of fuel per hour at cruising speed
巨大，在巡航过程中，发动机每小时喝掉8000加仑燃料

? Tires that were infused with aluminum powder to ward off temperatures upward of 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
轮胎中灌有铅粉，以避免温度上升到600华氏度。

? Quartz-covered cockpit windows, which got so hot from high-speed friction that pilots warmed their in-flight meals by holding their food up to the glass. Despite protection from his pressure suit gloves, "you couldn't hold your hand up to the glass for more than five seconds without pulling it back due to the heat," Joersz said.
石英制的座舱玻璃，依靠高速飞行中的摩擦生热，飞行员可以在玻璃上加热他们的飞行简餐。即使戴着加压手套，霍尔兹说，“你还是不能把手放在玻璃上超过5秒钟，因为太热了。”

Planes have flown faster — unofficially — but this is the one that set the official record for a piloted plane powered by an air-breathing engine.
飞机飞行过快了——正常来说是的——但是，这是一次装有吸气式发动机的飞机进行的创造记录的行为。

The pressurized flight suits added to "the mystique, the magic, the drama of this airplane," Joersz said. They also led to awkward moments. The simple act of scratching your nose was made nearly impossible while wearing a helmet. "You figured out a way to do it by turning your head and the helmet and using the mic to scratch your nose," Joersz said.
霍尔兹说，加压飞行服拥有“秘诀，魔法，戏剧性”。他们也造成了尴尬。比如，最简单的挠鼻子的动作在戴着头盔的时候是不可能做到的。“你只能转动你的脑袋，用麦克风挠你的鼻子。”

'Bam!'
‘嘭！’

Despite its speed, piloting the SR-71 didn't feel the same as flying a fighter jet during air-to-air combat, said Joersz. The plane's design sacrifices maneuverability for speed and higher altitude. "I definitely wouldn't call it boring," he joked. "It's more intense — rather than a lot of thrashing around." The plane "wasn't excruciatingly difficult to fly, it was just challenging. You had to pay a lot of attention and be prepared to handle little things it would throw at you once in a while."
霍尔兹说，即使速度如此快，SR-71在空战中却达不到这样的速度，这架飞机以牺牲机动性的方式来提供速度和高度。“我不愿意叫它无聊，”他笑道，“但是它太稳定了——根本不能做很多翻滚动作。”这架飞机“并不难于驾驶，这只是场挑战。你不得不花大量精力防止一些小东西突然发生在你身上。”

Those "little things" could be dangerous, like the phenomenon known as "unstarts."
那些“小东西”可能很危险，就像被叫做“急停”的事情。

Unstarts happened when shock waves created by the jet's incredible speed would suddenly force one engine to lose power, shoving the plane suddenly sideways.
急停，会在飞机因难以置信的速度飞行时造成颠簸，突然导致一台发动机停止工作，造成飞机突然向一方猛偏时，发生。

"The plane sucks that shock wave in there," Morgan said. "It just slams that engine shut. If your helmet hit the left cockpit window — bam! — that meant it was the right engine. That was the key. It happened so fast, you really didn't have time to look around."
“飞机在颠簸时是非常危险的，”摩根说。“他会导致发动机突然停摆，如果你的头盔撞到左侧的机舱窗户——嘭！——这意味着右引擎出问题了。这是在天空中。发生的太快，你根本没有时间检查。”

Reconnaissance Systems Officer George Morgan stands in front of a Cold War-era U.S. Air Force SR-71 spy plane in an undated photo.
侦察设备操控人员摩根站在冷战时代的美国SR-71侦察机前面，照片没有日期。

If the pilot failed to control the unstart, "The nose would pitch up," said Joersz. "If the pitch up became too extreme, then you could lose the airplane ... the airplane would break apart."
如果飞行员没能控制住急停，“飞机前端会上扬”霍尔兹说，“如果上扬幅度非常大，我们可能就要放弃飞机了。。。飞机会解体。”

Training for how to handle unstarts "got your heart beating pretty well," Joersz said. "After a while you kind of got used to them." Eventually the planes were outfitted with an automatic system that helped pilots manage unstarts.
训练应对急停时，“保持你的心脏强健，”霍尔兹说。“一个短暂的时间内，你会用到它。”最终，飞机会使用一个自动系统来帮助你应对急停。

'Drip, drip, drip'
‘漏油，漏油，漏油’

Another quirk: The plane was infamous for leaking fuel.
另一个问题：飞机在漏油方面臭名昭著。

The extreme temperature changes expanded and contracted its fuel tanks. Eventually that created leaks in the sealant where the tanks were joined. "Lockheed changed the sealant composition many times through the years trying to get one that would work better than the last one — trying to solve the issue of the leaks," Joersz said. "But they never did. It always leaked."
极端温度变化非常大，会导致燃料箱热胀冷缩。“洛克希德这些年多次改变填充剂的材料，以让它质量更好——来解决漏油的问题，”霍尔兹说。“但是，他们失败了，它还是总会漏油。”

"It didn't pour out, but it was leaking — yeah — drip, drip drip," said Morgan. "But when you get up to speed, the planes kind of seal themselves."
“它没有倾泻而出，但是，它确实正在漏油——哈——漏油，漏油，漏油，”摩根说。“但是，当达到速度时，飞机自己会封上它。”

Spotting a ball 15 miles away
15英里外抓拍踢球

The plane wasn't just fast. It took pictures. Really, really detailed pictures.
这架飞机不仅仅是快。他还能拍照片。真实的详尽照片。

During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, U.S.-Soviet tensions spiked when Israeli forces squared off against the armies of Egypt and Syria. Joersz and Morgan flew missions in separate planes over the region.
在1973年赎罪日战争期间，当以色列与埃及和叙利亚军队剑拔弩张时，美苏紧张局势升级。霍尔兹和摩根分别单独驾驶飞机在这个区域执行任务。

"Making a turn, we took a picture of a soccer game which was off to the side about 12-15 miles away and we could see the soccer ball coming off a guy's foot," Morgan said. "It wasn't really perfect, but you could tell the guy was kicking a ball."
“正在转弯时，我们拍到了一张足球赛的照片，足球赛在12-15英里外，我们能看到足球从一名球员的脚上离开，”摩根说。“不是很清晰，但我能确定他正在踢那个球。”

FAS.org posted this 1981 image of a Nicaraguan airfield, which it says was captured by surveillance equipment aboard an SR-71.
FAS.org，拍摄于1981年的尼加拉瓜机场，据说是被SR-71上的侦察设备拍到的。

During those tense days, President Richard Nixon moved the alert level for American forces to Defcon 3 — Defense Condition 3 — one step closer to war. The spy planes returned with "photographic information that allowed us to provide a clear picture of how the war was progressing," Joersz said. "So we helped our national decision makers make wise decisions to do — and not do — particular things."
在那些紧张的日子里，总统理查德尼克松把美国核危机级别调整到3级——3级戒备——一个接近战争的级别。侦察机回程时，允许我们拍一些表现战争进程的清晰照片，霍尔兹说，“所以，我们帮助我们的决策者决定是做——还是不做——一些关键的事。”

Breaking up
分手

Flying and maintaining the SR-71 was expensive. Nonetheless, the aircraft was such a valuable spy tool that Washington had a hard time breaking up with it. It could do things satellites couldn't.
飞行和维护SR-71极其昂贵。尽管如此，因为这架飞机是非常有价值的侦察工具，华盛顿还是让他服役了好久。它能做卫星做不了的事情。

"Everybody knows when a satellite is coming. They just go hide 'til the satellite goes away," Morgan said. "But when the SR shows up, nobody knows it's there."
“每个人都知道，当卫星来的时候，他们只需要隐藏起来，等卫星走就可以了，”摩根说，“但是，当SR来的时候，没人知道它在那里。”

Congress eventually forced the SR-71 into retirement in 1989. But the Pentagon missed it so much, the plane briefly returned to duty in the '90s. Finally, the last two deployed SR-71s — which NASA was using for research — were put out to pasture in 1999.
国会最终在1989年让SR-71退役。但是，五角大楼非常想念它，这架飞机在1990年代短暂的复役。最终，最后两架部署的SR-71s——作为NASA的科研机——在1999年退役。

Lockheed built only 32 SR-71s. Most of them now live in museums. Number 17958 was delivered to Warner Robins in 1990. It sits next to other military surveillance icons, the Global Hawk and the U2.
洛克希德仅建造了32架SR-71s。大部分现在在博物馆。编号17958机在1990年被交付给华纳罗宾斯。它停靠在其它军事侦察机里程碑的旁边，比如，全球鹰和U2。

Now age 71 and retired, Joersz is confident a new aircraft will someday break the record, perhaps reaching five or even six times the speed of sound. "It'll make Mach 3 seem pretty slow."
71岁高龄且已退休，霍尔兹相信会有一个新的飞机在某一天打破这个记录，可能会达到五倍甚至六倍音速。“那会让3马赫显得太慢了。”

In fact, last December, NASA hired Lockheed to research development of a new hypersonic engine that might power a surveillance jet named the SR-72.
事实上，去年12月，NASA雇佣洛克希德来研发一种新的超音速引擎，可能会作为一种叫做SR-72侦察机的引擎。

Lockheed Martin says it's developing a successor to the legendary supersonic SR-71 spy jet. They're calling it the SR-72.
洛克希德马丁说，它正在研发一种能继承传奇的超音速SR-71侦察机的新侦察机。他们叫它SR-72。

As the 40th anniversary of their famous flight draws near, Joersz is considering a trip to Georgia to reconnect with the plane that put him in the record books. "I felt very, very fortunate to be a guy that was flying this wonderful airplane," he said.
在他们著名飞行40周年纪念日临近的时候，霍尔兹考虑重新进行一场到乔治亚州的飞行，以纪念这架让自己载入史册的飞机。他说，“能作为驾驶这架神奇飞机的飞行员，我感到非常，非常幸运。”

The bonds between these machines and their flight crews still run deep. Morgan, now 74, also would love to reunite with the fastest plane in the world. "The first thing you would do is walk up to it and touch it," he said, and relive a few supersonic memories.
这些飞机与它们的飞行员仍有深厚的情谊。摩根，现年74岁，还希望与这架最快的飞机重聚。他说，“你最想做的事情就是走近它，触摸它。”并唤起超音速时代的记忆。

"That's my baby," Morgan said. "She did her job and she came through."
“它是我的孩子，”摩根说，“她做她的工作，并获得了成功。”

译者：载入中。。。

美媒回忆全球最快的飞机