2020年经济学人 查尔斯·耶格尔将军(2)

（单词翻译）

But when on October 14th 1947 he was dropped in the Bell X-1, a rocket-powered experimental plane, from the bomb bay of a B-29, he had no idea what lay ahead. Fun, probably, as he loved the X-1, and in his post-war test-pilot job he preferred tactical flying that focused on one aircraft, rather than a dozen different planes every week. It was more like combat, and the band of pilots he now belonged to, at Muroc air force base in California, were ex-warriors who felt the same way.

但1947年10月14日，他被扔在贝尔X-1火箭动力实验飞机上，在B-29的炸弹舱里，他根本不知道前方会发生什么。可能很有趣，因为他喜欢X-1，在战后试飞员的工作中，他更喜欢专注于一架飞机的战术飞行，而不是每周有十几架不同的飞机。这更像是战斗，他现在所属的飞行员队伍，在加州的穆洛克空军基地，其他飞行员也曾经是勇士，他们感同身受。

Glamorous¹ Glennis was painted on the bright orange fuselage in tribute to his wife, the wife with whom he'd had a horseback race two nights before, busting² a couple of ribs³ when his horse flipped⁴ him, which still hurt like hell. The engineers back at base feared that breaching⁵ the sound barrier might rip the aircraft apart. The least he expected was something like a bump in the road, to show he'd done it: strong proof for the friendly rivals back at base. Instead, at around 700mph (1,126kph) he felt nothing particular, just a bit of resistance, like poking⁶ his finger through Jell-O.

迷人的格伦尼斯被画在明亮的橙色机身上，向他的妻子致敬，两天前和他一起骑马的妻子，他落下了马，几根肋骨被摔断了，现在还非常疼。回到基地的工程师们担心，打破声屏障可能会把飞机撕成碎片。他最不希望看到的是道路上的一个颠簸，以证明他做到了这一点：为基地的友好对手提供了有力的证据。相反，在700英里/小时左右，他没有感到什么特别的，只是有点阻力，就像用手指戳果冻一样。

He got the Collier trophy⁷ for it, a nice statuette on a plinth, and the family went to the White House to collect it, his father, a staunch Republican, refused to shake Harry⁸ Truman's hand. But it was quite a let-down. He had to go much faster to get the effects he had been halfanticipating. That happened in December 1953, after a few flights approaching Mach 2, twice the speed of sound. He was warned that if he went any faster his X-1Aaircraft might go divergent. It did.

他因此得到了科利尔奖杯，拥有底座的漂亮小雕像，全家都去白宫领取，他的父亲，一个坚定的共和党人，拒绝与哈里·杜鲁门握手。但这让人很失望。他必须加快速度才能达到他所预料不到的效果。这发生在1953年12月，几次飞行接近2马赫，是音速的两倍。他被警告说，如果他再快一点，他的X-1飞机可能会散架。是的。