神秘的机械与设计之光——黑鸟
During the Cold War, this plane could fly higher and faster than any other -- and 55 years after its first flight, it still does.
在冷战期间，这架飞机可以比任何其他飞机飞得都更高更快——如今，在它第一次飞行55年后，它仍然可以傲视群雄。
The Lockheed SR-71, designed in secrecy in the late 1950s, was able to cruise near the edge of space and outfly a missile.
洛克希德公司的SR-71在20世纪50年代末秘密设计，能够在太空边缘巡航并且其速度超过了导弹。
To this day, it holds the records for the highest altitude in horizontal flight and the fastest speed for a non-rocket powered aircraft.
直到今天，它仍保持着最高水平飞行高度和非火箭动力飞机最快速度的记录。
It was part of a family of spy planes built to venture into enemy territory, without being shot down or even detected, in a time before satellites and drones.
这是一个间谍飞机家族的一部分，在人造卫星和无人驾驶飞机出现之前，它是为了冒险进入敌方领土而建造的，它从来没有被击落，甚至没有被发现过。
The black paint job, designed to dissipate heat, earned it the nickname Blackbird, and paired with the sleek lines of the long fuselage, made the plane look unlike anything that had come before -- a design that hasn't lost any of its brilliance.
黑色涂料的工作，旨在散热，赢得了它的绰号“黑鸟”，并搭配长机身的光滑线条，使飞机看起来不像以前的任何东西，一个仍然熠熠生辉的设计。
"It still looks like something from the future, even though it was designed back in the 1950s," Peter Merlin, an aviation historian and author of "Design and Development of the Blackbird," said in a phone interview.
“尽管它是在上世纪50年代设计的，但它看起来仍然像是来自未来的东西，”航空历史学家、《黑鸟的设计与开发》的作者彼得梅林在接受电话采访时说。
"Because of the way the fuselage bends and the wing curves and twists, it looks more organic than mechanical. Most conventional airplanes look like someone built them -- this one almost looks like it was grown."
“由于机身弯曲和机翼弯曲和扭转的方式，它看起来更像是有机的，而不是机械的。”大多数的传统飞机看起来都像是有人造的，而这架飞机看起来几乎像是自然生长出来的。”
In May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace while taking aerial photographs.
1960年5月，一架美国U-2侦察机曾在苏联领空拍摄空中照片时被击落。
Initially, the US government said it was a stray weather research aircraft, but the story fell apart once the Soviet government released photos of the captured pilot and the plane's surveillance equipment.
起初，美国政府称这是一架偏离航线的气象研究飞机，但苏联政府公布了被俘飞行员和飞机监控设备的照片后，这一说法就站不住脚了。
The incident had immediate diplomatic repercussions for the Cold War and reinforced the need for a new type of reconnaissance plane that could fly faster and higher, safe from anti-aircraft fire.
这一事件立即对冷战产生了外交影响，并提出了对一种新型侦察机的需求，这种侦察机要能飞得更快、更高，并且不受防空火力的伤害。
"The CIA wanted a plane that could fly above 90,000 feet or thereabouts, at high speed and as invisible to radar as it was feasible," said Merlin.
梅林说:“中央情报局想要的是一架可以在9万英尺左右的高空高速飞行，而且尽可能不被雷达发现的飞机。
The task of designing such an ambitious machine fell on Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, one of the world's greatest aircraft designers, and his secret division of engineers at Lockheed, called Skunk Works.
设计这样一台雄心勃勃的机器的任务落在了克拉伦斯·“凯利”·约翰逊身上，他是世界上最伟大的飞机设计师之一，他在洛克希德的秘密工程师部门代号叫做“臭鼬工厂”。
"Everything had to be invented. Everything," recalled Johnson, who died in 1990, the same year the Blackbirds were first retired from service.
“一切都得从头开始发明。”约翰逊回忆道，他于1990年去世，同年黑鸟首次退役。
The original plane in the Blackbird family was called the A-12 and made its maiden flight on April 30, 1962.
黑鸟家族的第一架飞机被称为A-12，并于1962年4月30日进行了首次飞行。
In total, 13 A-12s were produced, and the plane was a top secret, special access program operated by the CIA.
总共生产了13架a -12，这架飞机由CIA进行绝密、特殊的访问程序操作。
Because the aircraft was designed to fly faster than 2,000 mph, friction with the surrounding atmosphere would heat up the fuselage to a point that would melt a conventional airframe.
由于这架飞机的设计飞行速度超过每小时2000英里，与周围大气的摩擦会使机身升温到足以融化传统机身的程度。
The plane was therefore made of titanium, a metal that was able to withstand high temperatures while also being lighter than steel.
因此，这架飞机是由钛制成的，钛是一种既能承受高温，又比钢轻的金属。
Using titanium presented other problems, however.
然而，使用钛还存在其他问题。
First, a whole new set of tools -- also made of titanium -- had to be fabricated, because regular steel ones shattered the brittle titanium on contact.
首先，必须制作一套全新的工具——也是由钛制成的——因为普通的钢制工具一接触就会打碎易碎的钛。
Second, sourcing the metal itself proved tricky.
其次，寻找金属来源本身就很棘手。
"The USSR was, at the time, the greatest supplier of titanium in the world. The US government had to purchase a lot of that, probably using bogus companies," said Merlin.
“当时，苏联是世界上最大的钛供应国。美国政府不得不大量购买这些东西，他们买的时候可能使用的是假冒的公司名。”梅林说道。
The initial aircraft were flown completely unpainted, showing a silver titanium skin.
最初的飞机完全没有喷漆，表面是银色的钛金属。
They were first painted black in 1964, after the realization that black paint -- which efficiently absorbs and emits heat -- would help lower the temperature of the entire airframe.
1964年，人们意识到黑色涂料可以有效地吸收和散发热量，有助于降低整个机身的温度。
The A-12 was soon evolved into a variant that was designed as an interceptor -- a type of fighter aircraft -- rather than a surveillance plane.
很快，a -12就演变成了一种拦截机的变体——一种战斗机——而不是侦察机。
Effectively, this meant adding air-to-air missiles and a second cockpit, for a crew member to operate the necessary radar equipment.
实际上，这意味着增加空对空导弹和第二座舱，以便机组人员操作必要的雷达设备。
This new plane, which looked identical to the A-12 except for the nose, was called the YF-12.
这架新飞机，除了机头看起来和A-12一模一样，被称为YF-12。
While the A-12 remained top secret, the existence of the YF-12 was revealed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and three of them were built and operated by the US Air Force.
虽然A-12仍然是最高机密，但1964年林登·约翰逊总统披露了YF-12的存在，其中三架由美国空军建造和操作。
A third variant was produced around this time, called the M-21, which had a pylon on its back for mounting and launching one of the first unmanned drones.
第三种改型大约在这个时候生产，被称为M-21，它有一个挂塔在它的背上的装置，负责安装和发射第一架无人驾驶飞机。
Two were built, but the program was halted in 1966 after a drone collided with its mothership, killing one of the pilots.
这样的飞机建造了两艘，但在1966年，一架无人机与其母舰相撞，造成一名飞行员死亡后，该项目就停止了。
The final derivative of the A-12, with a twin cockpit and larger fuel capacity, was called the SR-71 -- for "Strategic Reconnaissance" -- and first flew on Dec. 22, 1964.
A -12的最后一个衍生物，有一个双驾驶舱和更大的燃料容量，被称为SR-71——用于“战略侦察”——并于1964年12月22日首次飞行。
This is the version that would go on to perform intelligence missions for the US Air Force for over 30 years, and a total of 32 were built, bringing the final tally for the Blackbird family to 50.
这是一款为美国空军执行情报任务超过30年的版本，总共建造了32个，最终黑鸟家族的数量达到了50个。
The fuselage of the SR-71 included some of the very first composite materials ever used in an aircraft, which made the plane harder to spot for enemy radar.
SR-71的机身包含了一些最早用于飞机的复合材料，这使得飞机更难被敌方雷达发现。
"It was essentially stealthy before the word stealth was even used," said Merlin.
“在'隐身’这个词被使用之前，它基本上就实现了隐形了，”梅林说。
Flying at a higher altitude than anti-aircraft fire could reach, faster than a missile, and barely visible to radar, the Blackbird could enter hostile airspace practically undisturbed.
黑鸟的飞行高度比防空火力能达到的高度还要高，速度比导弹还快，雷达几乎看不到它，它几乎可以不受干扰地进入敌方领空。
"The idea was that by the time the enemy detected it and fired their missile, it was already on its way out," Merlin explained.
梅林解释说:“我们的想法是，当敌人发现它并发射导弹时，它已经在往外飞走了。”
"But this was before we had real time data links, so they were taking pictures on film and bringing the film back to base to be processed and studied."
“但那是在我们有实时数据链接之前，所以他们用胶片拍照，然后把胶片带回基地进行处理和研究。”
As a result, no Blackbird was ever shot down by enemy fire.
因此，还没有黑鸟被敌人的炮火击落过。
However, its reliability was an issue, and 12 out of 32 were lost to accidents.
然而，它的可靠性是个问题，32个事故中有12个都是事故造成的。
It was also a complicated plane to operate and fly.
这也是一架操作和飞行都很复杂的飞机。
"It took an army of people to prepare the aircraft. A Blackbird operational mission essentially had a countdown, like a space mission did, because there was so much preparation involved in both getting the crew ready and the vehicle ready, an unbelievable amount of effort and manpower," said Merlin.
“要给这架飞机作好准备工作需要一个部队的人。黑鸟”的操作任务本质上有一个倒计时，就像太空任务一样，因为有大量的准备工作，包括船员和飞船的准备，我们付出了难以置信的努力和人力。”梅林说道。
The pilots also had to suit up in a special way, due to the extreme conditions found at high altitude.
由于高空侦查的极端条件，飞行员还必须以一种特殊的方式进行着装。
"They basically wore a space suit, the same sort of thing that you would later see space shuttle crews wearing," said Merlin.
梅林说:“他们穿的基本上可以说是太空服了，和你后来看到的航天飞机机组人员穿的一样。"
"The cockpit also got very hot when flying at high speeds, so much that pilots used to warm up their meal on long missions by pressing it against the glass."
“在高速飞行时，驾驶舱也会变得非常热，以至于在执行长途飞行任务时，飞行员会把食物压在玻璃上取暖。”
No Blackbirds were ever flown over Soviet airspace -- something the US government stopped doing entirely after the 1960 incident -- but they still played an important role in the Cold War, and performed missions in other critical theaters such as the Middle East, Vietnam and North Korea.
目前没有黑鸟飞经过苏联的领空——1960年事件后，美国政府完全停止了这种做法——但它们仍在冷战中发挥着重要作用，并在中东、越南和朝鲜等其他关键地区执行任务。
In 1976, the SR-71 set the records it still holds: flying at a sustained altitude of 85,069 feet, and reaching a top speed of 2,193.2 miles per hour, or Mach 3.3.
自1976年以来，SR-71创造了至今仍保持着的记录:飞行高度为85069英尺，最高速度为2193.2英里每小时，即3.3马赫。
The program was halted in 1990 -- with a brief revival in the mid-1990s -- once technologies like spy satellites an UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles or drones) had become more feasible and offered instant access to surveillance data.
该项目于1990年停止，在90年代中期短暂恢复，当时间谍卫星和无人机等技术变得更加可行，可以即时获取监视数据。
The SR-71 was last flown by NASA in 1999, which used two of the aircraft for high-speed and high-altitude aeronautical research.
SR-71最后一次飞行是在1999年，当时美国航空航天局使用了两架飞机进行高速和高空航空研究。
Since then, the surviving Blackbirds have all found their way into museums.
从那时起，这些幸存下来的黑鸟就都进入了博物馆。
问题
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