As we've explained to you before, the very first dogfights didn't involve guns attached to the plane and fired using cockpit controls. Before these, pilots fired pistols—they pointed out of the plane with a handgun. We saw one battle like this even at the end of World War II, in which a British pilot managed to bring down a German plane with a .45 caliber pistol.

在我们向你解释之前，最早的狗斗不包括用附着在机身上、靠驾驶舱内的装置控制开火的机枪。在此之前，飞行员使用手枪进行攻击，他们从飞机上探出身去用手枪瞄准。我们甚至在二战末还能看到有这么干的，这件事是一个英国飞行员受命去用.45口径手枪去击落德国飞机。

The very first dogfight happened 32 years earlier, during the Mexican Revolution. Fighting for the Revolutionaries was Dean Ivan Lamb, an American who'd traveled from New York down to Naco in Mexico as a mercenary. Fighting for the establishment was another American mercenary, California reporter Phil Rader.

第一场狗斗发生的时间比这还早32年，是墨西哥解革命时期。革命军一方的战士是Dean Ivan Lamb，一名从美国纽约出发去往墨西哥当雇佣军的美国人。建制派的战士是是另一名美国雇佣兵，加利福尼亚日报记者Phil Rader。
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Lamb got in a plane to attack Rader, who was already in the air in a bomber. The troops below watched as the planes flew in parallel, with the two men exchanging pistol fire. But what no one on the ground realized was that Lamb and Rader were friends. They were each deliberately aiming just below the other's plane, missing every time.

Lamb登上一架飞机来攻击Rader这个先乘轰炸机登空的人。底下的部队看着两架飞机平飞，两个人手枪交火。但地面上的人没人能意识到的是Lamb和Rader两人是朋友。他们每次都故意瞄着底下打，每次都失手。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Given how hard it is to aim a pistol while flying a plane, you might wonder whether this secret partnership, which Lamb revealed later, was just a cover story to explain why he hadn't landed a single shot. But we have reason to believe him because this wasn't the only time Lamb pulled a stunt like this.

考虑到开着飞机瞄准手枪的难度，你也许会想这个后来Lamb披露的故事只是他用来掩盖他一枪未中的说辞。但我们有理由相信他说的话，因为这并不是Lamb第一次讲这样的故事了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Ten years later, Lamb was still a soldier of fortune and was now commanding the air force of Paraguay, which was having its own revolution. Commanding the revolutionaries was another foreigner, another friend of Lamb's. Lamb's side kept watching admiringly as he engaged the enemy aircraft, who kept appearing to plummet to the ground. These were all faked encounters, and the enemy aircraft were all fine. This was how Dean Ivan Lamb managed to record shooting down 48 planes, despite the opposing side having just six planes total.

数年以后，Lamb依然是一位幸运的士兵，当时正在指挥巴拉圭空军，巴拉圭空军正在经受革命。指挥革命军的是另一个Lamb的朋友，Lamb在一旁欣赏地注视，就好像是他参加了敌军一样，他还假装坠向地面。这些都是装出来的遭遇战，敌军战机完好。这就是为什么Lamb能击落48架飞机的原因，尽管敌对方只有6架飞机。