国家地理:Wings Over The Gulf 波湾战机 - 4

Hundreds of coalition¹ airplanes were in the sky at any one time. Airborne warning and control system airplanes better known as AWACS kept air traffic straight. Largely thanks to AWACS there were no air-to-air friendly fire incidents during the Gulf² War. <... are coming in, with no symbology>. When AWACS spotted³ enemy planes they sent F-15s in for the kill. All 120 US and 82 Saudi F-15s were responsible for 36 of the 41 confirmed air combat victories by coalition forces.

The closest thing I saw to an enemy aircraft was the first day, and that was in our package that F-15s got 2 Mig-29 kills. And I can remember vividly⁴ too because we had one of the female AWACS controllers, her voice was very, not soothing⁵ but, her voice was easy to pick out when you heard a lot radio chat going on, the female voice to our guys it's just something you hear. So we're, I was listening I can remember watching her talk what the Mig-29s were doing on my radar⁶. I decided⁷, looking out there in distance. And when those guys turned and committed out on these eagles, we were waitin' on them and just jumped on them and shot them both down.

Iraq's air force consisted of 750 fighters and bombers⁸ and 200 support planes. They flew the best non-US planes money could buy including Mirage⁹ F1s and Soviet¹⁰ Migs from the 29 on down. But despite having weathered 10 years of combat during the war with Iran, Iraq's air force was defeated in days. Planes that weren't shot out of the sky were blasted on the ground by F-111s and other fighter bombers. The Iraqis moved their planes into heavily reinforced aircraft hangars and bombproof revetments. The allies countered by dropping hardened laser-guided bombs. Eventually they destroyed 375 of Iraq's 594 impregnable shelters. By the ninth day of the war, Iraq's airfields¹¹ were in ruins. Iraqi air force apparently¹² decided the only way to survive was to run. Flights of Iraqi fighters and bombers began streaking¹³ towards Iran. Some of the planes were shot down by F-15s, some ran out of fuel. And about 150 made it to safety.

You know Iraq really had a good air force, er, was well equipped, Mig-29s, Mirages¹⁴, was well trained. I have met Iraqi pilots. And they are good. These guys are not slouches. They pulled off some fantastic missions in the Iran-Iraq war, the strike against the Iranian nuclear power plants, the strike against Kharg Islands they carried out and but their problem, their weakness was they were very centrally controlled. And they were tied to their ground control. So when the Iraqis took off, many times they were blind because we took out the communications we took out the radar sites and then once we got them in the air, they were more easily engaged and shot down. But the other thing is because we made it look easy don't think it was easy. And those air-to-air engagements were a struggle and our guys risked it all but they pulled it off.

Perhaps the greatest mistake made by coalition planners before the Gulf War began was...

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

5 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

6 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 mirage   

n.海市蜃楼，幻景

参考例句：

• Perhaps we are all just chasing a mirage.也许我们都只是在追逐一个幻想。
• Western liberalism was always a mirage.西方自由主义永远是一座海市蜃楼。

10 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

11 airfields   

n.（较小的无建筑的）飞机场( airfield的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For several days traffic fromthe Naples airfields was partially interrupted. 那不勒斯机场的对外交通部分地停顿了数天。 来自辞典例句
• We have achieved a great amount of destruction at airfields and air bases. 我们已把机场和空军基地大加破坏。 来自辞典例句

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 streaking   

n.裸奔（指在公共场所裸体飞跑）v.快速移动( streak的现在分词 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• Their only thought was of the fiery harbingers of death streaking through the sky above them. 那个不断地在空中飞翔的死的恐怖把一切别的感觉都赶走了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Streaking is one of the oldest tricks in the book. 裸奔是有书面记载的最古老的玩笑之一。 来自互联网

14 mirages   

n.海市蜃楼，幻景( mirage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Through my half-closed eyelids I began to see mirages. 透过我半睁半闭的双眼，我看到了海市蜃楼。 来自辞典例句
• There was for him only one trustworthy road through deceptions and mirages. 对他来说只有一条可靠的路能避开幻想和错觉。 来自辞典例句