国家地理:Wings Over The Gulf 波湾战机 - 2

During the Gulf¹ War, American pilots flew the latest fighter model – the F15C. One hundred and twenty were sent abroad. They fought alongside 82 royal Saudi Air force F15Ds, essentially² the same plane as the C. Saudi F15s shot down two Iraq Mirage³ F1s during the Gulf war.

Over the years, the F15 has proven itself the dominant⁴ air superiority fighter in the world. The design was so successful that the air force decided⁵ to apply the Eagle's sturdy frame and enormous power to tactical bombing missions. The result was the F15E. A two-man plane that combines the Eagle's speed and agility⁶ with the best bombing system tax dollars can buy. Thirty percent of the Eagle's airframe was modified to enable it to carry heavy bomb loads. The most noticeable changes are the E's longer wingspan and conformal fuel tanks. The E is also painted a darker shade of gray to camouflage⁷ its night flying missions. Two squadrons of the Es would become operational in late 1991.

But world events rushed the plane into service. The fighter-bomber underwent a trial by fire as a key part of the largest coalition⁸ air effort since World War Two. August 2nd, 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. Western and Arab leaders fear that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's next target is Saudi Arabia and ultimately control of half the world's oil supply.

August 7th, the 71st squadron of the first tactical fighter wing leaves Langley Virginia, their destination- Saudi Arabia.

"I still didn't believe we were going to, to do it until I saw the first eagle take off from the 71st and heading over, and I was No.24 out of the 24 we sent that day. And pretty surreal atmosphere to take off at five o'clock in the afternoon from Langley and go out and hit a night tanker⁹, and just the feeling that you were gonna go over and do something that we don't normally do nowadays in the military, and the first Tac-fighter we hadn't done for quite some time, done a major deployment¹⁰ like that, real world. And I think a lot of us were thinking about that but the flight-over was, it was tense, to tell you the truth, very tense."

The 14-hour flight from Langley to Saudi Arabia required each pilot to execute up to eight midair refuelings. It was a fitting start to a war in which tankers¹¹ played a crucial role. Over the six weeks of combat, tankers would pump one hundred and ten million gallons of fuel to 46,000 planes.

When they arrived at Al Khafji, American aircrews found state of the art airstrips, blast proof hangars, and modern maintenance facilities waiting for them. Much of this was in place because of a longstanding agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Since 1983, the Saudis have been building emergency airfields¹² across their country for use in case the Gulf is threatened by an aggressor. But despite this advantage, some feared that planes such as the F15 were simply too complex to survive the pressure of around-the-clock war.


around-the-clock: Lasting¹³ or continuing throughout the entire 24 hours of the day; continuous. 连续一整天的

1 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。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 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。

4 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

5 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。

6 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。

7 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

8 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。

9 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

10 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

11 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

12 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

13 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。