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.

在我們向你解釋之前，最早的狗斗不包括用附著在機身上、靠駕駛艙內的裝置控制開火的機槍。在此之前，飛行員使用手槍進行攻擊，他們從飛機上探出身去用手槍瞄準。我們甚至在二戰(zhàn)末還能看到有這么干的，這件事是一個英國飛行員受命去用.45口徑手槍去擊落德國飛機。

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.

第一場狗斗發(fā)生的時間比這還早32年，是墨西哥解革命時期。革命軍一方的戰(zhàn)士是Dean Ivan Lamb，一名從美國紐約出發(fā)去往墨西哥當雇傭軍的美國人。建制派的戰(zhàn)士是是另一名美國雇傭兵，加利福尼亞日報記者Phil Rader。

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登上一架飛機來攻擊Rader這個先乘轟炸機登空的人。底下的部隊看著兩架飛機平飛，兩個人手槍交火。但地面上的人沒人能意識到的是Lamb和Rader兩人是朋友。他們每次都故意瞄著底下打，每次都失手。

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.

考慮到開著飛機瞄準手槍的難度，你也許會想這個后來Lamb披露的故事只是他用來掩蓋他一槍未中的說辭。但我們有理由相信他說的話，因為這并不是Lamb第一次講這樣的故事了。

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.

數(shù)年以后，Lamb依然是一位幸運的士兵，當時正在指揮巴拉圭空軍，巴拉圭空軍正在經受革命。指揮革命軍的是另一個Lamb的朋友，Lamb在一旁欣賞地注視，就好像是他參加了敵軍一樣，他還假裝墜向地面。這些都是裝出來的遭遇戰(zhàn)，敵軍戰(zhàn)機完好。這就是為什么Lamb能擊落48架飛機的原因，盡管敵對方只有6架飛機。