When it comes to sports, contests, and newfangled inventions, who doesn't want to be ahead of the competition? But sometimes, becoming the first to do something really sucks, especially when it comes to humanity's fascination with flight. To illustrate how being No. 1 can turn into No. 2, here are 10 fatal firsts in the history of aviation.
说到运动、比赛和标新立异的发明创造，谁不想引领纪录？但是有时候，第一次尝试实在令人堪忧，尤其是在人们向往的飞行领域。下面10个航空史上致命的案例可以说明，成为第一的行动如何沦落到第二位。

10.Sophie Blanchard
10.苏菲·布兰查德

In 1804, Sophie made her first balloon ascent. Five years later, her husband suffered a heart attack, leaving her a widow with debts. To make a living, she piloted a hydrogen balloon at exhibitions, performing for Napoleon Bonaparte and even King Louis XVIII. Fireworks were part of her act, and she drew crowds wherever she appeared in Europe. During her last performance over the Tivoli Gardens in Paris, a firework caused her balloon to catch fire. While trying to land, she fell out of the basket, struck a roof, and landed on the street, dying on impact.
1804年，苏菲第一次乘热气球升空。5年后，她的丈夫突发心脏病去世，留给她一笔债务。为了生活，苏菲在展览活动上驾驶氢气球，为拿破仑·波拿巴，甚至国王路易十八表演。烟花表演是其中一部分。无论欧洲哪里，她所到之处都会人山人海。最后在巴黎提沃利公园（Tivoli Gardens）上空表演时，一束烟火点燃了她的氢气球。在尝试着陆的过程中，她从竹篮里掉出来，摔在房顶上，跌落街面，因撞击而死。

9.Robert Cocking
9.罗伯特·科金

Early balloonists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries tinkered with parachutes. Some workable designs were produced, but they remained a novelty, and experimentation continued. Robert Cocking, a 61-year-old painter, was inspired when he witnessed André-Jacques Garnerin perform the first successful parachute jump in 1802. Cocking made his own parachute: linen stretched over a cone-shaped framework with an attached wicker basket.
18世纪晚期和19世纪早期驾驶热气球的人喜欢随意改进降落伞。尽管出现了一些行之有效的设计，但是降落伞还是新鲜事物，实验仍在继续。罗伯特·科金，一位61岁高龄的画家，1802年观看安德烈-雅克·加纳林（André-Jacques Garnerin）首次跳伞成功后，倍受鼓舞。科金自己做了降落伞：把亚麻布绷在锥形骨架外面，外带一个藤条筐。
A couple of professional aeronauts with a balloon agreed to help him test his new device. After making a mile-high ascent at Vauxhall Gardens, Cocking jumped. His parachute broke apart, and he fell to his death.
两位专业热气球驾驶员同意帮助他测试他的新设备。在沃克斯豪尔公园（Vauxhall Gardens）登到一英里高的位置后，科金跳了下来。降落伞解体，他摔死了。

8.Franz Reichelt
8.弗兰兹·瑞切特

An Austrian tailor, Reichelt was also an inventor. He spent a lot of time working out the mechanics of a new type of parachute that could be worn by aviators during flights. At his fifth-floor Paris apartment, he tossed test dummies out the window at all hours and watched the mannequins plummet to the courtyard below.
瑞切特是奥地利一位裁缝，也是一个发明家。他花了大量时间研究一种新型降落伞的部件——飞行员能在飞行过程中穿戴。他在巴黎的公寓位于第五层楼上，他不断把人体模型抛出窗外，看模型掉到下面的院子里。
Undaunted, he continued tweaking his design and finally settled on one made of India rubber stretched over a framework. The final prototype resembled a full-body suit with bat wings and an oversized silk hood. With the permission of the Prefect of Police, Reichelt went to the Eiffel Tower to perform the first manned test. His friends pleaded with him not to go. He reportedly replied, "Wait there. I will be down directly." He kept his promise. Reichelt climbed to the first platform, jumped, and fell to his death in front of horrified onlookers.
他毫不退缩，不断改进自己的设计，最终确定使用一个用印度橡胶绷在框架外面制成的降落伞。最后的成品看上去像一套全身的衣服，带有蝙蝠似的翅膀和超大的丝质风帽。得到巴黎警察局的允许后，瑞切特来到埃菲尔铁塔进行第一次真人实验。他的朋友劝他不要去。他应和着回答到："在那儿等着。我会直接下来。"他兑现了自己的诺言。瑞切特爬上第一个平台，向下跳，在惊悚的众人面前摔死了。

7.Caproni Disaster
7.卡普罗尼空难

The Societa Italiana Caproni of Italy, designer of the world's first fighter plane, was founded in 1908. At the end of World War I, the company began manufacturing experimental and passenger aircraft including the Ca. 48—a plane that accommodated up to 17 passengers.
意大利卡普罗尼公司成立于1908年，设计了世界上第一架战斗机。一战结束时，公司开始制造实验客机，包括Ca.48——能搭载17位乘客。
In 1919, a Caproni aircraft of similar design was headed from Venice to Milan in an attempt to break a speed record. Onboard were 15 passengers: seven of them journalists and two of them pilots, including Lt. Resnati. For reasons that were never determined, the plane suddenly caught fire at 900 meters (3,000 ft), lost power, and crashed. There were no survivors.
1919年，一架设计类似的卡普罗尼飞机从威尼斯飞往米兰，试图刷新速度记录。机上有15名乘客，其中有7位记者和2位飞行员，包括雷斯纳提（Resnati）上尉。由于某些至今未决的原因，飞机在900米（3000英尺）高空突然着火，失去动力，最后坠毁。机上人员无一幸免。

6.Lt. Thomas Etholen Selfridge
6.托马斯·塞尔弗里奇中尉

In 1907, Selfridge worked with Alexander Graham Bell and test-piloted a huge, tetrahedral kite called the Cygnet I. He also flew an experimental airplane, Red Wing, and became an acknowledged expert in propeller design for the Army. In 1908, he accompanied Orville Wright as a passenger on the test flight of a new aircraft. The plane took off from Fort Myer, Virginia, in front of a large crowd.
1907年，塞尔弗里奇与亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔一起工作，试飞了巨型的四面体风筝小天鹅1号（Cygnet I）。他还驾驶过一架名为红翅的实验飞机，成为了为军队设计螺旋桨的公认的专家。1908年，作为乘客，他陪同奥维尔·莱特登上一架新飞机试飞。飞机在弗吉尼亚迈耶堡（Fort Myer）起飞，一大群人围观。
After circling the field, the plane's propeller suddenly snapped (it became tangled with the guy wire to the rudder support rod). The plane hit the ground nose-first at 65 kilometers per hour (40 mph). The impact injured Wright and threw Selfridge into the frame, fracturing his skull. He died three hours later.
绕着场地飞行一圈之后，飞机螺旋桨突然啪啪作响（与固定方向舵支撑杆的金属拉线相缠绕）。飞机以65千米每小时（40英里每小时）的速度撞击地面，头部先着地。莱特受伤，塞尔弗里奇被甩进飞机框架，头盖骨破裂。3小时后他死去了。

翻译:罗惠月 来源：前十网