*1923 The first aerial refueling-related fatality occurs during an air show at Kelly Field, Texas, when the fuel hose becomes entangled in the right wings of the refueler and the receiver aircraft . The Army Air Service pilot of the refueler, Lt . P . T . Wagner, is killed in the ensuing crash of DH-4B, " 23-444 ".
22.
The USAF made only one major change between the system used by the RAF . The USAF version had auto-coupling of the refueling nozzle, where the leader line with the refueling hose is pulled to the receiver aircraft and a refueling receptacle on the belly of the aircraft, allowing high-altitude air-to-air refueling and doing away with the aircraft having to fly to a lower altitude to be depressurized so a crew member could manually do the coupling.
