Over Pola Harbor, Austria, five Austrian Albatros fighters and two seaplanes jump five US Navy aircraft. Three of the Americans are forced out of the fight, leaving an enlisted pilot, Charles Hammann, and Ensign George Ludlow, both flying Macchi M-5 seaplanes. Ludlow shoots down one enemy, but is forced down only five miles from the harbor. Hammann lands in the 15-foot swell and picks up Ludlow. Hammann’s aircraft, which had been damaged, cartwheels on landing back at his base at Porto Corsini, Italy, but both aviators are rescued. Less than 10 months later, now-Ensign Hamman is killed, ironically in an M-5, while evaluating foreign aircraft at Hampton Roads, Va. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1920, the only World War I Naval officer so honored.
KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”