On Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United
States Army Air Forces crashed into the north side of the Empire
State Building in New York City while flying in thick fog.
The crash killed fourteen people (three crewmen and eleven people
in the building), and an estimated twenty-four others were injured.
The building’s structural integrity was not compromised.
On July 27, 1949, the world’s first jet-propelled airliner, the British
De Havilland Comet, made its maiden test-flight in England. The
jet engine would ultimately revolutionize the airline industry,
shrinking air travel time in half by enabling planes to climb faster
and fly higher.
The Comet was the creation of English aircraft designer and
aviation pioneer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965).
De Havilland started out designing motorcycles and buses, but
after seeing Wilbur Wright demonstrate an airplane in 1908, he
decided to build one of his own.
Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965)
SANDY KOZEL
The musician, actor, film producer and Rolling Stones front
man Mick Jagger was born in Dartford, Kent, England on
July 26, 1943. He’s 81 years old today.
His career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential
front men in the history of rock music.
On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be
conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was born at Oldham and
District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to parents
Lesley and Peter Brown. The healthy baby was delivered shortly
before midnight by caesarean section and weighed in at five
pounds, 12 ounces.
Louise Brown, the world’s first "test tube baby" today.
At 12:51 EDT on July 24, 1969, Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that
had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely
returned to Earth.
President Richard M. Nixon was in the central Pacific recovery
area to welcome the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the USS Hornet,
prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing
mission. Already confined to the Mobile Quarantine Facility
are (left to right) Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael
Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar
module pilot.
