2006 – 2006 Morecambe Bay Helicopter Crash was a fatal air incident that occurred at approximately 18:40 GMT, whilst replacement crew were being transported between the Millom and Morecambe gas platforms situated approximately 24 miles (39 km) from the shoreline of Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, England.
1991 – Both engines of Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-81, fail shortly after takeoff from Stockholm, Sweden. The pilots successfully make an emergency landing in a nearby field, injuring 25 passengers but incurring not a single fatality.
1985 – Members of the Abu Nidal Organization launch coordinated attacks at airports in Italy and Austria. Four gunmen open fire at the El Al and TWA counter at Leonardo Da Vinco-Flumicino Airport in Rome, killing 16 and injured nearly 100 others. At the same time, 3 men do the same at Vienna International Airport while people were getting ready to board a flight to Israel, killing 3 and injuring 40. Of the 7 shooters, 4 were killed and the others arrested.
1982 – John Leonard ‘Jack’ Swigert, Jr., American astronaut, dies (b. 1931). Swigert was one of three astronauts aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission, which was launched on April 11, 1970. Originally part of the backup crew for the mission, he was assigned to the mission just days before launch, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly.
1972 – The U. S. Marine Corps loses a fixed-wing aircraft over Vietnam for the last time.
1968 – Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending humanity’s first manned mission to the Moon.
1773 – George Cayley was born. As a Pioneer of early aviation regarded by many as the father of flight. His glider had taken his coachman on the first manned flight in 1853.
