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Category: Community
Forum: Chat Room
Thread: This Day in History |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Today is the 66th anniversary of Denmark's liberation from German occupation by allied forces led by Field Marshall Montgomery. To celebrate this day and to honour the airmen who lost their lives flying missions in the Danish airspace we shall today have a special visitor - one of the three Lancaster bombers flying over Buckingham Palace on the wedding day of Prince William and his Kate.
"The BBMF Lancaster is due to perform a series of 3 low level (500 feet) fly pasts of the EE138 crash site at 14:30 on 5th May 2011. BBMF Lancaster PA474 is painted with the nose art of Lancaster EE139 - "The Phantom of the Ruhr"." For those interested more info is available here Low level Lancaster fly past Although the official day of surrender by the German occupation forces was May 5, news of the event reached the Danes on May 4 from a special BBC broadcast. They reacted by ripping down the black-out curtains and celebrate in the streets. Some die hard traditionalists still put candles in their windows on May 4. Denmark's role during WW II was not flattering. This was improved on, though, by the Danish saboteurs not obeying government orders to be friendly to the occupation forces, by Danish seamen who did not go home from stranding in foreign ports in 1940 but sailed with the allies, and by the rescue of the large majority of citizens of the Jewish faith by shipping them to neutral Sweden. You can view a series of pretty pictures here: Ryvangen, Copenhagen, May 4, 2011 |
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Johnny Cool
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Jul 28, 2005 Post Count: 8621 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Cinco de Mayo
----------------------------------------Cinco de Mayo marks an outnumbered Mexican army’s victory over an invading French army on May 5, 1862, in Puebla, east of Mexico City. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On May 5, 1961:
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On May 6, 1994:
In a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On this day in 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France.
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On May 9, 1671:
In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as "Captain Blood," is captured attempting to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Blood, a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, was deprived of his estate in Ireland with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. In 1663, he put himself at the head of a plot to seize Dublin Castle from supporters of King Charles II, but the plot was discovered and his accomplices executed. He escaped capture. In 1671, he hatched a bizarre plan to steal the new Crown Jewels, which had been refashioned by Charles II because most of the original jewels were melted down after Charles I's execution in 1649. On May 9, 1671, Blood, disguised as a priest, managed to convince the Jewel House keeper to hand over his pistols. Blood's three accomplices then emerged from the shadows, and together they forced their way into the Jewel House. However, they were caught in the act when the keeper's son showed up unexpectedly, and an alarm went out to the Tower guard. One man shoved the Royal Orb down his breeches while Blood flattened the Crown with a mallet and tried to run off with it. The Tower guards apprehended and arrested all four of the perpetrators, and Blood was brought before the king. Charles was so impressed with Blood's audacity that, far from punishing him, he restored his estates in Ireland and made him a member of his court with an annual pension. Captain Blood became a colorful celebrity all across the kingdom, and when he died in 1680 his body had to be exhumed in order to persuade the public that he was actually dead. |
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Former Member
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On May 10, 1994:
Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first black president. |
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Former Member
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On May 11, 1997:
Garry Kasparov, world chess champion, lost his first ever multi-game match. He lost to IBM's chess computer Deep Blue. It was the first time a computer had beat a world-champion player. |
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Former Member
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On May 13, 1607:
Jamestown, Virginia, was settled as a colony of England. |
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