A Brief History On February 23, 1945, with World War II in Europe rapidly approaching its end, the RAF targeted the German town of Pforzheim in a massive bombing raid that killed almost a third of the residents and destroyed 83% of its buildings, including virtually its entire city center. The reason for leveling this German city? The jewelry and watch making industry located there! Digging Deeper The RAF sent 367 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers and 13 Mosquito medium bombers to lead the way, dropping the usual mix of high explosive and incendiary bombs to blow up and burn the…
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A Brief History On February 22, 1974, US Army veteran Samuel Byck failed miserably in his attempt to assassinate President Richard Nixon, when he was unable to successfully hijack a DC-9 jetliner in order to crash it into the White House. Digging Deeper Byck first stole a .22 caliber pistol and used it to hijack a jet at the BWI airport, shooting a police officer and both pilots in the process. Eventually, Byck was wounded by a police officer shooting through a window in the jet, and Byck then shot himself. Another notable bungled presidential assassination was the first ever…
A Brief History On February 21, 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, a book that has become the antithesis of capitalists everywhere and to many, synonymous with all that is wrong with the communist sympathizers of the world. Digging Deeper Another book that has achieved a distinct level of distaste among a large part of humanity is Mein Kampf, the fascist manifesto by Adolf Hitler that inspired the catastrophe of World War II and the Holocaust, and continues to inspire haters even today. Obviously, people of certain religions detest the holy books of competing religions, such…
A Brief History On February 20, 1959, the government of Canada cancelled the Avro Arrow supersonic jet fighter program, creating conjecture and controversy that continues to this day. Within two months of the cancellation, the government ordered all plans, tools, and all five existing prototypes to be destroyed. Digging Deeper Designed to fly at Mach 2 and at 53,000 feet, the Arrow would have been cutting edge technology to protect Canada. Avro was the third largest company in Canada, one of the 100 largest in the world, but the Arrow fiasco basically ruined the company, and it went out of…
A Brief History On February 19, 1978, Egyptian commandos raided Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus in an attempt to rescue hostages taken in the hijacking of a Cyprus Airways Douglas DC-8. The Egyptians were not authorized by Cyprus to engage the hijackers, and a firefight broke out between Cypriot forces against the Egyptians, resulting in at least 18 Egyptians killed and another 18 wounded, while eight Cypriots were wounded. Digging Deeper A pair of terrorists had assassinated two Egyptians at a conference in Cyprus, and then took hostages to the airport and boarded a jetliner. Not allowed to land anywhere…