Today in History

An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a US MQ-1 Predator drone.

In a referendum on Sovlenia’s independence from Yugoslovia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.

The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.

The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.

U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.

Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.

William Kristol, American politician, journalist; founded The Weekly Standard, an influential neoconservative opinion publication.

General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.

President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.

US Army General Wesley Clark; while serving as Supreme Allied Commander Europe in NATO (1997–2000) he commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War.

Queen Silvia of Sweden (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath); spouse of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.

Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.