⅏Did You Know - These Random Facts? #11 - February

Did You Know?  For the month of

back in.....

• 1942,  The U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Langley, was sunk by Japanese warplanes (with a little help from U.S. destroyers), and all of its 32 aircrafts were lost.
• 1944, Hannah Reitsch, the first female test pilot in the world, suggested the creation of the Nazi equivalent of a kamikaze squad of suicide bombers while visiting Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden. Hitler was less than enthusiastic about the idea.
• 1945, An ammunition dump on the Philippine island of Corregidor is blown up by a remnant of the Japanese garrison, causing more American casualties on the eve of U.S. victory there.

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  The M*A*S*H title screen (1972–77).

  1975, A subway crash in London killed 43 people. The driver of the train apparently made no effort to brake as the train headed toward a dead end. The reason for his inaction remains a mystery.
• 1983, The celebrated sitcom M*A*S*H bowed out after 11 seasons, airing a special two-and-a-half hour episode watched by 77 percent of the television viewing audience. It was the largest percentage ever to watch a single TV show up to that time. 
  Set near Seoul, Korea, behind the American front lines during the Korean War, M*A*S*H was based on the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker and the 1970 film produced by 20th Century Fox and directed by Robert Altman. Its title came from the initials for the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, an isolated compound that received wounded soldiers and was staffed by the show’s cast of doctors and nurses.  After earning consistently high ratings throughout its 11-year run, M*A*S*H enjoyed enduring popularity in the following decades, as it became one of the world’s most syndicated shows.

Resources: history.com, datesinhistory.com