Airliners Collide Midair Over New York
In December 1960 a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground were...
Earthquake in Chile
In May 1960 Chile experienced the largest earthquake recorded in the 20th century with a magnitude of 9.5 on the Richter scale. Originating off the southern coast of Chile, the earthquake left two million people homeless, injured at least 3,000, and...
French Ship Explodes in Havana
In March 1960 the French cargo ship “La Coubre" exploded in Havana Harbor while a cargo of Belgian grenades and munitions was being unloaded. 136 people were killed, and many were injured. Fidel Castro alleged the explosion was an act of sabotage by the...
Deadly Typhoon Vera Strikes Japan
https://youtu.be/6mrtXkCjX9w Typhoon Vera (Isewan Typhoon), was an unusually powerful tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959. Vera was the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall in Japan. The storm caused...
Mao’s Great Leap Forward
https://youtu.be/60_Q-kAZbXA The Great Leap Forward in the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign from 1958 to 1962 that was launched by Chairman Mao Zedong in an attempt to restructure the country from an...
Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey, one of the srongest tropical storms ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, was also among the deadliest tropical cyclones in U.S. history, killing at least 416 people in its devastation of the southwestern Louisiana coast in...
Le Mans Crash Kills Driver and Many Spectators
https://youtu.be/RMoh5hZAaZk In June 1955 a major crash during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race in the city of Le Mans, France sent large pieces of debris into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh. 180 more...
Hurricane Hazel Kills 348 in US & Canada
https://youtu.be/T6AJ0d_jTiM In October 1954 Hurricane Hazel killed at least 469 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane where it caused...
Long Island Train Crash
The Kew Gardens Long Island train crash was a collision between two trains on the Long Island Rail Road's mainline during the evening rush hour of November 22, 1950. 78 people were killed and 363 injured. The crash is the worst railway accident in LIRR history and one...
Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe. Maintained since 1947 by the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board, the clock was originally meant to represent the threat of global nuclear war....
Tsunami Japan
On December 21, 1946 an 8.1-.4 magnitude undersea earthquake initiated a powerful tsunami in the Nankai Trough off Japan's largest island Honshū. When 20-foot waves hit shore, buildings were obliterated and ~2,000 ships were capsized. 60,000...
Hawaiian Tsunami
In April 1946 two large undersea earthquakes occurred off the Alaskan coast and a tidal wave, nearly 100 feet high, crashed onto the shore at Unimak Island, Alaska. A lighthouse located 30 feet above sea level, was smashed to pieces, killing five people. Five hours...
Hiroshima
In April-July 1945 Japanese forces inflicted Allied casualties totaling nearly half those suffered in three full years of war in the Pacific. In late July, Japan’s militarist government rejected the Potsdam Declaration demanding unconditional surrender or total...
B-25 Strikes Empire State
A U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building on Saturday July 28, 1945. Fourteen people were killed. Flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, with two pilots and a passenger aboard, the B-25...
Port Chicago Disaster
In 1944, segregated African-American Navy units were assigned dangerous loading operations. Most of these men were not trained in munitions handling, and safety standards were apparently often overlooked under heavy pressure to complete loading schedules. In July...
Tottori Earthquake
The 7.2 Richter scale Tottori earthquake had an epicenter offshore from Ketaka District (now part of Tottori). Tottori city, with many antiquated buildings was the hardest hit with ~80% of its structures damaged or destroyed. As the earthquake struck in...
Operation Gomorrah
On July 25 1943, following a 5-month air campaign against Germany’s industrial Ruhr district, the RAF began a 10-day series of air raids on Hamburg known as Operation Gomorrah. Due to unusually hot and dry weather, the July 27 raid on the city’s working class...
Leningrad 7th Symphony
In the summer of 1941, shortly after the German army began the long siege of his city Leningrad, the Soviet Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich began work on his Seventh Symphony. After composing several movements, Shostakovich and his family, along with the...
Cocoanut Grove Fire
The Boston Cocoanut Grove club, thriving during Prohibition in the late 1920's, faded in popularity during the 1930's. But with the onset of WWII, it became very popular once again. The club's basement contained the Melody Lounge, while the first floor had a large...
Dieppe Raid
In the summer of 1942, with Russia suffering the brunt of the European war, there was immense pressure on Great Britain to mount an offensive operation on the Western front. A plan (Operation Jubilee) was developed to raid the German held French port of Dieppe on the...
Galloping Gertie Tacoma
https://youtu.be/lXyG68_caV4 Known for its pitching deck,the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed into Puget Sound the morning of November 7, 1940, under high wind conditions. Engineering issues, as well as the United States' involvement in World War II, postponed plans to...
Hindenburg Disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA The 30-year era of sublime optimism and confidence regarding passenger zeppelins came to an abrupt and tragic end in May 1937 with the fiery crash of the German airship Hindenburg. 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one...
Tupelo–Gainesville Tornadoes
During two days in April 1936, seventeen tornadoes struck the Southeastern USA killing approximately 436 people.
Typhoon Hits Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC7D_TICOeA Typhoon Muroto , followed by a tsunami, left 2,702 dead, 334 missing, and 14,994 injured.
Steamship Morro Castle Disaster
Returning from Havana to New York, the cruise ship Morro Castle caught fire just off New York harbor, killing 137 passengers and crew.