A convoy that set out from Iceland, destined for the Soviet Union, in the summer of 1942. Only 11 out of 34 merchant ships made it thanks to the bungled orders and intelligence.
PQ-17
Fact of the Day
The average height of the average male in the twelfth century was five-foot-seven.
Quote of the Day
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
"
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
On This Day
1846 Scottish surgeon Robert Liston was the first European to use anaesthesia during an amputation. He could amputate a leg in two and a half minutes.
1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1937 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', the world's first full-length animated film, premiered in the USA
1946 A tsunami caused by an undersea earthquake killed at least 1,362 and left thousands homeless in Japan.
1967 Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town, South Africa, 18 days after his operation.
1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded as it was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew, and 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed