The Luftwaffe shot down a civilian DC-3 airliner belonging to BOAC flying out of Portugal, killing the passengers on board, which included actor Leslie Howard.
The flight, 777, was a regularly scheduled flight of which the Germans were aware. As odd as it is to think of this in the context of a global war, commercial aviation continued on during the war where it could. The fact that the aircraft was shot down has led to speculation that the Germans may have thought Winston Churchill was on board the craft, although other conspiracy theories exist including that Howard was the target, as, it is theorized, he was a British spy. Some speculation exists that the Germans targeted the plane simply to cause British demoralization, which they theorized would occur with the death of Howard. Having said all of that, the plane had been attacked by German aircraft twice before during the war.
The flight was overbooked and Howard actually joined the passenger list late, bumping off another passenger who accordingly was spared his fate. Some other last moment changes have led to some confusion over who was originally supposed to be on the flight. Catholic Priest Father A. S. Holmes, vice president of the R. C. English College, left the plane at the last moment in order to take a phone call. Actor Raymond Burr claimed that his wife Annette Sutherland, an actress, died in the crash, but no record of her being on the plane exists, nor of Burr having ever been married to an Annette Sutherland.
Howard is best known to American audiences for his role as Ashley in Gone With The Wind, a role which I feel he was miscast in.
The SS John Morgan, carrying explosives, exploded when it accidentally struck the tanker SS Montana in Baltimore's harbor. Sixty-five of the 68 men on the John Morgan died in the explosion, while 18 of the 82 men on the Montana were killed.
The United Mine Workers went into a coal strike. It lasted only a week.
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