April 28, 1503
Battle of Cerignola, the first battle in history won by small arms fire using
gunpowder (as opposed to
black powder).
1789
Mutiny on the Bounty, Lt. Bligh and 18 others are set adrift, while the remaining crew return, temporarily, to Tahiti.
1869
Chinese and Irish laborers
lay ten miles of railroad track in one day, a record that remains unbroken today.
1881
Billy The Kid escapes from the Lincoln County, New Mexico jail.
1932
A vaccine for
yellow fever is announced.
1945
Benito Mussolini and his mistress are executed by firing squad.
1947
Thor Heyerdahl, and five crew, set out from Peru on the
Kontiki, to prove ancient Peruvians could have settled in Polynesia.
1952
Eisenhower resigns as
Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
U.S.
occupation of Japan ends.
1967
Muhammad Ali refuses induction to the U.S. Army. He is stripped of his boxing championship and license.
1969
Charles de Gaulle resigns as
President of France.
1988
Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing is blown out of
Aloha Airlines Flight 243, to her death, when part of the 737's fuselage separates mid-flight.
1994
Former CIA officer/analyst
Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to espionage.
2001
Dennis Tito becomes the world's first
space tourist.
Births
James Monroe-1758; Lionel Barrymore-1878; Jan Oort-1900; Oskar Schindler-1908; Ferruccio Lamborghini-1916; Harper Lee-1926; James Baker-1930; Tariq Aziz-1936; Saddam Hussein-1937; Ann-Margret
-1941; Terry Pratchett-1948; Bruno Kirby, Indian Larry-1949; Jay Leno-1950; Chuck Leavell, Mary McDonnell-1952; Hal Sutton-1958; Elena Kagan-1960; John Daly-1966
Deaths
John "Jack" Russell-1883; Benito Mussolini-1945; Ed Begley (Sr.)-1970; Tommy Caldwell-1980; Steve Currie-1981; Ken Curtis-1991; Jim Valvano-1993; Rory Calhoun-1999; Dabbs Greer, Tommy Newsom-2007; Vern Gosdin "The Voice"-2009; Jack Ely-2015