April 28 historic events
1789 Mutiny on the Bounty: Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
Many descendents of the mutineers still live today on tiny, remote, peaceful Pitcairn island. Some of them have the surnames of their mutinous ancestors.
1945 Benito Mussolini and his companion Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
1947 Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on a balsa wood raft named Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
The book recounting the voyage – “Kon-Tiki” – was a best seller.
1986 The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
1988 Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing is blown out of Aloha Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
The top of large section of the passenger area blew off of the plane. Lansing was the only casualty, as the passengers were able to remain safely in their seats. Photos of the plane show the passenger compartment completely exposed in the damaged section.
1994 Former C.I.A. official Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
He one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history, exposing dozens of U.S. spies in the Soviet Union, including top ranking officers. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist, he continued spying for Russia.
2001 Billionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world’s first space tourist.
Russia desperately needed cash. Tito dreamed of traveling to space. $20,000,000 later, a shidduch was made.
2003 Apple Computer Inc. launched the iTunes store.
…aka “obtained their license to print money”.
2009 Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party.
…thus returning to the party he had deserted nearly 35 years previously. Ahhh, politicians!