HomeToday in HistoryWhat Happened on February 9

What Happened on February 9

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) ended an 18-month ceasefire by detonating a massive truck bomb in London
The bombing represented a serious setback to the Northern Ireland peace process and sparked condemnation from the international community

The Boeing 747 flies for the first time
The “Jumbo Jet” was the world’s largest passenger aircraft at the time.

The Beatles landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, beginning their first American tour
The band’s arrival was met with enormous fanfare and media attention, signaling the beginning of the so-called “British Invasion” of rock and roll music in the United States.

The Soviet Union put the R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into operation, marking a major milestone in the Cold War arms race
The R-7 was the world’s first ICBM, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world

  • 1987 Magdalena Neuner
    German biathlete
  • 1942 Carole King
    American singer-songwriter, pianist
  • 1932 Gerhard Richter
    German painter
  • 1846 Wilhelm Maybach
    German businessman, founded Maybach
  • 1737 Thomas Paine
    English/American theorist, author
  • 1981 Bill Haley
    American singer-songwriter, musician
  • 1957 Miklós Horthy
    Hungarian Admiral, regent
  • 1881 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    Russian author
  • 1857 Dionysios Solomos
    Greek poet
  • 967 Sayf al-Dawla
    Emir of Aleppo

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