The V1 Flying Bomb Attack on England
The following is your daily snapshot of what happened on this day in history, June 13th. On this day in history, June 13, 1944, Germany launched the first V1 flying bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets, but the buzz of their engines and the sudden silence as they fell would strike fear into London. The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde Airfield by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. The first of the so-called Vergeltungswaffen series designed for terror bombing of London, the V-1 was fired from “ski” launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts.
BORN JUNE 13TH:
June 13, 823 – Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the West Franks (d. 877)
June 13, 1584 – Miyamoto Musashi, Legendary Samurai warrior, artist, and author of The Book of Five Rings (d. 1645)
June 13, 1595 – Jan Marek Marci, Bohemian doctor and scientist (d. 1667)
June 13, 1649 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706)
June 13, 1672 – Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (d. 1741)
June 13, 1752 – Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist (d. 1840)
June 13, 1763 – José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman (d. 1838)
June 13, 1773 – Thomas Young, English scientist (d. 1829)
June 13, 1775 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (d. 1833)
June 13, 1786 – Winfield Scott, U.S. general (d. 1866)
June 13, 1809 – Heinrich Hoffmann, German painter, author of Struwwelpeter (d. 1894)
June 13, 1822 – Carl Schmidt, German chemist (d. 1884)
June 13, 1827 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (d. 1882)
June 13, 1831 – James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
June 13, 1864 – Rudolf Kjellén, Swedish political scientist (d. 1922)
June 13, 1864 – Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (d. 1939)
June 13, 1863 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (d. 1935)
June 13, 1865 – William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1937)
June 13, 1870 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
June 13, 1876 – William Sealey Gosset, English chemist, statistician (d. 1937)
June 13, 1884 – Anton Drexler, German political figure (d. 1942)
June 13, 1884 – Gerald Gardner, British occultist (d. 1964)
June 13, 1884 – Étienne Gilson, French philosopher (d. 1978)
June 13, 1885 – Henry George Lamond, Australian novelist (d. 1969)
June 13, 1887 – Bruno Frank, German author (d. 1945)
June 13, 1888 – Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (d. 1935)
June 13, 1892 – Basil Rathbone, English actor (d. 1967)
June 13, 1893 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English author (d. 1957)
June 13, 1894 – Dr. Leo Kanner, Austrian-American physician (d. 1981)
June 13, 1894 – Jacques Henri Lartigue, French photographer (d. 1986)
June 13, 1897 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (d. 1973)
June 13, 1899 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (d. 1978)
June 13, 1901 – Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1985)
June 13, 1903 – Red Grange, American football player (d. 1991)
June 13, 1905 – Xian Xinghai, Chinese composer (d. 1945)
June 13, 1906 – Bruno de Finetti, Italian mathematician (d. 1985)
June 13, 1909 – E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Indian politician (d. 1998)
June 13, 1910 – Mary Whitehouse, British campaigner (d. 2001)
June 13, 1910 – Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Galician writer (d. 1999)
June 13, 1910 – Mary Wickes, American actress (d. 1995)
June 13, 1911 – Luis Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
June 13, 1911 – Erwin Wilhelm Müller, German-born physicist (d. 1977)
June 13, 1912 – Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, French Canadian poet (d. 1943)
June 13, 1915 – Don Budge, American tennis player (d. 2000)
June 13, 1917 – Teddy Turner, comedian (d. 1992)
June 13, 1918 – Ben Johnson, American actor (d. 1996)
June 13, 1918 – Helmut Lent, German night fighter pilot (d. 1944)
June 13, 1920 – Rolf Huisgen, German chemist
June 13, 1922 – Etienne Leroux, Afrikaans author, (d. 1989)
June 13, 1924 – Percy Rodriguez, Canadian actor (d. 2007)
June 13, 1926 – Paul Lynde, American actor (d. 1982)
June 13, 1928 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician, Nobel laureate
June 13, 1929 – Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
June 13, 1929 – Robert W. Scott, American politician, governor of North Carolina (d. 2009)
June 13, 1930 – Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel (d. 2004)
June 13, 1931 – Irvin D. Yalom, American psychotherapist
June 13, 1931 – Nora Kovach, Hungarian-born American ballerina (d. 2009)
June 13, 1933 – Tom King, British politician
June 13, 1935 – Christo, Bulgarian artist
June 13, 1935 – Jeanne-Claude, French artist (d. 2009)
June 13, 1935 – Samak Sundaravej, Thai 25th Prime Minister (d. 2009)
June 13, 1936 – Michael H. Jordan, American businessman and Chief Executive Officer (d. 2010)
June 13, 1937 – Erich Ribbeck, German football player/manager
June 13, 1939 – Tom Cheek, American baseball broadcaster (d. 2005)
June 13, 1940 – Bobby Freeman, American soul singer
June 13, 1941 – Esther Ofarim, Israeli singer
June 13, 1941 – Marcel Lachemann, American baseball player
June 13, 1943 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor
June 13, 1943 – Jim Guy Tucker, American politician, governor of Arkansas
June 13, 1944 – Ban Ki-moon, South Korean United Nations Secretary-General
June 13, 1945 – Whitley Strieber, American author
June 13, 1947 – A. G. Lafley, American executive director
June 13, 1948 – Garnet Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and executive (d. 2001)
June 13, 1948 – Joe Roth, American executive, producer and film director
June 13, 1949 – Dennis Locorriere, American singer and guitarist (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show)
June 13, 1949 – Ulla Schmidt, German politician
June 13, 1950 – Belinda Bauer, Australian actress
June 13, 1950 – Michael Stark, Australian actor
June 13, 1950 – Gerd Zewe, German footballer
June 13, 1951 – Richard Thomas, American actor
June 13, 1951 – Stellan Skarsgård, Swedish actor
June 13, 1951 – Robert P. Young, Jr., Michigan Supreme Court justice
June 13, 1952 – Tony Bruno, American talkshow host
June 13, 1952 – Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian politician and former judoka
June 13, 1953 – Tim Allen, American comedian and actor
June 13, 1954 – Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician
June 13, 1954 – Rita Cadillac, Brazilian dancer
June 13, 1955 – Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice Georgia Supreme Court
June 13, 1955 – Alan Hansen, Scottish football pundit
June 13, 1959 – Boyko Borisov, Bulgarian politician
June 13, 1959 – Steve Georganas, Australian politician
June 13, 1959 – Lance Kinsey, Canadian actor
June 13, 1961 – Anders Järryd, Swedish tennis player
June 13, 1962 – Ally Sheedy, American actress
June 13, 1962 – Glenn Michibata, Canadian professional tennis player
June 13, 1962 – Davey Hamilton, American racing driver
June 13, 1962 – Hannah Storm, American television personality
June 13, 1963 – Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
June 13, 1963 – Paul De Lisle, American musician (Smash Mouth)
June 13, 1963 – Catarina Lindqvist, Swedish tennis player
June 13, 1964 – Kathy Burke, English actress
June 13, 1964 – Sarunas Marciulionis, Lithuanian basketball player
June 13, 1964 – Christian Wilhelm Berger, Romanian composer
June 13, 1965 – Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca
June 13, 1965 – Vassilis Karapialis, Greek footballer
June 13, 1965 – Lukas Ligeti, Austrian composer and drummer
June 13, 1965 – Lisa Vidal, American actress
June 13, 1966 – Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician
June 13, 1966 – Naoki Hattori, Japanese racing driver
June 13, 1967 – Taşkın Aksoy, Turkish footballer
June 13, 1968 – David Gray, British musician
June 13, 1968 – Denise Pearson, British singer (Five Star)
June 13, 1968 – Fabio Baldato, Italian cyclist
June 13, 1968 – Spike Breakwell, British comedian
June 13, 1968 – Marcel Theroux, British writer and broadcaster
June 13, 1969 – Svetlana Krivelyova, Russian athlete
June 13, 1969 – Søren Nystrøm Rasted
June 13, 1970 – Chris Cairns, New Zealand cricketer
June 13, 1970 – Rivers Cuomo, American musician (Weezer)
June 13, 1970 – Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004)
June 13, 1972 – Natalie MacMaster, Canadian musician
June 13, 1973 – Sam Adams, American football player
June 13, 1973 – Mattias Hellberg, Swedish musician (The Hellacopters)
June 13, 1973 – Ville Laihiala, Finnish musician (Sentenced, Poisonblack)
June 13, 1973 – Kasia Kowalska, Polish pop rock singer
June 13, 1973 – Leeann Tweeden, American model and television presenter
June 13, 1974 – Selma Björnsdóttir, Icelandic singer
June 13, 1974 – Brande Roderick, American actress
June 13, 1974 – Takahiro Sakurai, Japanese voice actor
June 13, 1974 – Valeri Bure, Russian ice hockey player
June 13, 1974 – Steve-O, American stunt performer and television personality
June 13, 1975 – Ante Covic, Australian footballer
June 13, 1975 – Johannes Grenzfurthner, Austrian artist, writer, curator and director
June 13, 1975 – Riccardo Scimeca, English footballer
June 13, 1975 – Jennifer Nicole Lee, American model
June 13, 1976 – Kym Marsh, English singer, actress and T.V. presenter
June 13, 1976 – Jason ‘J’ Brown, English Singer
June 13, 1978 – Ethan Embry, American actor
June 13, 1978 – Mathis Künzler, Swiss actor
June 13, 1978 – Jason Michael Carroll, country musician
June 13, 1978 – Mikako Ichikawa, Japanese actress and model
June 13, 1979 – Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
June 13, 1980 – Darius Vassell, English footballer
June 13, 1980 – Florent Malouda, French footballer
June 13, 1980 – Jamario Moon, American basketball player
June 13, 1980 – Markus Winkelhock, German racing driver
June 13, 1980 – Sarah Connor, German singer
June 13, 1981 – Chris Evans, American actor
June 13, 1982 – Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian athlete
June 13, 1983 – Matt Allison, British racing driver
June 13, 1983 – Jason Spezza, Canadian hockey player
June 13, 1983 – Ryan Conferido, American dancer
June 13, 1984 – Nery Castillo, Mexican-Uruguayan footballer
June 13, 1985 – Danny Syvret, Canadian ice hockey player
June 13, 1985 – Filipe Albuquerque, Portuguese racing driver
June 13, 1986 – Kat Dennings, American actress
June 13, 1986 – Ashley Olsen, American actress
June 13, 1986 – Mary-Kate Olsen, American actress
June 13, 1986 – Keisuke Honda, Japanese footballer
June 13, 1988 – Austin Thornton, American drummer (Woe, Is Me)
June 13, 1988 – Gabe Carimi, American football player
June 13, 1989 – Tommy Searle, British motocross racer
June 13, 1989 – Lisa Tucker, American singer
June 13, 1990 – Aaron Johnson (actor), English actor
DIED JUNE 13TH:
June 14, 1036 – Ali az-Zahir, caliph (b. 1005)
June 14, 1231 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (b. 1195)
June 14, 1256 – Tankei, Japanese sculptor (b. 1173)
June 14, 1636 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, Scottish politician (b. 1562)
June 14, 1645 – Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
June 14, 1665 – Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604)
June 14, 1760 – Antoine Court, French Huguenot minister (b. 1696)
June 14, 1784 – Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
June 14, 1881 – Josef Skoda, Czech physician (b. 1805)
June 14, 1886 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria (b. 1845)
June 14, 1898 – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1840)
June 14, 1904 – Nikiphoros Lytras, Greek painter (b. 1832)
June 14, 1918 – Grand Duke Mikhail of Russia, younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II (b. 1878) (murdered)
June 14, 1930 – Henry Segrave, British racing driver who held land speed records and the water speed record (b. 1896)
June 14, 1931 – Kitasato Shibasaburō, Japanese physician (b. 1851)
June 14, 1943 – Kočo Racin, Macedonian poet (b. 1908)
June 14, 1951 – Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
June 14, 1954 – Henry Blogg, English lifeboatman, George Cross and British Empire Medal recipient (b. 1876)
June 14, 1958 – Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (b. 1887)
June 14, 1965 – Martin Buber, Austrian-born Israeli philosopher (b. 1878)
June 14, 1965 – David Drummond, Australian politician (b. 1890)
June 14, 1972 – Clyde McPhatter, American musician (b. 1932)
June 14, 1972 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
June 14, 1972 – Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Austrian-born German World War II spy (b. 1891)
June 14, 1972 – Dündar Taşer, Turkish nationalist (b. 1925)
June 14, 1977 – Matthew Garber, British child actor (Mary Poppins) (b. 1956)
June 14, 1979 – Darla Hood, American actress (b. 1931)
June 14, 1979 – Demetrio Stratos, Italian musician (b. 1945)
June 14, 1980 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
June 14, 1982 – King Khalid of Saudi Arabia (b. 1912)
June 14, 1982 – Peter Maivia, wrestler (b. 1935)
June 14, 1982 – Riccardo Paletti, Formula One driver (b. 1958)
June 14, 1984 – António Variações, Portuguese hairdresser and musician (b. 1944)
June 14, 1986 – Benny Goodman, American musician (b. 1909)
June 14, 1987 – Geraldine Page, American actress (b. 1924)
June 14, 1989 – Fran Allison, American, early television personality (Kukla, Fran and Ollie) (b. 1907)
June 14, 1993 – Deke Slayton, astronaut (b. 1924)
June 14, 1993 – Gérard Côté, Canadian runner (b. 1913)
June 14, 1998 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911)
June 14, 1998 – Reg Smythe, British comic artist (Andy Capp) (b. 1917)
June 14, 2002 – John Hope, American meteorologist (b. 1919)
June 14, 2003 – Malik Meraj Khalid, Former caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1916)
June 14, 2004 – Dick Durrance, American skier (b. 1914)
June 14, 2004 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist and writer (b. 1952)
June 14, 2005 – Jonathan Adams, English actor (b. 1931)
June 14, 2005 – Álvaro Cunhal, Portuguese politician and writer (b. 1913)
June 14, 2005 – David Diamond, American composer (b. 1915)
June 14, 2005 – Lane Smith, American actor (b. 1936)
June 14, 2006 – Charles Haughey, Taoiseach (b. 1925)
June 14, 2007 – Walid Eido, Lebanese MP (b. 1942)
June 14, 2008 – Tim Russert, American television host, NBC News Meet the Press moderator (b. 1950)
June 14, 2008 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (b. 1926)
June 14, 2009 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1962)
June 14, 2009 – Fathi Yakan, Lebanese leader and Muslim cleric (b. 1933)
JUNE 13TH MEMORABLE EVENTS:
June 14, 1249 – Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots.
June 14, 1373 – Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal is the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force.
June 14, 1525 – Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.
June 14, 1625 – King Charles I marries Henrietta Maria of France, Princess of France
June 14, 1774 – Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain’s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
June 14, 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.
June 14, 1798 – Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded.
June 14, 1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
June 14, 1871 – In Labrador, a hurricane kills 300 people.
June 14, 1881 – The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
June 14, 1886 – A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.
June 14, 1886 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead in Lake Starnberg south of Munich at 11:30 PM.
June 14, 1893 – Grover Cleveland undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president’s death.
June 14, 1898 – Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
June 14, 1910 – The University of the Philippines College of Engineering is established. This unit of the university is said to be the largest degree granting unit in the Philippines.
June 14, 1917 – World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.
June 14, 1927 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh receives a ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York City.
June 14, 1934 – Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as “a silly little monkey”.
June 14, 1944 – World War II: Germany launches a counter attack on Carentan.
June 14, 1944 – World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.
June 14, 1952 – Catalina affair: a Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.
June 14, 1955 – Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered.
June 14, 1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
June 14, 1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
June 14, 1969 – Governor of Texas Preston Smith signs a bill into law converting the former Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, originally founded as a research arm of Texas Instruments, into the University of Texas at Dallas.
June 14, 1970 – “The Long and Winding Road” becomes the Beatles‘ last Number 1 song.
June 14, 1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.
June 14, 1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
June 14, 1978 – Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
June 14, 1981 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
June 14, 1982 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
June 14, 1983 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
June 14, 1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
June 14, 1995 – French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
June 14, 1996 – The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.
June 14, 1997 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
June 14, 1997 – Uphaar cinema fire, in New Delhi, India, killed 59 people, and over 100 people injured.
June 14, 1997 – American fugitive Ira Einhorn is arrested in France for the murder of Holly Maddux after 16 years on the run, though he would not return for another four years.
June 14, 2000 – President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.
June 14, 2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
June 14, 2002 – The United States of America withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
June 14, 2002 – Two 14-year-old South Korean girls are struck and killed by a United States Army armored vehicle, leading to months of public protests against the US.
June 14, 2005 – A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.
June 14, 2007 – The Al Askari Mosque is bombed for a third time.
MEMORABLE QUOTE:
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” (Carl Sagan)
