WHAT HAPPENED ON 18. FEBRUARY
Want to find out what all happened on 18. February

While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto. (18. February 1930)

Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft. (18. February 1930)

The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China. (18. February 1932)

During the Nanking Massacre tha Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee" and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart. (18. February 1938)

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore. (18. February 1942)

The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement. (18. February 1943)

Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech. (18. February 1943)

Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors (18. February 1946)

The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California. (18. February 1954)

Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series. (18. February 1955)

Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government. (18. February 1957)

Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand. (18. February 1957)

The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom. (18. February 1965)

Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crashes into Mount Whitney killing all on board. (18. February 1969)

The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (18. February 1970)

The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment. (18. February 1972)

The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747. (18. February 1977)

The first Ironman Triathlon competition takes place on the island of Oahu and is won by Gordon Haller. (18. February 1978)

Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history. (18. February 1979)

Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history. (18. February 1983)