WHAT HAPPENED IN 1978.
Look what happened the 1978.

Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft. (21. October 1978)

Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II. (22. October 1978)

Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom. (3. November 1978)

Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop of Rome. (12. November 1978)

A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183. (15. November 1978)

In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple cult to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo J. Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier. (18. November 1978)

In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White. (27. November 1978)

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is founded in the city of Riha (Urfa) in Turkey. (27. November 1978)

Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor. (She will serve until January 8, 1988.) (4. December 1978)

The Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. (5. December 1978)

Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum. (6. December 1978)

Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (10. December 1978)

The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time. (11. December 1978)

U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan (15. December 1978)

Cleveland, Ohio, becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression. (16. December 1978)

Dominica joins the United Nations. (18. December 1978)

The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform. (22. December 1978)

Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship. (27. December 1978)

With the crew investigating a problem with the landing gear, United Airlines Flight 173 runs out of fuel and crashes in Portland, Oregon, killing 10. As a result, United Airlines instituted the industry's first crew resource management program. (28. December 1978)