WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JUNE 1981
Find out what all happened January to June 1981

Irish Republican hunger strikers Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara die on hunger strike in Maze prison. (21. May 1981)

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight. (18. June 1981)

The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. (3. April 1981)

A massive riot in Brixton, South London, results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries. (11. April 1981)

The Humber Bridge is opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It would be the world's longest single-span suspension bridge for 17 years. (24. June 1981)

The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. (21. May 1981)

The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. (7. June 1981)

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. (4. April 1981)

Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). (18. January 1981)

Palau achieves self-government though it is not independent from the United States. (1. January 1981)

A Richter Scale 6.9 magnitude earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000. (11. June 1981)

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS. (5. June 1981)

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington. (25. June 1981)

In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies. (23. February 1981)

Greece is admitted into the European Community. (1. January 1981)

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it. (9. April 1981)

STS-1 – The first operational space shuttle, Columbia (OV-102) completes its first test flight. (14. April 1981)

An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others. (26. May 1981)

François Mitterrand wins the presidential election and becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French Fifth Republic. (10. May 1981)

Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death. (25. January 1981)