WHAT ALL HAPPENED MARCH TO MAY 1979
Find out what all happened March to May 1979

Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people. (10. April 1979)

The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch. (25. March 1979)

The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers. (17. March 1979)

Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (4. May 1979)

Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. (28. May 1979)

The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada. (13. March 1979)

The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien). (31. March 1979)

The Federated States of Micronesia become self-governing. (10. May 1979)

Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah. (1. April 1979)

White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. (21. May 1979)

Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility. (30. March 1979)

Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ends the war. (16. March 1979)

Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C.. (26. March 1979)

Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters. (5. March 1979)

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed. (11. April 1979)

Etan Patz, who is six years old, disappears from the street just two blocks away from his home in New York City, prompting an international search for the child, and causing the U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25 as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983). (25. May 1979)

American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground. (25. May 1979)

Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000 member strong Jewish community of Iran. (9. May 1979)

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. (4. April 1979)

Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time. (8. March 1979)