February 26

What happened that day?

• 2013: A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
• 2012: A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
• 2008: The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.
• 1996: Keddies, the Southend-on-Sea department store closes it doors after 104 years of trading.
• 1995: The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
• 1993: World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand.
• 1992: Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
• 1987: Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
• 1980: Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
• 1979: The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.
• 1971: U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
• 1966: Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
• 1960: A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
• 1952: Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.
• 1936: In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
• 1935: Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
• 1935: Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
• 1929: President Calvin Coolidge signs an executive order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
• 1919: President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.
• 1914: HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
• 1909: Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
• 1876: Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.
• 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
• 1794: The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
• 1616: Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
• 1266: Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
• 1233: Mongol-Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
• 364: Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor.
• 747 BC: Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.