1939: Lou Gehrig ("The Iron Horse") ends 2,130 consecutive games played streak
1940: Chamberlain resigns as U.K. Prime Minister
1941: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland
1942: The Women's Army Corps (WAC) is created as an auxiliary unit
1943: The 'Dambuster Raid' is flown by RAF No. 617 Squadron
1944: USS England (DE-635), sinks 6 Japanese submarines in 12 days
1945: Allies accepted surrender of Nazi Germany
1946: Dr. Louis Slotin working at the Los Alamos Laboratory, accidentally begins a fission reaction receiving a fatal dose of radiation
1947: President Truman signs Act granting $400 million in military & economic aid to Turkey & Greece. This begins the Cold War
1948: David Ben-Gurion declares the State of Israel
1949: Berlin blockade lifted, leading to creation of 2 German states
1950: 4th century BC mummified corpse found in a Danish peat bog
1951: Festival of Britain opens
1952: William Fox founder of Fox Film Corporation dies
1953: Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest
1954: U.S. Supreme Court rules separate schools for black & white students unconstitutional
1955: The Pulitzer prize is awarded to Tennessee Williams for his play 'Cat on Hot Tin Roof'
1956: First Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast. Winning song is 'Refrain' sung by Lys Assia
1957: Anne Frank Foundation founded to prevent demolition of Amsterdam house she hid in
1958: Bodies of unidentified soldiers are buried at Tomb of the Unknowns
1959: Two monkeys, Able & Miss Baker first animals to successfully return to Earth from space
1960: American Lockheed U-2 spy plane shot down over Soviet Union. Pilot Francis Gary Powers captured
1961: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3
1962: As part of Project Mercury Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule
1963: Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses & police dogs on protestors in Birmingham, Alabama