April 1981 - April 27, 1981 (Monday)

April 27, 1981 (Monday)

• Operation Red Dog, a plot to overthrow the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica, was foiled when FBI agents arrested ten mercenary soldiers near New Orleans as they were preparing to sail toward the Caribbean island nation with a cache of weapons. Led by Michael Eugene Perdue, the group of white supremacists had planned to take control of the government of the mostly black nation, after freeing former Prime Minister Patrick John (also black) from a Dominican jail, and being appointed to high government positions.

• "Bigfoot", the first "monster truck" was created by Bob Chandler, who had envisioned a vehicle with tires so large that it could crush anything in its path. On this date, Chandler gave the first test run of "Bigfoot" at a field near St. Louis, Missouri, and rolled it over abandoned cars. The first major event in the new sport of monster truck competition would take place on April 9, 1983, at the Pontiac Silverdome, before a crowd of 68,000.