May 27, 1971 (Thursday)
- Dahlerau train disaster: 46 people are killed in a collision between two trains in West Germany; 41 of the victims are pupils of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Radevormwald.
- Six armed passengers hijack a Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna.
- Christie's auctions a diamond known as Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored.
- Born: Paul Bettany, English actor, in Shepherd's Bush, London; Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, American entertainer, in Philadelphia (d. 2002)
- Died: Chips Rafferty, 62, Australian actor, of a heart attack while walking along a street in Sydney, shortly after being offered a role in The Day the Clown Cried.
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