July 8, 1981 (Wednesday)
- Lt. Adriano Bomba of Mozambique flew a Soviet-built MiG-17 jet fighter into South Africa and then signaled to intercepting forces that he wished to surrender. Bomba, a black African defector, was given asylum by the white minority government that ruled the nation during the apartheid era, in return for military intelligence.
- Born: Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player, 2004 French Open winner; in Moscow
- Died: Irish Republican Joe McDonnell, at the Long Kesh Internment Camp after a 61-day hunger strike.
Read more about this topic: July 1981
Famous quotes containing the word july:
“People in Stamps used to say that the whites in our town were so prejudiced that a Negro couldn’t buy vanilla ice cream. Except on July Fourth. Other days he had to be satisfied with chocolate.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)