July 1981 - July 8, 1981 (Wednesday)

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.

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Famous quotes containing the word july:

    All the experts here ... say “There will be no war.” They said the same thing all through July 1914.... In those days I believed the experts. Today I have my tongue in my cheek. This does not mean I am become cynical; but as President I have to be ready just like a Fire Department!
    Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)