The 1974 White House helicopter incident occurred when U.S. Army private Robert K. Preston stole a Bell UH-1B Iroquois helicopter (a 'Huey') from Tipton Field, Maryland, and, in a major breach of security, landed it on the South Lawn(pictured) of the White House. Preston had enlisted in the Army to become a helicopter pilot, but did not graduate from the helicopter training course. Shortly after midnight on February 17, 1974, he was returning from leave when he took off in a helicopter. Preston flew towards Washington, D.C., where he hovered close to the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and over the South Lawn of the White House. He then flew back towards Tipton Field, pursued by two police Bell 206 JetRanger helicopters. He returned to Washington, and again hovered over the South Lawn. The Secret Service opened fire; lightly wounded, Preston landed and was arrested. At his court-martial, he was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $2400. (Full article..)

• .. that Naiguatá(pictured) was recently sunk in a skirmish with the RCGS Resolute?
• .. that Canadian ice hockey manager Tubby Schmalz reportedly sheltered visiting teams in his hotel during inclement weather?
• .. that the Northern line, which already served the southernmost station on the London Underground, was proposed to be extended southward to North Cheam in 1946?
• .. that Kanuni is Turkey's third drillship?
• .. that Making a New World, a concept album by Field Music about the after-effects of World War I, originated from a commission by the Imperial War Museum?
• .. that after not having played Australian rules football competitively since she was 13, Erin Phillips won the inaugural AFL Women's best and fairest award in 2017 in her first season back at age 31?
• .. that angels seen radiating outward on an experimental radar led to the discovery of a curious flocking behavior of starlings?

• A gas leak in Andhra Pradesh, India, kills thirteen people and injures over a thousand others.
• Astronomers announce the discovery of the first black hole located in a star system visible to the naked eye.
• In the Philippines, the leading television network ABS-CBN(headquarters pictured) is ordered to stop broadcasting by the National Telecommunications Commission.

May 8: World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day; Pesach Sheni (Judaism, 2020); Anniversary of the birth of Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico (1753); Victory in Europe Day (1945)

• 1842 – A train derailed and caught fire(depicted) near Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
• 1924 – Lithuania signed the Klaipėda Convention, making the Klaipėda Region (taken from East Prussia) into an autonomous region under Lithuanian rule.
• 1945 – A parade in Sétif, French Algeria, celebrating the end of World War II in Europe became a riot and was followed by a massacre carried out by colonial authorities.
• 1970 – Construction workers attacked students and others who were protesting the Vietnam War in New York City.