26th February

EVENTS:

• 1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
• 1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
• 1972 – The Buffalo Creek flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
• 2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
• 2015 – A gunman kills seven people then himself in a series of shootings in Tyrone, Missouri.
• 2019 – Indian Air Force fighter-jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Balakot.
• 2021 – A total of 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 are kidnapped by bandits in the Zamfara kidnapping in Zamfara State, Nigeria.

BIRTHS:

• 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Orde Wingate, Indian-English general (d. 1944)
• 1908 – Leela Majumdar, Indian author and academic (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer and businessman (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (d. 2015)
• 1937 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (d. 2011)
• 1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player and sportscaster
• 1982 – Matt Prior, South African-English cricketer
• 1983 – Jerome Harrison, American football player
• 1997 – Jessie Bates, American football player
• 2003 – Jamal Musiala, German footballer

HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:

• Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan)
• Liberation Day (Kuwait)
• Saviour’s Day (Nation of Islam)