May 2 Historical Events

The following events took place on May 2. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 54 events. Showing 31 - 54.

• 1946
  The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place; two guards and three inmates are killed.
• 1952
  The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
• 1955
  Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• 1963
  Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
• 1964
  Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
• 1964
  First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
• 1969
  The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
• 1972
  In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers.
• 1980
  Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.
• 1982
  Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
• 1986
  Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster
• 1989
  Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

• 1994
  A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
• 1995
  During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
• 1998
  The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.
• 1999
  Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
• 2000
  President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
• 2004
  Yelwa massacre ended. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims attacked the Christians of Yelwa killing more than 78 Christians including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. More than 630 nomad Muslims were killed by Christians in Nigeria.
• 2008
  Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
• 2008
  Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
• 2011
  Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
• 2011
  An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
• 2012
  A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
• 2014
  Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.