2016-04-08

The Progress Party was founded in a movie theater in Oslo, Norway.

BOAC Flight 712 experienced an engine fire shortly after take-off from London Heathrow, leading to the deaths of five people on board, including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was posthumously awarded a George Cross for heroism.

A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf killed 238 people.

A team of computer scientists and others met to discuss the creation of a common business-oriented programming language, which became COBOL.

Otto and Elise Hampel were executed in Berlin for performing acts of resistance against Nazism.

World War II: The United States Army Air Forces flew its first mission from India over the Hump (the eastern end of the Himalayas) to deliver materiel to China.

The Australian state of Western Australia voted to secede from the federation, but efforts to implement the result proved to be unsuccessful.

World War I: German naval officer Wilhelm Werner murdered 19 captured crew members of the British cargo ship Torrington by submerging U-55 when they were on deck.

American cartoonist Winsor McCay released the silent short film Little Nemo (featured), one of the earliest animated films.

Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed Times Square after the New York Times building.