Way back when: Today in history
BY GENE CURTIS
Saturday, February 09, 2013
2/09/13 at 3:37 AM
1960 - Royal name changed
Queen Elizabeth changed the family name to Mountbatten-Windsor, one with a German background, and touched off a controversy in Britain. Mountbatten is the English version of the German name Battenberg and was adopted in the anti-German frenzy of World War I. The change was to honor the queen's husband, Prince Philip, whose forebearers were Battenbergs. The queen's proclamation specified that her children would continue to be known as the house and family of Windsor, a name that also would apply to any future descendants.
1969 - 747 'a pilot's dream'
The Boeing 747 superjet, the largest commercial airliner in the world, was reported flying "like a pilot's dream" on its maiden flight but the flight was cut short because it experienced "a bump" during some of the tests. Pilot Jack Waddell decided to return to the airport at Everett, Wash., "to be prudent" but remained in the air long enough for Boeing officials and reporters to make an aerial rendezvous in a Boeing 727. After landing, Wadell told reporters that he was ready to go up in the plane again at any time.
1978 - Record snowfall
More than 1,200 Army troops from Southern and Southwestern bases were flown to New England to help clear a record snowfall from streets and rail tracks to get the region moving again. The classic "nor'easter" storm, the worst in the 20th century, had finally subsided after dumping at least two feet of snow on most areas and as much as 55 inches on some areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Thousands of cars had been abandoned on city streets and on highways and the area ran short of groceries and cash with thousands wandering streets in search of open banks and stores with supplies.
1989 - Tourist plane crashes
A search was under way for the bodies of 137 Italian vacationers and a seven-member American crew who were killed the day before when their plane slammed into the 1,794-foot-high Pico Alto mountain at Vila Doi Porto, Azores Islands, and burst into flames as it prepared to land. It took rescue teams more than four hours to reach the crash site in the heavily forested area. Tape recordings indicated the pilots believed they had been cleared to descend to 2,000 feet when in fact the controllers had said 3,000 feet, the New York Times said.
Associated Images:
A Boeing 747 jumbo jet leaves
the ground on its first flight at the
Boeing plant in Everett, Wash.
Associated Press file
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