April 4, 1977 -
Southern Airways Flight 242, a
Douglas DC-9-31, enters a severe thunderstorm which breaks the plane's windshield; the aircraft's engines ingest so much water and hail that they both
flame out. The plane glides to a
crash landing on a rural highway in Georgia, killing 62 out of 85 people aboard – including
rhythm and blues singer
Annette Snell – and eight people on the ground; all 22 survivors are injured.
April 13, 1919 -
Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against
the draft during World War I.
June 29, 1981 - Morris Edwin Robert, armed with a machine gun, holds hostages in the FBI section at the Atlanta, Georgia Federal Building. After three hours the hostages are rescued and Robert is killed in a shootout with Federal Agents.
August 26, 1927 - Paul R. Redfern leaves Brunswick, Georgia, flying his Stinson Detroiter "Port of Brunswick" to attempt a solo non-stop flight to Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. He later crashes in the Venezuela jungle (the crash site is never located).