Date in year · 1968 · The 1960s

April 8, 1968

On April 8, 1968, bOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime. The year's #1 song was "Hey Jude" by The Beatles. Ashley Judd, Mswati III, Julia Morris would arrive in the same year.

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Year

1968

1960s

Around 1968

The year in brief

1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1968th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 968th year of the 2nd millennium, the 68th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1960s decade.

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What happened

On April 8, 1968

  1. 1968 BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.

    1968 aviation accident in England

    BOAC Flight 712 was a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) service operated by a Boeing 707-465 from London Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Zurich and Singapore. On Monday 8 April 1968, it suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion over checklists and distractions from the presence of a check pilot contributed to the deaths of 5 of the 127 on board.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1968

The class of 1968

Others born in 1968

Ashley Judd 1968– American actress
Mswati III 1968– King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland)
Julia Morris 1968– Australian entertainer
Dana Milbank 1968– American journalist and author
Jack de Gier 1968– Dutch footballer
Karl Wendlinger 1968– Austrian racing driver

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