On the 19th of November, 1996, two planes collided on the runway at Quincy, Illinois in the United States. Everyone on both planes died in the resulting fire and explosion.
The incident occurred when United Express Flight 5925 came in to land at the same time a King Air plane took off on an intersecting runway.
Inadequate rescue and firefighting equipment meant that while some people on the ground came to the aid of the passengers and crew, they could not get anybody out in time.
The 29th of July 1996 was the date for many of the gymnastics finals at the Atlanta Olympics.
Despite her country struggling to find funds in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian gymnast Lilia Podkopayeva qualified for both the balance beam and floor exercise finals.
Podkopayeva, aged seventeen, had won the prestigious individual all around gold four days earlier, won the silver medal on beam, and then finished her Olympics with a gold medal for her floor exercise.
Podkopayeva and Miller receive their beam medals.
Podkopayeva would win gold a few hours later.
US gymnast Shannon Miller, a nineteen-year-old national star who came home from the 1992 Olympics with five medals but no gold, won her first individual title on the balance beam.
Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, USA was bombed on the 27th of July, 1996. Two people were killed and 111 injured when Eric Robert Rudolph placed a US military pack containing three pipe bombs surrounded by nails in the so-called “town square” of the Olympic venue.
He later said he committed the attack because he didn’t agree with women having the right to abortion.
Rudolph later confessed to the bombings of women’s health clinics and gay bars.
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre that occurred in Tasmania, Australia.
This mass shooting (Australia’s last) at one of the nation’s most famous historic sites and tourist attractions was committed by a twenty-eight year old gunman by the name of Martin Bryant. Thirty-five people were killed and twenty-three others were wounded.
The massacre shocked Australians so much that they immediately changed the nation’s gun laws, and embarked on a gun buyback scheme that saw thousands of weapons surrendered.
Martin Bryant
Australia has not has a mass shooting in two decades.
In Times Gone By... 