16 July 1948

The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.

The Miss Macao was a Catalina flying boat operated by the Cathay Pacific Airways. It was on a regular flight from Macau to Hong Kong with 26 people on board, including crew members and passengers.

During the flight, three armed men, later identified as Wong Yu, Ko Yuen-kan, and Chan Chiu, hijacked the plane. They demanded a ransom of HK$500,000 (Hong Kong dollars) and threatened to destroy the aircraft and harm the passengers if their demands were not met.

The hijackers diverted the Miss Macao to an isolated area in the Pearl River Delta, near Guangzhou (Canton), China. There, they waited for a response from the authorities. Negotiations ensued between the hijackers and the Hong Kong authorities, with Cathay Pacific’s director, Roy Farrell, acting as an intermediary.

The situation took a dramatic turn when the hijackers decided to detonate explosives on board the aircraft as a warning. They detonated a small charge that damaged the aircraft’s fuselage but did not cause it to sink or become fully disabled.

Eventually, the hijackers agreed to release all the passengers in exchange for the ransom money. The money was delivered, but the hijackers only allowed 23 of the 26 hostages to disembark. The remaining three hostages were released later.

The hijackers, however, did not manage to escape the authorities. They were arrested by the Chinese authorities in Guangzhou. The three men were later extradited to Hong Kong, where they faced trial and were subsequently executed for their crimes.

The hijacking of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane was a significant event in aviation history, drawing international attention to the issue of airline security. It highlighted the need for improved security measures and procedures to prevent such incidents in the future.

16 July 1999

John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when the Piper Saratoga PA-32R aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

16 July 1965

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking Italy and France opens.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Europe, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via European route E25, in particular the motorway from Geneva A40 of France to Turin A5 of Italy. The passageway is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes, particularly for Italy, which relies on this tunnel for transporting as much as one-third of its freight to northern Europe. It reduces the route from France to Turin by 50 kilometres 30 miles and to Milan by 100 km 60 mi. Northeast of Mont Blanc’s summit, the tunnel is about 15 km 10 mi southwest of the tripoint with Switzerland, near Mont Dolent.

Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the tunnel is 11.611 km 7.215 mi in length, 8.6 m 28 ft in width, and 4.35 m 14.3 ft in height. The passageway is not horizontal, but in a slightly inverted “V”, which assists ventilation. The entrance elevation on the French side 45°54?05?N 006°51?39?E is 1,274 m 4,180 ft and 1,381 m 4,531 ft in Italy 45°49?04?N 006°57?07?E, with a maximum of 1,395 m 4,577 ft near the center, a maximum difference of 121 m 397 ft. The tunnel consists of a single gallery with a two-lane dual direction road. At the time of its construction, it tripled the length of any existing highway tunnel.

The tunnel passes almost exactly under the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. At this spot, it lies 2480m beneath the surface, making it the world’s second deepest operational tunnel after the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which is slightly deeper.

Plans to widen the tunnel were never implemented because of lack of financing and fierce opposition of local residents who objected to the harmful effects of increased heavy traffic.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel was originally managed by two public companies, each managing half of the tunnel.

16 July 1965

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy is opened.

montblanc

After 19 years of planning and construction, the Mont Blanc Tunnel officially opens. The new tunnel stretches 7 miles, linking the French town of Chamonix and the Italian town of Courmayeur. Buried 1.5 miles under the Alps’ highest peak, it becomes the world’s deepest road tunnel beneath rock and gains infamy after a deadly 1999 fire.

Until the opening of the tunnel, road traffic in the Alps between France and Italy wended its way over hairpin turns and sharp grades, with mountain passes closed the majority of the year because of snow. Italian construction teams began drilling a tunnel into Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco on their side) to build a year-round route in 1946. The next year, France and Italy signed an agreement to build the tunnel together.

Construction, however, did not begin in earnest until May 30, 1959, with the help of an 82-ton tunnel-boring machine. Tunneling began at 4,091 feet on the French side and at 4,530 feet on the Italian side.

It took 783 tons of explosives to complete the drilling. The French and Italian teams met Aug. 4, 1962, with a discrepancy of only 5.12 inches between the two sides.

When it opened in a ceremony featuring Presidents Charles De Gaulle of France and Giuseppe Saragat of Italy, the Mont Blanc Tunnel became the world’s longest highway tunnel, more than three times longer than the previous recordholder, Liverpool’s Mersey Tunnel.