On this day in history - May 2

What Happened On This Day – May 2

• 2011 Osama bin Laden is killed by a U.S. commando

  Bin Laden was the founder of al-Qaeda, a militant group that claimed responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. targets on September 11, 2001.

• 1997 Tony Blair becomes British Prime Minister, ending 18 years of Conservative Party reign

  Blair's Labor Party achieved a landslide victory in the general elections. Many of his early fans were bitterly disappointed when he supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

• 1989 The Iron Curtain begins to crumble as Hungary dismantles its border fence

  By gradually opening its border to Austria, Hungary facilitated the escape of hundreds of East Germans in the months before the Berlin Wall fell.

• 1982 The British Royal Navy sinks the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano

  323 lives were lost in the attack, more than half of the total number of Argentinian casualties during the Falklands War. The British Sun tabloid newspaper commented the controversial attack with one of its most notorious headlines: “Gotcha”.

• 1952 The jet age begins with the first scheduled flight of the De Havilland Comet 1

  Precisely one year after the maiden flight from London to Johannesburg, a Comet 1 crashed due to structural problems, killing 43 people. A series of similar accidents soon led to the grounding of the entire Comet fleet.