On This Day, Nov. 27: Plane crash near Madrid airport kills 181

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1901, the U.S. War Department authorized creation of the Army War College to instruct commissioned officers. It was built in Leavenworth, Kan.

In 1924, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York.

In 1940, two months after Gen. Ion Antonescu seized power in Romania and forced King Carol II to abdicate, more than 60 aides of the exiled king, including Nicolae Iorga, a former minister and acclaimed historian, were executed.

File Photo courtesy the Germany Federal Archive

In 1970, a man with a knife attempted to injure Pope Paul VI at Manila Airport in the Philippines.

In 1978, a disgruntled former San Francisco official shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official elected in California.

In 1983, a crippled Colombian jumbo jet crashed in flames on approach to the Madrid, Spain, airport, killing 181 people and injuring 11. Among those killed were several notable literary figures invited to a meeting in Colombia, including Mexican novelist Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Peruvian novelist Manuel Scorza and Argentine writer Marta Traba.

In 1989, Virginia certified Douglas Wilder as the first elected U.S. African-American governor by a margin of 0.38 percent of the vote.

In 1992, a fire destroyed parts of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, threatening the famous Lipizzaner stallions.

In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Iraq under the cover of darkness in a surprise visit to U.S. forces in Baghdad. The president mingled with troops gathered in a hangar for Thanksgiving dinner and joined the serving line, dishing out corn and sweet potatoes. Bush's 2 1/2 hour stay marked the first time a U.S. president traveled to Iraq.

File Photo by Roger Williams/UPI

In 2020, prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated near Tehran.

In 2022, Mauna Loa, one of the five volcanoes that form Hawaii's Big Island, erupted for the first time in 38 years. Lava flowed for more than two weeks and caused more than $1.5 million in damage.