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TODAY IN HISTORY: Three men hijack plane en-route to Florida

Emily Bennett

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November 10
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November 10

Southern Airways Flight 49 was hijacked on November 10 in 1972 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Three men - Melvin Cale, Louis Moore, and Henry D. Jackson Jr - successfully took over the flight that was scheduled to fly from Memphis in Tennessee to Miami in Florida via Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama and Orlando in Florida.

The three were each facing criminal charges for unrelated incidents.

Thirty-five people, including 31 passengers and four crew members, were aboard the airplane when it was hijacked.

The hijacking finally came to an end when the plane landed once again in Havana on November 11 after traveling for some 30 hours and 6400km.

Attribution: Wikimedia Commons
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The Hope diamond, one of the largest blue diamonds known, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC on November 10 in 1958.

The jewel became one of the museum's most-popular attractions.

Attribution: Wikimedia Commons
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Sesame Street first aired on the National Educational Television network in the US on November 10 in 1969.

The show introduced viewers to puppet characters Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.

The popular show reached its 54th season last year.

Attribution: Getty
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The giant American ore carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior in a giant gale on November 10, 1975, with the loss of 29 lives.

After it changed course to avert worsening weather, the mighty ship suddenly disappeared from the radar.

A nearby ship discovered two splintered lifeboats and a single, unoccupied life jacket.

Attribution: Wikimedia Commons
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Nearly a week later, a US Coast Guard sonar ship found the Fitzgerald wrestled to the ice-cold lake bed.

Lake Superior's water is so cold year round that people who fall off boats and ship have only a few minutes before they die.

But not one body was ever recovered, and no one knows exactly what caused the ship to founder.

Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot immortalised the loss of the Fitzgerald and all 29 aboard with his 1976 hit song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Attribution: AP
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The uncensored version of the D. H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, was sold out in minutes on November 10, 1960, in the UK after a landmark court case.

The book garnered notoriety over its use of then-unprintable words and explicit descriptions of sex.

Pictured here is the judge's personal version, used in the obscenity trial.

Attribution: AP
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Walt Disney, right, one of the towering figures of the 20th century became an informer for the FBI on November 10, 1940.

The famous business tycoon and animated film producer agreed to inform the US crime fighting agency on subversive, left-wing activities among his large workforce.

Attribution: Getty
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