December 8
Dec 8
United Air Lines Flight 553 crash
On December 8, 1972, a United Air Lines Boeing 737 on approach to Chicago Midway Airport descended below its intended glidepath and struck structures in a nearby neighborhood, killing many aboard and several people on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board found the flight crew failed to maintain airspeed and the proper approach profile and did not execute a missed approach when the approach became unstable; distracting cockpit conversation and inadequate monitoring were cited as contributing factors. The crash drew outsized attention because Dorothy Hunt, wife of Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt, was among the dead, prompting conspiracy claims that official investigations later found unsupported.
Dec 8
Operation Python (Indian Navy strike on Karachi, 8 December 1971)
Operation Python was a night strike carried out by the Indian Navy against Karachi’s harbour and fuel installations on December 8, 1971. A follow-up to the earlier Operation Trident, Python used small, missile‑armed fast attack craft with escorting warships to strike merchant shipping and the Kemari oil storage area, setting fires that further crippled Pakistan’s ability to sustain maritime logistics in the closing days of the Indo‑Pakistani War.
Dec 8
Sinking of the SS Heraklion
On December 8, 1966, the Greek passenger–vehicle ferry SS Heraklion foundered in a ferocious winter storm in the central Aegean, south of the island of Milos. Water breached the ship’s vehicle deck—reportedly after a stern closure failed—producing a rapid loss of stability and one of Greece’s deadliest peacetime maritime disasters. Official inquiries pointed to a combination of structural failure, unsecured cargo, and severe weather; more than 200 people died and only a few dozen survived.
Stay in the Loop!
Become a Calamity Insider and get exclusive Calamity Calendar updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Thanks! You're now subscribed.
Dec 8
Pan Am Flight 214 (December 8, 1963)
On the night of December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707 en route toward Philadelphia, entered a thunderstorm near Elkton, Maryland. A lightning-induced ignition of fuel vapors in the airplane’s center wing tank produced a catastrophic in-flight explosion and structural breakup, killing all 81 people aboard. The accident forced investigators and the aviation industry to confront how lightning and fuel systems could combine into a deadly failure and helped reshape design and safety standards in the jet age.
Dec 8
United States declaration of war on Japan
After a surprise aerial and naval strike on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress on December 8, 1941 to recognize a state of war with the Japanese Empire. In a speech that began with the words "a date which will live in infamy," Roosevelt's request led to unanimous Senate approval and a 388–1 vote in the House, marking the United States' formal entry into the Pacific War and, soon after, into the broader conflict of World War II.
Dec 8
Battle of the Falkland Islands
On December 8, 1914, the Imperial German East Asia Squadron under Vice‑Admiral Maximilian von Spee approached Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands intending to destroy British coaling and wireless facilities. Instead they found a reinforced Royal Navy squadron, including the fast battlecruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible. In a sweeping daylight chase and engagement to the north and northeast of the islands, the British guns and speed overwhelmed the German cruisers. Four German warships were sunk that day, von Spee was killed, and the East Asia Squadron ceased to be an operational force; only SMS Dresden escaped that day and was hunted down months later.