A Douglas DC-3 crashed in the Sintra Mountains near Lisbon, Portugal during approach in poor weather conditions, killing 15 of 16 aboard.[1] That same day another DC-3 crashed in northern Iceland in poor weather, killing all 25 aboard.[2]
The US Supreme Court decided De Meerleer v. Michigan, ordering a new trial for Rene de Meerleer, who as a 17-year old in 1932 received a life sentence for murder following a one-day trial without a lawyer.[4][5]
The coldest temperature ever recorded in continental North America was registered in Snag, Yukon: −63.0 °C (−81.4 °F).[6]
Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd announced that recent aerial observations of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica would require that maps of the continent be revised. The Walgreen Coast was found to have been previously drawn too far north, and the Kohler Range was relocated to lie along what appeared to be a great peninsula, following the discovery of a large bay in the vicinity. These findings revealed the amount of land in the region to be smaller than had previously been thought.[9]
The dilapidated wooden brigantine Lanegev carrying 647 Jewish refugees was captured by the British destroyer HMS Chieftain following a battle off the Palestine coast south of Caesarea. The refugees threw bottles and iron bars at the British sailors, who used tear gas bombs to subdue the crowd. One refugee later died in hospital. The Jewish refugees were herded aboard the transport Empire Heywood and taken to Cyprus.[11][12]
The Paris Peace Treaties were signed, formally ending World War II between the Allies and Germany's Axis partners. War reparations, commitment to minority rights and territorial adjustments were among the matters settled.
A series of drastic measures went into effect in Britain aimed at stretching the country's dwindling coal supplies as far as possible. In the London, Midlands and North West regions, household electricity was shut off for five hours each day, while electricity to industries was shut off completely. All forms of commercial lighting such as illuminated advertising was banned, and BBC Radio signed off at 11 p.m. each night while BBC Television suspended broadcasting entirely.[13]
A representative of the Chinese government announced that President Chiang Kai-shek had ordered drastic economic measures to combat runaway inflation and black market transactions. The Chinese yuan had collapsed to 17,500 to 1 American dollar due to heavy government deficits stemming from the strain of the ongoing Civil War.[14]
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin announced that Britain had given up trying to solve the Palestine problem and would put the issue before the United Nations.[7]
Paris was virtually shut down for four hours when police, public utility workers and other government employees participated in a token strike to protest the French government's refusal to grant a general wage increase.[18]
Chiang Kai-shek introduced a number of measures to address China's economic crisis, including the ordering home of all Chinese fortunes abroad, prohibiting dealings in gold and foreign currency and banning strikes and lockouts.[20]
"Coal Sunday": Many miners in Wales voluntarily gave up their traditional free Sunday and worked a full shift in an effort to ease the British coal crisis.[21]
King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and the two Princesses arrived in South Africa for an historic two-month tour, marking the first time that the reigning sovereign of England had ever visited the country.[24][25]
The last lynching in South Carolina's history occurred when a mob seized African-American man and accused murderer Willie Earle from Pickens County jail and beat, stabbed and shot him. The case drew national attention as 31 men, all white, would be arrested.[26]
French Prime Minister Paul Ramadier told the National Assembly that the policemen who participated in last Friday's strike would be punished, and also called for a law preventing such police strikes in the future.[28]
American Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes handed Austrian Chancellor Leopold Figl a gold brick worth $13,000 US as a token of the United States' return of $4.7 million worth of gold that had been part of the Austrian National Bank's reserve before it had been taken by the Germans following Austria's annexation.[29]
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that the government would hand over power to one or more independent Indian governments by June 1948.[3]
Some fruit flies became the first animals in space that returned alive. United States sent a V-2 rocket containing fruit flies to study the effects of radiation on living organisms and to see if the radiation from space would be a potential problem for future astronauts.
Italy and Argentina signed an agreement under which thousands of Italian workers would be permitted to emigrate to Argentina.[7]
Edwin H. Land, co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, demonstrated a new type of camera that could develop a photograph in just one minute with the turn of a knob. "With the new camera, it will be possible for the amateur to make a snapshot and compare it with the scene before he leaves the spot," Land explained to a gathering of the Optical Society of America in New York. "He can ask his subject to hold the pose until he sees the result. If he is not satisfied with the expression on the subject's face or anything else, he can retake it immediately and correct the fault."[33]
Several hundred Germans were arrested in the British and American occupation zones on suspicion of having established an underground Nazi organization.[34]
A radio set factory in Chicago presented the smallest radio in the world: 20 cm long and 10 cm high.[34]
The Denazification Court in Nuremberg sentenced former German chancellor and diplomat Franz von Papen to eight years in a labour camp for having assisted Hitler's rise to power and associating with the Nazi regime to the end. Von Papen was also ordered to forfeit his personal fortune. On account of his advanced age, von Papen was ordered to be given special work suited to his physical capacity.[35]
The British government lifted the two-week ban on electric power to industrial plants in the Midlands, sending nearly 1 million men back to work. All other energy restrictions remained in effect.[36]
For the first time since 1939, British companies were authorized to directly deal with German businessmen for the purchase of German goods. American companies would have the same authorization starting on March 4.[37]
In Brussels, a parade of 50,000 former Belgian POWs demanding payment of bonuses promised to them during the war turned into a riot against the police, injuring as many as 100 people. Belgian Defence Minister Raoul de Fraiteur said the bonuses had not been paid because Belgium did not have the money.[38]
Died:Heinrich Häberlin, 78, Swiss politician; Alexander Löhr, 61, Romanian-born Luftwaffe commander (executed by a Yugoslav firing squad for war crimes)
Cuban President Ramón Grau signed a decree ordering the deportation of mobster Lucky Luciano as an undesirable.[39]
The February 28 Incident began in Taiwan when Chinese law enforcement killed a bystander during an argument with a woman selling untaxed cigarettes. This was the boiling over point for a populace harboring many feelings of frustration over economic problems and corruption.
The Nationalist Chinese government violently suppressed the uprising in Taiwan. The number of deaths over the next few days was estimated at 10,000.[40]
An American P-82 fighter plane flew 4,978 miles (8,011 km) nonstop from Hickam Field in Hawaii to LaGuardia Airport in New York City in 14 hours and 33 minutes, establishing a new nonstop record for fighter craft.[7]