On This Day...

1915 - British soldiers wear steel helmets for the first time in battle.

1940 - Official end of the Battle of Britain.  During six months of airborne battle for control of the skies, the RAF lost 915 aircraft.  The Luftwaffe lost 1,733.

1956 - Britain and France bomb Egypt in retaliation for the barring of their ships from the Suez Canal. The attack came two days after Israel invaded Egypt, seizing the Gaza Strip and driving through the Sinai to the Canal. After joining Israel in the hostilities, Britain and France deployed troops to the Canal Zone and demanded the immediate evacuation of Egyptian forces.

1971 - A terrorist bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.

1984 - Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated by a Sikh member of her bodyguard in New Delhi.

1995 - By a narrow margin in a referendum, the people of Quebec vote to remain part of Canada.