On this day in 1935, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the most produced fighter aircraft in history, had its first flight.
On this day in 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
On this day in 1981, Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, died in Beijing at the age of 89. Sun was the founding father of the Republic of China.