› added 8 years ago

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TIL in 1940 two Royal Australian Air Force training airplanes collided in mid-air, becoming locked together. As the aircraft were traveling in the same direction, they became an impromptu biplane and we’re landed safely by the pilot of the upper plane. There were no deaths.

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e07PJ TIL Sun Tzu had to train the king's concubines as soldiers, so he chose 2 as captains & gave an order, but they all just giggled. He ordered the captains' death, to the king's protests. Sun Tzu said he had to complete his mission. The captains were killed & the squads then performed perfectly.
VMQbG TIL that Houston Street in New York is pronounced "HOW-stən" because it was named after William Houstoun (Statesman from Georgia). The City of Houston, Texas (pronounced "HYOO-stən") was named for Sam Houston - the only person to be elected governor of two different states (Texas and Tennessee).
vJMB TIL that in 1968 an American vessel was captured by North Korea. The crew was abused, and to show the world, they used puns (“We paean the DPRK [North Korea]. We paean their great leader Kim Il Sung”) and gave the middle finger in propaganda photographs, claiming it was a “Hawaiian good luck sign”.
Eg1ap TIL portraits of presidents were not depicted on the official currency of the USA until the beginning of the 20th century. The first dollars had the figures and faces of the characters of Greek and Roman mythology and pictures with the participation of Native Americans appeared on the money.
59RQ TIL: That gangster Bugsy Siegel wanted to kill both Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring in Rome before the WWII, but his companion, Countess Dorothy DiFrasso stopped him from doing so.