March 1955

The following events occurred in March 1955:

March 1, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Born: Timothy Laurence, British naval officer and the second husband of Princess Anne, in Camberwell, South London.

March 2, 1955 (Wednesday)

• The Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Inchkeith strikes an uncharted rock in the Bay of Bengal off Port Meadows, Andaman Islands, and is abandoned as a total loss.^[1]
• Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old African-American girl, becomes the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, when she refuses to give up her seat to a white woman as demanded by the driver. She is carried off the bus backwards while being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station.^[2] She becomes a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle (1956) which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.

March 3, 1955 (Thursday)

• The Pennsylvania Railroad runs its first “TrucTrain” piggyback train from Chicago to Kearny, NJ, the first time the Pennsylvania has carried trailers of common carrier trucking companies on its flatcars.
• Died: Katharine Drexel, 96, US heiress, philanthropist, teacher and Roman Catholic saint

March 5, 1955 (Saturday)

• US TV station WBBJ-TV signs on the air in Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas.
• Elvis Presley makes his television debut on "Louisiana Hayride" carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport (although audio recordings exists, there is no known video footage of this appearance).

March 6, 1955 (Sunday)

• Born: Alberta Watson, Canadian actress, in Toronto (died 2015)

March 7, 1955 (Monday)

• The 7th Emmy Awards ceremony takes place at the "Moulin Rouge Nightclub" in Hollywood, California, USA.
• The Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, which had opened in 1954 starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV with its original cast, as an installment of Producers' Showcase. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.

March 8, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Died: William C. deMille, 76, US screenwriter and director

March 9, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Died: Matthew Henson, 88, US explorer

March 10, 1955 (Thursday)

• Pakistan International Airlines is formed.
• The UK's Anti-Aircraft Command is officially disbanded.^[3]

March 11, 1955 (Friday)

• Died: Sir Alexander Fleming, 73, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

March 12, 1955 (Saturday)

• Died: Charlie Parker, 34, US saxophonist (officially from lobar pneumonia and a perforated ulcer)^[4]

March 13, 1955 (Sunday)

• Swiss tenant and consumer protection referendum, 1955: The proposal for a popular initiative "for the protection of tenants and consumers", which would prolong price controls, is approved by a majority of voters, it was rejected by a majority of cantons, with the result that it does not come into force.^[5]
• Died: Tribhuwan Bir Bikram Shah, 48, King of Nepal, under "mysterious circumstances". He is succeeded by his eldest legitimate son Mahendra.

March 14, 1955 (Monday)

• The Greek fishing vessel Iason capsizes and sinks in the Ionian Sea with the loss of eleven of her fifteen crew. SS Stratheden sends one of her lifeboat to the aid of Iason, but it also capsizes and all eight on board are drowned. Four survivors from Iason are rescued by Stratheden.^[6]

March 15, 1955 (Tuesday)

• The first section of Cleveland's “Rapid” opens from Cleveland Union Terminal to Windermere.
• Colonel Tom Parker becomes Elvis Presley's de facto manager.

March 16, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Died: Nicolas de Staël, 41, Russian-born painter, after leaping to his death from his eleventh story studio terrace in Antibes.^[7][8]

March 17, 1955 (Thursday)

• Richard Riot in Montreal: 6,000 people protest against the suspension of French Canadian ice hockey star Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens by the National Hockey League following a violent incident during a match.
• In the UK's Wrexham by-election, brought about by the death of the town's long-serving Labour MP Robert Richards, is won by the Labour candidate James Idwal Jones, with a majority of nearly 11,000 votes.^[9]
• British Locomotive builder Vulcan Foundry and its subsidiary Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns are absorbed into the English Electric group.^[10]

March 19, 1955 (Saturday)

• The 1955 International Cross Country Championships (men's event only) are held in San Sebastián, Spain.^[11]
• TV station KXTV signs on the air in Sacramento, California, as KBET.
• Born: Pino Daniele, Italian music artist, in Naples (died 2015)

March 20, 1955 (Sunday)

• The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle is premièred in the United States, making a hit out of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets.^[12] Teenagers jump from their cinema seats to dance to the song.
• American Airlines Flight 711, a Convair CV-240, strikes the ground during its final approach at Springfield, Missouri, USA killing 13 of the 35 people on board.
• UK tanker British Craftsman runs aground off Stockholm, Sweden.^[13]

March 22, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Landing in darkness and heavy rain at Hickam Air Force Base, Territory of Hawaii, the crew of United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster 131612 of Air Transport Squadron 3 (VR-3) make a navigational error, and the plane crashes into Pali Kea Peak in Oahu's Waianae Range 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Honolulu. The plane explodes, killing all 66 people on board. At the time, it would be the worst accident involving any version of the Douglas DC-6, and it remains the worst air disaster in the history of Hawaii.^[14][15] It would tie with the August 11 mid-air collision of two United States Air Force C-119G Flying Boxcars over West Germany and the October 6 crash of United Airlines Flight 409 in Wyoming as the deadliest air accident of 1955.

March 23, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Norwegian ocean liner Venus runs aground at Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom.^[16]
• Dutch coaster Anna Hennyis driven ashore at Aberavon, Wales, in a storm. It is refloated after five hours.^[17]
• Born: Moses Malone, US basketball player, in Petersburg, Virginia (died 2015)
• Died:Artur da Silva Bernardes, 79, President of Brazil 1922-26

March 24, 1955 (Thursday)

• Spanish cargo ship Urola collides with Soviet ship Storaya Pyaltylotka off Setubal, Portugal, and sinks. Storaya Pyaltylotka is badly damaged, entering the Tagus still taking on water. All 33 crew from Urola are rescued.^[18]
• An Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck becomes the first Canadian jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.^[19]

March 25, 1955 (Friday)

• During a test flight with afterburner, the Lockheed XF-104 aircraft achieves a speed of Mach 1.79 (1,181.4 mph, 1,901.3 km/hr).^[20]
• Dutch coaster SS Lea runs aground at Kettleness, Yorkshire.^[21]

March 26, 1955 (Saturday)

• The number three propeller and engine detach from the Pan American World Airways Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-26 Clipper United States, operating as Flight 845/26 with 23 people on board, forcing it to ditch in the Pacific Ocean 35 miles (58 km) off the coast of Oregon and killing four people. The United States Navy attack transport USS Bayfield (APA-33) rescues the 19 survivors about two hours later.

March 28, 1955 (Monday)

• Serial killer Leslie "Mad Dog" Irvin ends his killing spree with the murders of Goebel Duncan, 51, his son Raymond Duncan, 29, and Maple Elizabeth Duncan, 20 (Goebel's daughter-in-law), during a robbery in southwestern Indiana, USA.
• The 1955 Men's British Open Squash Championship is won by Hashim Khan, who thus equals the record of five wins set by F.D. Amr Bey^[22]

March 29, 1955 (Tuesday)

• A general election in Suriname results in victory for the Unity Front, which wins 11 of the 21 seats.^[23]
• SNCF in France sets a new world rail speed record of 331 km/h using 1800/2000V dc electric traction. The track is severely damaged by the passage of the train (see , , , ).
• The British coaster Nigelock runs aground at Foochow, China.^[24]

March 30, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Died: Ylla, 43, Hungarian photographer (jeep accident)

March 31, 1955 (Thursday)

• Australian Labor Party split of 1955: Three members of John Cain cabinet — Les Coleman (Minister of Transport), Bill Barry (Minister of Health) and Tom Hayes (Minister-in-Charge of Housing) — are expelled from the Labor Party and form the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist).

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