Japan's National Security Board was reorganized as the Defense Agency, and the Japan Self-Defense Forces were established.[1]
The Nordic Passport Union was extended to allow citizens of the union to live and work in any of the four countries without a residence or work permit.[2]
The United States officially began using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 metres.[3]
A North American X-10 plane, GM-19308, c/n 2, on Navaho X-10 flight number 7, developed a fire on board, crashed and burned eight minutes out of Edwards AFB, California.[5]
Food rationing in Great Britain ended with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II and nearly a decade after the war's end.[11]
The Singapore-registered cargo ship Cherry Venture was driven aground in a storm at Teewah Beach, Australia, where it would remain until scrapped in 2007. The captain and the crew of 24 people and two monkeys survived.[17]
Dewey Phillips of WHBQ (AM) in Memphis became the first radio announcer to broadcast a recording of Elvis Presley. The track "That's All Right" (later pressed as Sun 209) was recorded two days earlier. Upon hearing that his debut record was about to be aired, Presley hid in a movie theater, thinking he would become a laughingstock.
After two years' study of problems that might be encountered in human spaceflight, a joint group - NACA, Air Force, and Navy - met in Washington, D.C., to discuss the need for a hypersonic research vehicle and to decide on the type of aircraft that could attain these objectives. The NACA proposal was accepted in December 1954, and a formal memorandum of understanding was signed to initiate the X-15 project. Technical direction of the project was assigned to the NACA.[20]
The Panamanian cargo ship San Mardeno ran aground and sank off Saurashtra, India, resulting in the death of her captain. The remaining 42 crew members were rescued.[24]
The first prototype of the Handley Page Victor bomber was lost when the tail became detached during a low-level pass over the runway at Cranfield, UK, causing the aircraft to crash with the loss of the crew.[28][29]
The maiden flight of the Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), prototype of the Boeing 707 series, took place.
Juan Fangio, the Argentine driver for German Grand Prix team Mercedes-Benz, broke the lap record for the Silverstone Circuit with an average speed of 100.35 miles per hour (161.50 km/h), the previous record being 100.16 miles per hour (161.19 km/h).[31]
France's prime minister, Pierre Mendès France, obtained an assurance from Chinese leader Zhou Enlai that he would cease to support some of the Viet Minh claims, in the interests of achieving peace in Indochina.[38]
First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference sent French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a ceasefire line, and called for elections to decide the government for all of Vietnam by July 1956. Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement led to the establishment de facto of regimes of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, and to the Vietnam War.
^武居智久 (2008). 海洋新時代における海上自衛隊 [Japan Maritime Self Defense Force in the New Maritime Era] (PDF). 波涛 (in Japanese). 34. 波涛編集委員会: 5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 December 2018.
^Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. p. 297. ISBN0-475-11200-8.
^Matthews, Brian (2002). "The Reich's Song Composers, Lyricists & Performers". The Military Music & Bandsmen of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933 - 1945. Tomahawk Films. pp. 218–19. ISBN0-9542812-0-9.
^Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. ISBN0-475-11200-8.
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