February 28 in history — What Happened Today in History

The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers.

In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.

The British election ends in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote share since 1929.

Aeroflot Flight X-167 crashes during takeoff from Semey Airport, killing 32 people.

The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.

Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.

A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.

The 1948 Accra riots erupt following a march by ex-servicemen of the Gold Coast Regiment towards the seat of the colonial government at Christiansborg Castle, where they were fired upon by Superintendent Colin Imray, leading to the killing of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey and the arrest of the Big Six in the Gold Coast.

February 28 incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 18,000 - 28,000 civilians.

The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.

The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who is also on board, is not injured from the blast.

Elias Lönnrot signs and dates the foreword to the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called Old Kalevala.

The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Marquis Teague, American basketball player

Éder Álvarez Balanta, Colombian footballer

Annie Bovaird, Canadian actress

Ronalds Ķēniņš, Latvian ice hockey player

Takayasu Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler

Ryan Allen, American football player

Sebastian Rudy, German footballer

Carlos Dunlap, American football player

Charles Jenkins, American basketball player

Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player

Akito, Japanese professional wrestler

Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer

Josh McRoberts, American basketball player

André Previn, German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. (born 1929)

George Kennedy, American actor (born 1925)

Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author (born 1923)

Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (born 1935)

Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)

Annie Girardot, French actress (born 1931)

Paul Harvey, American radio host (born 1918)

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (born 1917)

Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)

Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (born 1941)

Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (born 1914)

Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (born 1928)

Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (born 1926)