1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Emergency response
At the time of the fire, the tunnel was operated by the Port Authority, which had control of various other transportation facilities in the area as well. Consequently, they had a wrecker crew at the eastern end of the south tube. They initiated firefighting operations at the site of the fire with a 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) hose about five minutes after it started. However, they soon realized that they needed extra assistance due to the confined nature of the fire.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Emergency response
The Jersey City Fire Department (JCFD) was alerted at 9:05 a.m., and the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) was alerted at 9:12 a.m. The FDNY crew set up a command post in the north tunnel at a cross passage near to the fire. They relieved the wrecker crew and transmitted a 2nd alarm at 9:30 a.m. When the JCFD crews arrived at the tunnel portal, they also sent requests for more firefighters and for breathing equipment. The crews also worked on placing illumination inside the tunnel. The FDNY and JCFD called up 29 firefighting trucks of varying types and borrowed four more trucks with breathing apparatus from Consolidated Edison. In total there were about 63 emergency response vehicles (including police, medical units, Port Authority vehicles and supervisory vehicles).


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Emergency response
Hot smoke caused a second fire to start, in a group of trucks apparently carrying paint and turpentine approximately 350 feet (110 m) west of the original fire. After this, the tunnel ventilation system was turned to full exhaust and full supply in order to extract smoke and reduce the likelihood of other spontaneous ignitions. New Jersey firefighters succeeded in extinguishing the second fire, and cleared a path for emergency vehicles to the first fire site where they linked up with the New York firefighters.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Emergency response
The tunnel fire main, a 6-inch (150 mm) water pipe cast directly into the secondary concrete lining, continued to function throughout the fire. The FDNY supplemented this with water from a 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) hose. The fire was the first time in the FDNY's history that it had been required to use four rescue squad vehicles at the same fire.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Tunnel ventilation
At 9:45 a.m. the tunnel's built-in ventilation system was turned to full extract and full supply in the zone of the fire. The supply of air through the duct under the roadway enabled firefighters to work without masks. Although the smoke in the tube was toxic, first responders were able to breathe by inhaling clean air from the curbside vents at the bottom of the tube.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Tunnel ventilation
The extract duct above the roadway captured some of the smoke and when the false ceiling at the site of the fire collapsed, a hole formed between the road tunnel and the extract ventilation duct: this hole dramatically improved the capture of smoke at the main fire site, though it reduced smoke capture at the second fire site to practically nothing.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Tunnel ventilation
Two of the extract fans in the New Jersey vent shaft failed due to the heat of the fire; the shaft was approximately 300 feet (100 m) west of the fire, and was apparently drawing air at 1,000 °F (538 °C). The third fan was kept in working order by cooling it with a water spray.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Timeline, Recovery and cleanup
By 1:00 p.m. the fire had been surrounded. The westbound tube, which had not been affected directly by the fire, reopened to two-way traffic at 2:15 p.m. However, work continued on cleaning up the eastbound tube and extracting the trucks that were trapped there. By 4:45 p.m., three trucks had been towed out of the New Jersey side. Despite a re-ignition of the fire at 6:50 p.m. the stop message was issued at 12:52 a.m. the next morning. The wreckage was cleared up quickly, and the eastbound tunnel reopened to traffic on the evening of Sunday, May 15.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Injuries and death
In total, 66 people were injured, mostly by smoke inhalation. Of these, 27 were hospitalized One firefighter, Battalion Chief Gunther E. Beake, was severely affected by smoke inhalation and died of his injuries on August 23, 1949. Samuel Williams Sr. a laborer from Philadelphia, was also killed. He died the day of the accident.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Damage
The truck carrying carbon disulfide was completely destroyed, as were nine other trucks. 13 trucks were damaged. The infrastructure suffered extensive damage: approximately 650 short tons (590 tonnes) of rubble were removed during the weekend before the tunnel reopened. The tiles on the tunnel walls spalled off for a distance of approximately 200 feet (60 m) west of the fire site and 500 feet (150 m) east of it. At the site of the fire, the concrete lining of the walls spalled down to the ribs of the cast-iron primary lining.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Damage
The false ceiling above the roadway, which consisted of a 6-inch-thick (150 mm), in situ, reinforced concrete slab, collapsed completely in several places and collapsed partially over a length of approximately 500 feet (150 m). The roadway itself was unharmed, but had a lot of debris on it. Half of the tunnel's long-distance phone cables had been severed during the fire.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Damage
The elevated side walkway had to be renewed over a length of 750 feet (230 m), and the cable ducts cast into the walkway and walls were replaced over 300 feet (90 m). Damaged power cabling, communications cabling and lighting were all renewed over the damaged area. The road surface was renewed over a length of about 500 feet (150 m).


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Damage
The Port Authority decided that the tunnel could not be closed completely for the duration of the reconstruction. Instead, the south tube was closed at 8 p.m. each night, after which hundreds of feet of mobile scaffold and other equipment was hauled in. Reconstruction work was carried out overnight until approximately 4:30 a.m., at which time the construction equipment and scaffold was hauled out before the tunnel re-opened at 6 a.m. The repairs were completed by mid-August 1949.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Restrictions
At the time, the driver of the truck could only be charged with a misdemeanor, which carried a maximum fine of $50 and a jail sentence of up to five days. Thus, the driver was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. After the fire, the Port Authority advocated for the enactment of stiffer fines in both the New York and New Jersey legislatures. Both states' legislative chambers introduced bills to that effect, but New York delayed the passage of its bill until May 1950. The aftermath of the fire also prompted an investigation from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, as well as scrutiny from insurance companies.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Restrictions
The Port Authority wanted the Interstate Commerce Commission to perform spot-checks on interstate trucking companies, but the ICC only had a staff of twenty people to do this job. The Port Authority ultimately decided to randomly search some of the 16,000 trucks that entered the tunnel each day, although in reality, the authority could only search one percent of each day's truck traffic.


1949 Holland Tunnel fire, Aftermath, Restrictions
Civic suits were filed against the trucking company as well as the manufacturer of the carbon disulfide. The trucking company whose truck had been involved, Apex Inc., was formally banned from using the tunnel in 1950.


1949 Holy Cross Crusaders football team
The 1949 Holy Cross Crusaders football team was an American football team that represented the College of the Holy Cross as an independent during the 1949 college football season. In its second year under head coach Bill Osmanski, the team compiled a 1–9 record. The team played its home games at Fitton Field in Worcester, Massachusetts.


1949 Honduran Amateur League
The 1949 Honduran Amateur League was the third edition of the Honduran Amateur League. C.D. Hibueras obtained its 1st national title. The season ran from 10 April to 30 October 1949.


1949 Honduran Amateur League, National championship round
Played in a single round-robin format in Tegucigalpa between the regional champions. Also known as the Triangular.


1949 Houston Cougars football team
The 1949 Houston Cougars football team was an American football team that represented the University of Houston in the Gulf Coast Conference during the 1949 college football season. In its second season under head coach Clyde Lee, the team compiled a 5–4–1 record (1–2 against conference opponents) and finished in third place in the GCC. Aubrey Baker and Cecil Towns were the team captains. The team played its home games at Public School Stadium in Houston.


1949 Humboldt State Lumberjacks football team
The 1949 Humboldt State Lumberjacks football team represented Humboldt State College during the 1949 college football season. Humboldt State competed in the Far Western Conference (FWC).


1949 Humboldt State Lumberjacks football team
The 1949 Lumberjacks were led by first-year head coach Ted Staffler. They played home games at the Redwood Bowl in Arcata, California. Humboldt State finished with a record of zero wins, eight losses and one tie (0–8–1, 0–3–1 FWC). The Lumberjacks were outscored by their opponents 78–257 for the season.


1949 Humboldt State Lumberjacks football team, Team players in the NFL
No Humboldt State players were selected in the 1950 NFL Draft.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 15 May 1949. The Hungarian Independent People's Front, an umbrella group created that February to replace the National Independence Front and led by the Hungarian Working People's Party (as the Hungarian Communist Party had been renamed following a merger with the Hungarian Social Democratic Party), but also including the remaining four non-communist parties, ran a single list of candidates espousing a common programme. With all organised opposition having been paralysed, the Front won 95.6% of the vote, presaging the result of elections through 1990. 71 (17.7%) elected deputies were female, up from 22 (5.4%) elected in 1947. Some 71% of those elected belonged to the Working People's Party, and a similar proportion were workers or peasants.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election
This election marked the onset of 40 years of communist rule in Hungary. Nonetheless, the government formed after the election was still nominally a coalition. The Smallholders received the Ministries of Trade and Religion and Education in addition to the premiership, and the National Peasants Party receiving Agriculture and Construction. After the election, the Front's local committees dissolved themselves, and with them the National Peasant and Independent Smallholder local organs, although no law or ordinance was ever passed abolishing them. At this time, Dobi joined the Communists.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Background
The Communists had spent the last year and a half tying up loose ends in their bid for total power. They began the final push in October 1947, when they told their non-Communist counterparts to cooperate with a reconfigured, Communist-dominated coalition government or go into exile. By this time, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi had become the most powerful man in the country.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Background
Communist persecution radically changed the composition of the Parliament elected in 1947. The overall number of members fell by 47 in November 1947, after the Hungarian Independence Party was outlawed and deprived of its parliamentary seats. The Smallholders Party lost 35 of its 68 original members, the Democratic Peoples' Party lost 17 of its 60 seats, the Independent Hungarian Democratic Party lost four members out of 18, the National Peasant Party lost seven out of 36, and the Social Democratic Party lost no less than 40 out of its 67 elected members. By the dissolution of Parliament, more than 120 of the remaining 364 MPs were new members, a rate of turnover unmatched in Hungarian political history.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Background
In June 1948, the Communists forced the Social Democrats to merge with them to form the Working People's Party. However, the few remaining independent-minded Social Democrats were quickly pushed out, leaving the party as essentially a renamed and enlarged Communist Party. Later in June, President Zoltán Tildy, a Smallholder, was replaced by Social Democrat-turned-Communist Árpád Szakasits. In December, Prime Minister Lajos Dinnyés was replaced by fellow Smallholder István Dobi, who made no secret of his sympathies with the Communists.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Background
On 1 January 1949, Hungary became a charter member of Comecon. On 6 February, Cardinal József Mindszenty, the spiritual leader of Hungary's Catholics and a prime opponent of Communism, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Independent People's Front was formed in February. By the time of its first congress in March, it had become clear that it was to act as a vehicle for destroying rather than bringing together the main parties. Many of the more courageous members of the non-Communist parties had already been forced to resign in the summer of 1948, and the four remaining parties had been taken over by fellow travelers who swiftly turned their parties into loyal partners of the Communists.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Aftermath
Three months after the election, a new constitution proclaiming Hungary a People's Republic and enshrining the principle of one-party rule was adopted. Schools were nationalised, collectivisation was launched, the bureaucracy was purged, the independent press was destroyed, and the last remnants of free enterprise were eliminated.


1949 Hungarian parliamentary election, Aftermath
Also, László Rajk, General Secretary of the Independent People's Front and Foreign Minister, who the day after the election was the main speaker at a mass demonstration where he condemned Titoist "running dogs of imperialism", praised the "brilliant strategy" of the "great leader of the peace camp", Stalin, and the "wise leadership" of Rákosi—described as Stalin's best Hungarian pupil—was himself arrested two weeks later and executed in October following a show trial.


1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
The 1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Geneva, Switzerland under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the inaugural edition.


1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
Eight sets of medals were awarded. There were four individual events and four team events. The team events were just combined times of three selected athletes or crews from the individual events. Only two teams were classified in the men's C1 team, men's C2 team and women's folding K1 team events.


1949 ISSF World Shooting Championships
The 34th UIT World Shooting Championships was the contemporary name of the ISSF World Shooting Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1949.


1949 Ice Hockey World Championships
The 16th Ice Hockey World Championships and 27th European Hockey Championships was held from February 12 to 20, 1949, in Stockholm, Sweden. The event was the first World Championships during the presidency of Canadian W. G. Hardy. The International Ice Hockey Federation allowed for an unlimited number of entrants, after rejecting a proposal to limit the event to eight teams.


1949 Ice Hockey World Championships
In the initial round, the ten teams participating were divided into three groups: two groups of three and one of four. In the second round, the top two teams in each group advanced to the medal round (for positions 1 through 6) with the remaining four teams advancing to the consolation round for places 7 through 10.


1949 Ice Hockey World Championships
Czechoslovakia overcame tragedy to win their second world championship and ninth European Championship. In November 1948 six Czechoslovak players (Ladislav Troják, Karel Stibor, Zdeněk Jarkovský, Vilibald Šťovík, Miloslav Pokorný and defenseman Zdeněk Švarc) were lost when their plane went missing crossing the English Channel. Despite the key losses to their roster, they defeated the Sudbury Wolves, Canada's representative, three to two. It was only the third defeat for the Canadians at a World Championship. The Americans were able to top the Czechoslovaks in the final round, which earned them a bronze medal, and kept the host Swedes off the podium.


1949 Icelandic parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 23 and 24 October 1949. The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Lower House of the Althing, winning 13 of the 35 seats.


1949 Icelandic parliamentary election, Electoral system
The elections were conducted under two electoral systems. Twenty-one members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were elected using D'Hondt method proportional representation: twelve members in two-member constituencies, eight members in Reykjavík, and eleven from a single national compensatory list. To earn national list seats, a party had to win at least one constituency seat. In constituencies electing two or more members, within the party list, voters had the option to re-rank the candidates and could also strike a candidate out. Allocation of seats to candidates was done using a system based on the Borda count.


1949 Icelandic presidential election
Presidential elections were scheduled to be held in Iceland in 1949. However, incumbent President Sveinn Björnsson was the only candidate, and the election was uncontested.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team
The 1949 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1949 college football season. The Vandals were led by third-year head coach Dixie Howell and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with one game in Boise, a final time at Public School Field.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team
Idaho was 3–5 overall and won one of their five PCC games.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team
The Vandals' losing streak in the Battle of the Palouse with neighbor Washington State reached 21 games, with a 13–35 homecoming loss in Moscow. Idaho tied the Cougars the next year, but the winless streak continued until five years later.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team
In the rivalry game with Montana in Missoula the following week, Idaho won 47–19 to retain the Little Brown Stein in the Grizzlies' last year in the PCC. Montana returned the favor in Moscow the next year with a one-point upset, then the Vandals won eight straight, through 1959.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team
Babe Curfman was hired as the ends coach in February 1949; he became head coach in April 1951.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team, All-conference
Tackle Carl Kiilsgaard was named to the All-Coast team; honorable mention were tackle Will Overgaard, guard Roy Colquitt, quarterback John Brogan, and halfback Jerry Diehl.


1949 Idaho Vandals football team, NFL Draft
Two seniors from the 1949 Vandals were selected in the 1950 NFL Draft:


1949 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
The 1949 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1949 Big Nine Conference football season. In their eighth year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compiled a 3–4–2 record and finished in fifth place in the Big Ten Conference. Halfback Johnny Karras was selected as the team's most valuable player.


1949 Indiana Hoosiers football team
The 1949 Indiana Hoosiers football team represented the Indiana Hoosiers in the 1949 Big Nine Conference football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. The team was coached by Clyde B. Smith, in his second year as head coach of the Hoosiers.


1949 Indianapolis 500
The 33rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was an automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1949.


1949 Indianapolis 500
After two years of failures to his teammate, Bill Holland finally won one for himself, giving car owner Lou Moore his third consecutive Indy victory. Mauri Rose was fired by the team after the race when he again ignored orders and tried to pass Holland, only to see his car fail with 8 laps to go.


1949 Indianapolis 500
Spider Webb suffered a broken transmission the morning of the race and failed to start. Rather than utilize an alternate starter, officials awarded Webb 33rd finishing position.


1949 Indianapolis 500, Broadcasting, Radio
The race was carried live on the Mutual Broadcasting System, the precursor to the IMS Radio Network. The broadcast was sponsored by Perfect Circle Piston Rings and Bill Slater served as the anchor. The broadcast featured live coverage of the start, the finish, and live updates throughout the race.


1949 Indianapolis 500, Broadcasting, Television
The race was carried live for the first time in history on local television on WFBM-TV channel 6 of Indianapolis. The station signed on for the first time race morning May 30, 1949, with a documentary about the race entitled The Crucible of Speed, then covered the race itself. The race broadcast utilized three cameras located along the main stretch. Earl Townsend, Jr. who had worked previously as a radio reporter, was the first television announcer. Dick Pittenger and Paul Roberts joined Townsend along with engineer Robert Robbins. The telecast reached approximately 3,000 local households.


1949 Individual Speedway Polish Championship
The 1949 Individual Speedway Polish Championship was held in Leszno on 23 October 1949. It was the fifth running of the Individual Speedway Polish Championship.


1949 Individual Speedway Polish Championship, Start list
E – retired or mechanical failure •F – fell •N – non-starter


1949 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1949 Individual Speedway World Championship was the fourth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.


1949 Individual Speedway World Championship
It was the first running of the event since its suspension in 1939, due to World War II. The World final at London's Wembley Stadium, was held in front of a reported 93,000 strong crowd and the Championship was won Tommy Price.


1949 International Cross Country Championships
The 1949 International Cross Country Championships was held in Dublin, Ireland, at the Baldoyle Racecourse on March 26, 1949. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald.


1949 International Cross Country Championships
Complete results, medallists,  and the results of British athletes were published.


1949 International Cross Country Championships, Participation
An unofficial count yields the participation of 62 athletes from 7 countries.


1949 Internationale Tulpenrallye
The 1949 Internationale Tulpenrallye was the 1st Internationale Tulpenrallye. It was won by Ken Wharton.


1949 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 1949 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1949 Big Nine Conference football season. This was Eddie Anderson's eighth and final season as head coach for the Hawkeyes.


1949 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The 1949 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts (later renamed Iowa State University) in the Big Seven Conference during the 1949 college football season. In their third year under head coach Abe Stuber, the Cyclones compiled a 5–3–1 record (3–3 against conference opponents), tied for third place in the conference, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 169 to 134. They played their home games at Clyde Williams Field in Ames, Iowa.


1949 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The team's regular starting lineup consisted of left end Dean Laun, left tackle Lowell Titus, left guard Joe Brubaker, center Rod Rust, right guard Billy Myers, right tackle John Tillo, right end Jim Doran, quarterback Don Ferguson, left halfback Lawrence Paulson, right halfback Bob Angle, and fullback Bill Chauncey. Dean Laun was the team captain.


1949 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The team's statistical leaders included Bill Chauncey with 544 rushing yards and 30 points scored (five touchdowns), Bill Weeks with 1,247 passing yards, Jim Doran with 688 receiving yards, and Bob Angle with 18 points (three touchdowns). Three Iowa State players were selected as first-team all-conference players: Doran, Weeks, and Lowell Titus.


1949 Iowa State Teachers Panthers football team
The 1949 Iowa State Teachers Panthers football team represented Iowa State Teachers College in the North Central Conference during the 1949 college football season. In its 12th season under head coach Clyde Starbeck, the team compiled a 5–2 record (5–1 against NCC opponents) and tied for the conference championship.


1949 Iowa State Teachers Panthers football team
Seven players were named to the all-conference team: halfbacks Chuck Cacek and Paul DeVan; tackles Stanley Brown, Robert Orgren, and Lee Wachenheim; center Don Abney; and guard Bob Miller.


1949 Ipswich state by-election
The Ipswich state by-election, 1949 was a by-election held on 10 September 1949 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Ipswich, based in the centre of Ipswich to the south-west of Brisbane. At the time of the election, the seat included the suburbs of Ipswich, Booval, Bundamba, Newtown, Silkstone, West Ipswich, Woodend and part of East Ipswich.


1949 Ipswich state by-election
The by-election was triggered by the death of Labor member and Attorney-General of Queensland David Gledson on 14 May 1949. Gledson had held the seat since the 1915 election, with one brief interruption during the Great Depression. It was expected to be retained by the party.


1949 Ipswich state by-election, Candidates
The by-election attracted three candidates. The Labor Party nominated Ivor Marsden, the Liberal Party nominated Graham Stephenson, while the Communist Party nominated Edmund Crisp. It was the first electoral contest held since the Queensland People's Party became the Liberal Party's Queensland branch, along with the Kurilpa state by-election held on the same day.


1949 Ipswich state by-election, Aftermath
Ivor Marsden held the seat and its successor, Ipswich West, until his retirement from politics at the 1966 election.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election
In 1949 a Constituent Assembly was held in Iran to modify the Persian Constitution of 1906. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi convened the assembly in April; he sought a royal prerogative giving him the right to dismiss the parliament, providing that new elections were held to form a new parliament. He also specified a method for future amendments to the Constitution. The amendments were made in May 1949 by unanimous vote of the Constituent Assembly.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election
During the previous year, the Shah had been considering changes to the Constitution as part of his various plans to increase the power of the monarchy. He was advised against this action by British and American diplomats who thought it unwise to unbalance the separation of powers. On 4 February 1949, an assassin shot at the Shah, two bullets wounding him. That evening, the government declared martial law and a special session of parliament imposed harsh measures against the Shah's political enemies.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election
The assassin was suspected of being connected to the religious fundamentalist group Fada'iyan-e Islam (Martyrs for Islam, or Devotees of Islam), and loosely associated with the communist-leaning Tudeh Party of Iran. The parliament outlawed the Tudeh Party and had its leaders arrested. The Shah sent pragmatic Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani to exile—he had formed a strategic alliance with the Fada'iyan. In an atmosphere of national sympathy for the monarchy, the Shah called for a constituent assembly to make amendments to the Constitution, to give him more power. He selected the constituent assembly members from his supporters. He also increased his pressure for the formation of the Senate of Iran, an upper house of parliament that had been written into the constitution in 1906 but never formed. The Senate was expected to favor the Shah.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
In 1906 during the drafting of the first Persian Constitution, a bicameral parliament was agreed upon in order to obtain royal approval from Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. The shah was to appoint half of the 60 members of the upper house, the Senate. The other half of the Senate was to be elected by a two-stage process. The shah expected to be able to control legislation by influencing the Senate. Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signed the Constitution at the end of December 1906 but died unexpectedly of a heart attack a few days later.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
Radical politicians and other constitutional delegates did not want a Senate, and after the shah died no action was taken to form one. In mid-1907, the Anjumans of the Mujahidin, a group of workers, artisans and peasants, called for much wider voting rights for men, and they expressed a wish that the Senate never be formed because it would make the nobility more powerful.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
The Constitution allowed for a board of ulama (Islamic scholars) who would oversee decisions made by the parliament. The ulama were to be given veto power over legislation. Ayatollah Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai was one of those who influenced the composition and adoption of the 1906 Constitution, but he never insisted upon the formation of the board of ulama. Rather, the wishes of the ulama were usually voiced by several members of the Majlis.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
Ever since assuming the throne in 1941, the young Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had been working to increase his power. He wanted more weapons and men for the military, which he controlled, and he wanted financial aid from the US. In September 1948, he sent National Bank director Abolhassan Ebtehaj to the US to ask the government of Harry S. Truman for military aid or financial support, and to present the idea that the Shah would activate the Senate. Ebtehaj disclosed the Shah's wish to change the Constitution so that he could dismiss an uncooperative parliament and authorize new elections.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
The US State Department signaled Ambassador John Cooper Wiley to meet with the Shah to relay Truman's view that the US saw no need for "constitutional reform" since the Shah directed Iran's outward-looking affairs of defense and foreign policy; the US represented that the Shah was not supposed to be in charge of internal politics. This message was affirmed by British Ambassador John Le Rougetel who, seeking stability in Iran's oil industry and continued influence in Iran's parliament, said the UK also advised caution with regard to changes in Iran's constitution.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Background
The US State Department prepared a report in January 1949 describing the goal of US diplomacy in Iran as the prevention of any widening of Soviet influence. To that end, the Shah was seen as the most reliable bulwark against Communist aggression in Iran. He was invited to come visit Truman to discuss mutual concerns.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Assassination attempt
On 4 February 1949, the Shah visited the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Tehran, a symbol of secular success against the former monopoly of Islamic scholars who had previously controlled all aspects of the judicial branch of government. The Shah's visit was a celebration of the law school's anniversary. As the Shah walked from his limousine to the school steps a little after 1 pm, Nasser Fakhrarai approached him from the press area and fired a revolver. The first shot missed but the Shah's guards dropped and took cover, failing to protect him.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Assassination attempt
Despite the lack of interference, the second and third shots also missed. The fourth bullet pierced the Shah's lip and cheek, knocking out some front teeth. The fifth bullet wounded his shoulder. When the gun jammed on the sixth round, Fakhrarai ran to escape. He was stopped by soldiers who quickly killed him with rifle butts and point-blank shots. At 7 pm from the hospital, the Shah spoke by radio to the country, thanking them for their support. A photo of him dressed in a hospital gown with his cheek in a bandage was published the next day in the newspapers, showing his stoicism. President Truman sent the Shah a note wishing a quick return to good health.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Assassination attempt
The assassin Fakhrarai was found with a journalist's press card showing that he worked for Parcham-e Islam (The Banner of Islam, or Flag of Islam), a religious newspaper opposed to secularism, and that he paid dues to the journalist's labor union loosely associated with the Tudeh Party. He had been posing as a photographer, hiding the gun in the camera case. Anxious to blame the Communists, the Shah seized the opportunity to declare a conspiracy of religious and Communist radicals, and he decreed martial law. He ordered an emergency session of the Majlis the same night he was shot.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Assassination attempt
Through this session he suppressed his political opposition, including what would prove an ineffective ban on the Tudeh Party. The Shah ordered the closure of newspapers critical of his policies, and for treasonous activities he arrested 28 Tudeh leaders including the most prominent members of the Central Council of United Trade Unions (CCUTU). Mosaddegh was briefly confined to house arrest, and because the Fada'iyan were suspected, Kashani was exiled to Lebanon. Later it was determined that Fakhrarai had been planning the assassination alone for three years and had twice attempted it, failing to get close enough each time. The revolver had been given to him by Abdullah Arghani, a childhood friend who was a more radical member of the Tudeh Party, and was sympathetic to Fakhrarai's assassination plan. The press card had been forged.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Following the assassination attempt, there was an atmosphere of sympathy expressed by the people of Iran for the Shah. The Shah used this to his advantage to promote his goal of increasing the power of the monarchy.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
On 17 February 1949, the Majlis passed the Shah's Seven Year Plan, an economic program that had its roots in an economic council of 1946 and a Supreme Planning Board formed in November 1947. The Seven Year Plan was intended to be an autonomous body, independent of political forces, but the Shah saw it as a vehicle for land reform measures that would reinforce his power. With 25% of its monies earmarked for helping to fight poverty in agrarian Iran, the Shah felt that the Seven Year Plan would make the disaffected rural poor more resistant to Soviet influence.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Others thought that so much emphasis on agriculture would prevent Iran from growing out of its traditional role as a resource "appendage" supplying more powerful countries. Before February 1949, the plan had proven unpopular with the Majlis who saw it as a diminution of their political influence. Despite the Majlis vote of approval, the plan was never to be implemented as intended. By May 1949, some 40% had already been dedicated to industrial bailouts as opposed to the 14.3% originally planned. Another 40% was put toward the completion of rail lines; the Shah's plans were not realized.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
As part of his effort to suppress religious radicals, the Shah asked Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi to rein in the more strident voices among the ulama. Borujerdi, Iran's senior Islamic scholar, believed in political quietism—that the ulama should not intervene in politics. Borujerdi had already established a pragmatic realpolitik arrangement with the Shah: the secular political domain would peacefully coexist with the religious domain for the advancement of both. He called a religious conference to meet in the holy city of Qom beginning 20 February 1949.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Borujerdi directed the 2,000 conference attendees to discuss whether the ulama should take part in political activity; after due consideration, the consensus was for continued quietism. (The future Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was among those who argued unsuccessfully for political activism.) The ulama determined the punishment for violations of quietism would be excommunication. Even so, some of the more radical ulama stayed active, including the Fada'iyan, and Kashani, exerting his influence from exile.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
On 27 February 1949, the Majlis voted in support of the Shah's bill calling for a Constituent Assembly to re-examine the Constitution of 1906. In March, the Shah announced the convocation of this body and he raised the question of whether the Senate should be convened for the first time, as allowed for in 1906. To fill the Constituent Assembly, the Shah chose men who were friendly to his wishes. Seyyed Mohammad Sadiq Tabatabai, a veteran ally of the Pahlavi dynasty, was made leader. While the men were preparing to meet, the Shah pushed through laws against newspaper criticism of the royal family, and laws which changed crown land holdings from general ownership to ownership under his name alone.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Former Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam, writing from exile in Paris, published an open letter to the Shah which was very critical of any change to the Constitution. Qavam compared the Shah negatively to the hated Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, Iran's short-lived ruler who fought to reverse the democratic advances allowed by his father in 1906. Qavam said the current shah would create a political backlash if he tried to take more power—a prediction that later proved correct.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Rather than respond personally, the Shah directed former prime minister Ebrahim Hakimi to publish a severe chastisement of Qavam, accusing him of treasonous collusion with the Soviets during the Iran crisis of 1946. The Shah forbid newspapers in Tehran to print Qavam's first letter and a response; only Hakimi's letter was printed. The Shah also took away the honorific title of hazrat-e ashraf (his noblest excellency) that he had conferred upon Qavam for the same diplomatic achievements that were now being called treason.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
Mosaddegh worked to secure the release of some of those who had been arrested, succeeding to free labor leader Taghi Fadakar. He was not successful with others of the labor activists who had been arrested or denounced for treason. Nineteen of these were sentenced by the Tehran Military Court to various prison terms on 23 April, and eight top leaders were sentenced to death on 18 May in absentia, including Communist labor organizer Reza Rousta. Seven of the condemned men were from the CCUTU.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, 1949, Constitutional changes
The Constituent Assembly met for three weeks beginning 21 April 1949. On 8 May 1949, they signed the major change to the Constitution: Article 48 was amended to give the Shah the right to dissolve parliament, both the Majlis lower house and the Senate upper house, following which he was required to arrange new elections such that a new parliament would be formed within three months of dismissing the old one. A minor change was made to the Constitution regarding the process by which future amendments were to be implemented. At the same time, the Majlis passed the Shah's bill to hold elections enabling the Senate to be formed.


1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, Legacy
The Constitution as amended in 1949 remained unchanged until 1957 when the number of Majlis seats was increased by two, and the Shah was given the right to send financial legislation back to the Majlis for reconsideration. The 1963 Iranian constitutional referendum, was seen as an approval of the Shah's White Revolution program including women's right to vote and compulsory education of children. From 1950 through 1953, Mosaddegh sought to abolish the Senate; it was finally dissolved in early 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. A revolutionary Assembly of Experts met in June 1979 to establish an entirely new Constitution for the Islamic Republic of Iran, approved in the December 1979 Iranian constitutional referendum.


1949 Iranian Senate election
The first elections for the Senate of Iran were held in two-round system with the primary stage beginning in late August 1949 [Šahrīvar 1328 SH]. The elections aroused little enthusiasm in the country; voting was restricted to the literate citizens. In Tehran, only 15,280 votes were cast.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 1949 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during July and August with the final being held at Harold's Cross Stadium in Dublin on 12 August 1949.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner Spanish Lad won £1,000 and was trained by Tim 'Chubb' O'Connor.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Tim 'Chubb' O’Connor bred a successful litter from a mating with his brood bitch Cordal Moonlight. He mated her to Shaggy Lad and the subsequent litter of Spanish Lad, Spanish Emperor, Spanish Treasure and Ardraw Moonlight all performed well in coursing competitions  which prompted O'Connor to mate her again. This time it was to Rebel Abbey and resulted in a greyhound named Spanish Chestnut. The older pair of Spanish Lad and Spanish Emperor were aimed at the Irish Derby and expected to do well.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Spanish Lad broke the track record in round one, heat eight, with a time of 29.75; however Spanish Emperor could only finish second in heat seven lengths behind Labrais Bella. Spanish Lad won his quarter-final from Labrais Bell and Spanish Emperor also made it through.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
In the semi-finals a greyhound called Friends Everywhere set a surprise track record of 29.74sec. Merry Courier and Spanish Emperor made the final but Labrais Bella did not. The second semi was also a surprise when Rushton News defeated odds on favourite Spanish Lad.


1949 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The final trap draw looked bad for Spanish Lad because he started from trap four but he overcame this when making a very fast break from the traps and was an easy winner. His brother Spanish Chestnut won the Irish Laurels in early September, aged just 18 months, beating Derby champion and older half-brother Spanish Lad into second place.


1949 Isle of Man TT
The 1949 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy was the first round of the Grand Prix World Championship that was held in the Isle of Man.


1949 Isle of Man TT
At the FICM (later known as FIM) meeting in London near the end of 1948, it was decided there would be a motorcycle World Championship along Grand Prix lines. It would be a six-race annual series with points being awarded for a placing and a point for the fastest lap of each race. There would be five classes: 500 cc, 350 cc, 250 cc, 125 cc and 600 cc sidecar. The historic Isle of Man TT would be one of those races, and this toughest and most dangerous of Grand Prix motorcycle races would be a mainstay on the GP calendar until 1976.


1949 Isle of Man TT
Harold Daniell, on a Norton, won the 500 cc Senior TT event at an average speed of 86.93 mph. Les Graham, on an AJS Porcupine 500 cc twin, led the Senior race until the last lap when his magneto drive sheared. He pushed the bike past the finish line in tenth place. As he had finished the race he gained one championship point for recording the fastest lap.


1949 Isle of Man TT
Four clubman races were included; the Clubmans Senior, Clubmans Junior, Clubmans Lightweight, and the new Clubmans 1,000 cc.


1949 Isle of Man TT
British 350 cc rider Ben Drinkwater was killed in the Junior TT race at the 11th Milestone.


1949 Isle of Man TT, Race Results, Junior TT (350cc)
Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Freddie Frith Velocette – 84.23 mph; 26 minutes 52.71 seconds (1 championship point for fastest lap).


1949 Isle of Man TT, Race Results, Lightweight TT (250cc)
Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Dickie Dale – Moto Guzzi – 80.43 mph; 28 minutes 8.9 seconds.


1949 Isle of Man TT, Race Results, 1949 Isle of Man Senior TT (500cc)
Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Bob Foster Moto Guzzi – 89.75 mph (25 minutes 14 seconds) on lap 2. Retired lap 5 at Sulby with failed clutch.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election
Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כנסת, translated as Assembly). It is known today as the First Knesset.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Background
During the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948, Israel's national institutions were established, which ruled the new state. These bodies were not elected bodies in the pure sense, and their members originated from the management of the Jewish agency and from the management of the Jewish National Council.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Background
We declare that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Background
However, the elections were not held before the designated date due to the ongoing war and were cancelled twice. The elections were eventually held on 25 January 1949.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Preparations for the elections
These were the first elections held in Israel, and as such they demanded special preparations. On 5 November 1948 the Provisional State Council decided that the Constituent Assembly would consist of 120 members. On 8 November 1948 a population census was held which was later used in part for the preparations of the voters guide (the census was essential due to the rise of new immigrants and because of the Arab inhabitants of the British Mandate became refugees after the war).


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Preparations for the elections
For the purpose of the census the entire country was under curfew for seven hours, from five in the afternoon and until midnight. Another issue was the issue of the Electoral System. Suggestions were made of different Electoral Systems, but eventually it was decided to maintain the relative electoral system which existed in the elections for the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish community in British controlled Palestine, and that the Constituent Assembly elected would be the one to determine the future electoral system in Israel.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Preparations for the elections
A thousand polling stations were prepared across the country. According to census, the number of eligible voters consisted of half a million people.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Preparations for the elections, Contesting parties
A total of 21 parties registered to contest the elections.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath
On 19 May 1948, the Provisional Assembly confirmed Hebrew and Arabic as the official languages of Israel, removing English as an official language. The Constituent Assembly convened in February 1949.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath
During the Knesset term Eliezer Preminger left Maki and re-established the Hebrew Communists before joining Mapam, while Ari Jabotinsky and Hillel Kook, both associated with the Bergson Group in the United States, broke away from Herut; they were not recognised as a separate party by the speaker.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath, First government
The first government was formed on 8 March 1949 with David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth, and there were 12 ministers. Yosef Sprinzak of Mapai was appointed as the speaker.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath, First government
On 16 February 1949, the First Knesset elected Chaim Weizmann as the first (largely ceremonial) President of Israel. It also passed an educational law in 1949 which introduced compulsory schooling for all children between the ages of 5 to 14. On 5 July 1950, it passed the Law of Return.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath, First government
The trend of political instability in Israel was started when Ben-Gurion resigned on 15 October 1950 over disagreements with the United Religious Front on education in the new immigrant camps and the religious education system, as well as demands that the Supply and Rationing Ministry be closed and a businessman appointed as Minister for Trade and Industry.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath, Second government
Ben-Gurion formed a second government on 1 November 1950 with the same coalition partners as previously, though there was a slight reshuffle in his cabinet; David Remez moved from the Transportation ministry to Education, replacing Zalman Shazar (who was left out of the new cabinet), whilst Dov Yosef replaced Remez as Minister of Transportation. Ya'akov Geri was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry despite not being a Member of the Knesset. There was also a new Deputy Minister in the Transportation ministry.


1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election, Aftermath, Second government
The door was opened for the elections for the second knesset when the government resigned on 14 February 1951 after the Knesset had rejected the Minister of Education and Culture's proposals on the registration of schoolchildren.


1949 Israeli presidential election
An election to choose the first President of Israel was held in the Knesset on 16 February 1949. The new president would replace the president of the Provisional State Council as head of state of Israel.


1949 Israeli presidential election, Results
The election was settled in the first round, with Weizmann gaining an absolute majority. 114 of the 120 members of the first Knesset voted. Weizmann was declared president on 17 February 1949.


1949 Italian Grand Prix
The 1949 Italian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Monza on 11 September 1949. The race was won by Alberto Ascari.


1949 Italian regional elections
The Italian regional elections of 1949 refer to the regional election were held in Aosta Valley and Sardinia on 24 April and 8 May. This was the first regional election for both region and the second regional election in Italy after the 1947 in Sicily.


1949 Jamaican general election
General elections were held in Jamaica on 20 December 1949. Although the People's National Party received more votes, the Jamaica Labour Party won a majority of seats. Voter turnout was 65.2%. As of September 2020, this election was the last time a politician unaffiliated with a political party was elected to the legislature.


1949 Japanese general election
General elections were held in Japan on 23 January 1949. The result was a victory for the Democratic Liberal Party, which won 269 of the 466 seats. Voter turnout was 74.0%. It was the first election held following the enactment of the current Constitution of Japan.


1949 Japanese general election
Future prime ministers Hayato Ikeda and Eisaku Satō and future Foreign Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsuo Okazaki were first elected in this election.


1949 Japanese general election
The second cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was formed following the election.


1949 KK Crvena zvezda season
The 1949 season is the Crvena zvezda 4th season in the existence of the club. The team played in the Yugoslav Basketball League.


1949 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 1949 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas in the Big Seven Conference during the 1949 college football season. In their second season under head coach Jules V. Sikes, the Jayhawks compiled a 5–5 record (2–4 against conference opponents), finished fifth in the Big Seven Conference, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 259 to 183. They played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.


1949 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The team's statistical leaders included Bud French with 510 rushing yards and 66 points scored, and Dick Gilman with 885 passing yards. Forrest Griffith and Dick Tomlinson were the team captains.


1949 Kansas State Wildcats football team
The 1949 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1949 college football season. The team's head football coach was Ralph Graham in his second year. The Wildcats played their home games in Memorial Stadium. The Wildcats finished the season with a 2–8 record with a 1–5 record in conference play. They finished in last place in the Big Seven Conference. The Wildcats scored 191 points and gave up 257 points. The win against Colorado on 10/1/1949 snapped a 22-game conference losing streak.


1949 Kansas State Wildcats football team
Harold Robinson played football for Kansas State with an athletic scholarship in 1949, breaking the decades-long "color barrier" in Big Seven conference athletics, and also becoming the first ever African-American athlete on scholarship in the conference.


1949 Karlıova earthquake
The 1949 Karlıova earthquake occurred at 18:44 UTC on 17 August with an epicenter near Karlıova in Bingöl Province, Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It had an estimated magnitude of 6.7, a maximum felt intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale, and caused 320–450 casualties and destroyed 3,500 buildings.


1949 Karlıova earthquake, Tectonic setting
The Karlıova region is the location of the triple junction between the boundaries of the Eurasian Plate, Anatolian Plate and the Arabian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault, East Anatolian Fault and the Mus fold and thrust belt, which passes to the east into the Zagros fold and thrust belt. The earthquake occurred at the eastern end of the North Anatolian Fault.


1949 Karlıova earthquake, Characteristics
The seismic moment estimated for this earthquake is 3.5E+26, equivalent to a magnitude of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale. The estimated fault length involved is 63 km.


1949 Karlıova earthquake, Characteristics
The earthquake ruptured the easternmost part of the Yedisu segment (FS3, also known as the Elamalı segment) and most of the Ilıpınar segment (FS2 & FS1), although it remains unclear whether the rupture continued as far as Karlıova itself.


1949 Kategoria e Dytë
The 1949 Kategoria e Dytë is the sixth season of the second tier of football in Albania. The season took over from the annulled 1948–49 campaign which was ended on 31 March 1949, and the 1949 campaign began on 22 May and finished in October.


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 1
Peshkopia won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 2
Kukësi won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 4
No clubs from Group 4 advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 5
NBSh Ylli Kuq Kamëz won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 6
Mbrostari won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 7
Berati, Patosi and Spartaku Kuçovë advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 9
Peqini won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 10
No clubs from Group 10 advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 11
No clubs from Group 11 advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, First round, Group 12
Himara won the group and advanced to the next round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, Second round
Spartaku Pogradec, Lezha and Berati advanced to the final round


1949 Kategoria e Dytë, Final round
Spartaku Pogradec and Lezha finished on equal points, so they shared the title


1949 Kemi strike
The 1949 Kemi strike was a strike in July–August 1949 by the workers of Kemi Oy (today a part of Metsä Group) in the Northern Finnish town of Kemi. On August 18 the strike escalated on a violent clash called "Kemi Bloody Thursday" between strikers and local police, two workers were killed and several injured. Kemi strike is so far the last fatal political protest in Finland.


1949 Kemi strike
The Kemi strike is seen as a struggle between Communist Party of Finland and the Prime Minister K-A Fagerholm's cabinet. The cabinet controlled a large part of the trade unions through the Social Democratic Party and the communists wanted to regain the power their parliamentary organization Finnish People's Democratic League had lost in the 1948 legislative election.


1949 Kemi strike, The clash
The strike began on July 1, as the government wanted to cut the wages of Kemi Oy's lumber workers with more than 30 percent. It was soon joined by local lumberjacks, employers of the Kemi Oy sawmill and the dockers of Port of Kemi. Prime Minister Karl-August Fagerholm declared the strike illegal as it went on for several weeks. The strike caused a jam of 20,5 million cubic foot of logs to the mouth of Kemijoki river. The employers recruited strikebreakers, bringing them to work under police protection.


1949 Kemi strike, The clash
On August 18 a peaceful march of more the 3,000 strikers was on its way to the estuary, where the strikebreakers were driving logs and releasing the jam. As the march was stopped by armed policemen, a violent riot burst out. Protesters were equipped with sticks and rocks, while the police were using their batons and guns. One striker was shot and a female worker was fatally hit by a truck. It is still unclear who fired the deadly shot. According to official forensic examination the bullet was not shot from any of the police guns, although declassified secret police documents reveal that the police were shooting at strikers. One police officer stated he was prevented from shooting at a violent striker only by his gun jamming.


1949 Kemi strike, Aftermath
As a result, president Juho Kusti Paasikivi called a general alert of the armed forces and the government sent army troops to Kemi. This ended up with an arrest of 22 leading activists. A total number of 127 strikers were later accused of uprising, 63 of them were sent to prison. The police violence caused a series of sympathy strikes around Finland by communist dominated trade unions like the seamen's union led by Niilo Wälläri and a large number of metal workers.


1949 Kemi strike, Aftermath
Finnish government was even afraid of communist uprising and Soviet intervention. Communists in turn, were accusing the government for violating the Paris Peace Treaty since they had sent military against the striking workers. The American press characterized the incident as a "test for Finnish democracy". Soviet newspaper Pravda was talking about "police terror" and "Prime Minister Fagerholm's collaboration with American imperialists". The sympathy strikes were finally put down on 22 August, as the Social Democrat controlled Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions expelled the striking unions. Several other unions decided to cancel their planned strikes. Some trade union leaders were later put on trial and given short sentences.


1949 Kent State Golden Flashes football team
The 1949 Kent State Golden Flashes football team was an American football team that represented Kent State University in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) during the 1949 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Trevor J. Rees, Kent State compiled a 5–3 record.


1949 Kentucky Derby
The 1949 Kentucky Derby was the 75th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 7, 1949 on a track rated fast.


1949 Kentucky Wildcats football team
The 1949 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the 1949 college football season. The Wildcats' were led by head coach Bear Bryant in his fourth season and finished the season with a record of nine wins and three losses (9–3 overall, 4–1 in the SEC).


1949 Kesteven County Council election
Elections to Kesteven County Council were held on Saturday, 9 April 1949. Kesteven was one of three divisions of the historic county of Lincolnshire in England; it consisted of the ancient wapentakes (or hundreds) of Aswardhurn, Aveland, Beltisloe, Boothby Graffoe, Flaxwell, Langoe, Loveden, Ness, and Winnibriggs and Threo. The Local Government Act 1888 established Kesteven as an administrative county, governed by a Council; elections were held every three years from 1889, until it was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, which established Lincolnshire County Council in its place.


1949 Kesteven County Council election
For the 1949 election, the county was divided into sixty wards, ten of which accounted for the town of Grantham, five for Stamford, three for Sleaford and two for Bourne. Every seat in Grantham was contested, but all of the nominated candidates for the towns of Bourne, Sleaford and Stamford were returned unopposed. The majority of the councillors returned were independents.


1949 Kesteven County Council election, Results, Ponton
N.B. Nomination papers were also received for John A. Widdowson, but were deemed invalid.


1949 Khait earthquake
The 1949 Khait (Hoit) earthquake occurred at 09:45 local time (03:53 UTC) on 10 July in the Gharm Oblast region of the Tajik SSR of the Soviet Union (within the modern boundary of Tajikistan). It had a magnitude of 7.5 and triggered a series of landslides that together led to 7,200 deaths.


1949 Khait earthquake, Tectonic setting
The earthquake occurred in a tectonically complex region at the southern edge of the Tien Shan. The southern margin of the Tien Shan is characterised by combination of dextral strike-slip faulting and southward thrusting over the Tajik Basin to the south along the Gissar-Kokshaal fault zone. At the same time the Tajik Basin is being shortened in response to oblique collision with the Pamirs, forming a series of north-south to SW-NE trending thrust faults, the earthquake is thought to have been caused by movement on the Vakhsh thrust, one of these faults.


1949 Khait earthquake, Damage
In the area of maximum felt intensity (>IX) most kishlaks were completely destroyed. Most of the fatalities were caused by numerous landslides triggered by the earthquake. The town of Khait (modern spelling Hoit (Tajik: Ҳоит)) and the village of Khisorak were almost completely destroyed by the Khait landslide. Numerous kishlaks in the Yasman River valley were overwhelmed by the loess flowslide that swept down the whole length of the valley. Other kishlaks were destroyed by loess flowslides in the lower Obi-Kabud River valley and on the north side of the Surkhob River valley. Published estimates of the number of casualties range from 5,000 to 28,000. A more recent study, based on the size of affected settlements and the likely population density, gave an estimate of 7,200 of which about 800 were caused by the Khait landslide and 4,000 by the Yasman valley flowslide.


1949 Khait earthquake, Characteristics, Earthquake
The main shock was preceded by two foreshocks (M5.1 and M5.6) on 8 July, just 12 minutes apart. The main shock had a magnitude of 7.4 calculated as the 'unified magnitude' using the 'Soviet Method'. The magnitude was recalculated as 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale in the ISC-GEM catalogue published in 2013.


1949 Khait earthquake, Characteristics, Landslides
Most of the landslides triggered by the earthquake were loess flowslides, involving failure and flow of unconsolidated loess material. In the Yasman River valley, which lies almost entirely within the area of greatest felt intensity, a large number of such flowslides coalesced in tributary valleys before combining into one massive flowslide that travelled the length of the valley. The area covered by the Yasman valley slide is about 24.4 km2, with a total estimated volume of 245 MCM (million cubic metres). The Khait landslide began as a rockslide but progressively entrained loess material.


1949 Khait earthquake, Characteristics, Landslides
The rockslide was initiated by failure of part of the western flank of Chokrak Mountain. The landslide became more mobile once it began to entrain loess material and reached the Obi-Kabud River where it traversed the floodplain and surmounted a 25 m high river terrace on the river's west bank. The estimated volume for this landslide is about 75 MCM. It travelled with an estimated velocity of about 40 m/s.


1949 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
The 1949 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship was the 55th staging of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Kilkenny County Board.


1949 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
Graigue won the championship after a 3-12 to 2-14 defeat of Tullaroan in the final. It was their first ever championship title.


1949 Kurilpa state by-election
The Kurilpa state by-election, 1949 was a by-election held on 10 September 1949 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Kurilpa, based in the inner southern Brisbane suburbs of West End and South Brisbane.


1949 Kurilpa state by-election
The by-election was triggered by the death of Labor member Patrick Copley on 18 July 1949. The seat was a swinging seat between Labor and non-Labor, although Copley had held it since the 1932 election and it was expected to be retained by the party.


1949 Kurilpa state by-election, Candidates
The by-election attracted three candidates. The Labor Party nominated Thomas Moores, the incumbent alderman for the Kurilpa Ward on Brisbane City Council whose boundaries were identical to the Assembly seat. The Liberal Party nominated Norman Brandon, while the Communist Party nominated Anna Slater. It was the first electoral contest held since the Queensland People's Party became the Liberal Party's Queensland branch, along with the Ipswich state by-election held on the same day.


1949 Kurilpa state by-election, Aftermath
Upon Moores' election, the Kurilpa Ward council seat was filled at a by-election on 12 November 1949 by Colin Bennett, who went on to be the leader of Municipal Labor on Brisbane City Council during the 1950s, and subsequently held the Legislative Assembly seat of South Brisbane from 1960 until 1972.


1949 Kurilpa state by-election, Aftermath
Moores held Kurilpa until the 1957 state election held on 3 August. He defected to the Queensland Labor Party on 26 April 1957 and on 7 May 1957 was appointed Minister for Transport to replace the outgoing Deputy Premier and minister Jack Duggan. With the loss of his seat at the election, Moores' term in the Executive Council of 3 months and 5 days was the shortest in Queensland since the six-day ministry of 1899.


1949 LFF Lyga
The 1949 LFF Lyga was the 28th season of the LFF Lyga football competition in Lithuania. It was contested by 15 teams, and Elnias Šiauliai won the championship.


1949 LSU Tigers football team
The 1949 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) in the 1949 college football season.


1949 La Flèche Wallonne
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Severo (talk | contribs) at 23:14, 21 March 2020 (new key for Category:1949 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo: "La Fleche Wallonne" using HotCat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1949 La Flèche Wallonne
The 1949 La Flèche Wallonne was the 13th edition of La Flèche Wallonne cycle race and was held on 13 April 1949. The race started in Charleroi and finished in Liège. The race was won by Rik Van Steenbergen.


1949 Lafayette Leopards football team
The 1949 Lafayette Leopards football team was an American football team that represented Lafayette College in the Middle Three Conference during the 1949 college football season. In its first season under head coach Maurice J. "Clipper" Smith, the team compiled a 2–6 record. Gordon Schleer and Joseph Zahurak were the team captains. The team played its home games at Fisher Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.


1949 Landes forest fire
A major wildfire occurred from 19 August 1949 to 25 August 1949 in the Landes forest in France. 50,000 hectares (500 km2) of forest land were burnt - and 82 people killed. It was considered the most deadly forest fire in Europe until the 2007 and 2018 wildfires in Greece, which killed 84 and 99 people, respectively. Since both fire events in Greece can be distinguished as a multiple fire event, the Landes fire still ranks as the deadliest wildfire in Europe since record-keeping began.


1949 Landes forest fire
The municipalities of Cestas, Saucats, Marcheprime and Mios in the Gironde department were devastated by the forest fire. The very high dead toll from the fire shocked the country – and marked the starting point for the construction of the “Defending Forest against Wildfire” – “Défense de la forêt contre les incendies” System.


1949 Latvian SSR Higher League, Overview
It was contested by 12 teams, and Sarkanais Metalurgs won the championship.


1949 Leeds City Council election
The Leeds municipal elections were held on Thursday 12 May 1949, with one third of the seats to be elected.


1949 Leeds City Council election
Witnessing a slight swing away from them of 0.5%, the Conservatives won a narrow majority of the seats contested. With the seats last fought in Labour's landslide of 1945, all but four of the Conservative seats were gains. Totalling ten, the Conservatives safely gained Blenheim, Cross Gates & Temple Newsam and Upper Armley; less so in Beeston and Bramley, and very closely in Harehills, Kirkstall, Mill Hill & South and Farnley & Wortley (the latter being won by nine votes). The Conservatives also gained an extra alderman off the back of the gains, reducing Labour's hold to a slender majority of eight. Turnout returned to 46.4% after the spike recorded the previous election.


1949 Leeds City Council election, Election result
The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:


1949 Leeds West by-election
A by-election for the constituency of Leeds West in the United Kingdom House of Commons was held on 21 July 1949, caused by the suicide of the incumbent Labour MP Thomas Stamford. The result was a hold for the Labour Party, with their candidate Charles Pannell.


1949 Lehigh Engineers football team
The 1949 Lehigh Engineers football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University as an independent during the 1949 college football season. Lehigh finished last in the Middle Three Conference.


1949 Lehigh Engineers football team
In their fourth year under head coach William Leckonby, the Engineers compiled a 6–3 record, 0–2 against conference opponents. Bob Numbers was the team captain.


1949 Lehigh Engineers football team
Lehigh played its home games at Taylor Stadium on the university's main campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.


1949 Liberian constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Liberia on 3 May 1949. The changes to the 1847 constitution were approved in the Legislature in 1948, and abolished the two-term limit on presidents. The change was approved by voters.


1949 Liberian constitutional referendum, Constitutional change
The Supreme Executive Power shall be vested in a President who shall be elected by the people and shall hold office for a term of eight years. No President may be elected for two consecutive terms of eight years, but should a majority of the ballots cast at a second or any other succeeding election by all of the electors voting thereat elect him, his second or any other succeeding term of office shall be for four years. He shall be Commander-in-chief of the Army, Navy and Air Forces.


1949 Liberian constitutional referendum, Constitutional change
He shall in the recess of the Legislature, have power to call out the Militia or any portion thereof, into actual service in defence of the Republic. He shall have power to make treaties, provided the Senate concur therein, by a vote of two thirds of the Senators present.


1949 Liberian constitutional referendum, Constitutional change
He shall nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Senate appoint and commission, all Ambassadors, and other public Ministers and Consuls, Secretaries of State, of National Defence, of the Treasury, Attorney General, all Judges of Courts, Sheriffs, Coroners, Marshals, Justices of the Peace, Clerks of Courts, Registers, Notaries Public, and all other officers of State civil and military, whose appointment may not be otherwise provided for by the Constitution, or by standing laws.


1949 Liberian constitutional referendum, Constitutional change
A two-thirds majority in the vote was necessary for the changes to be approved.


1949 Liechtenstein Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act referendum
A referendum on the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulations Act was held in Liechtenstein on 12 June 1949. The Act had been passed by the Landtag, but was rejected by 78.4% of voters.


1949 Liechtenstein general election
General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 6 February 1949. The Progressive Citizens' Party won eight of the 15 seats in the Landtag, but remained in coalition with the Patriotic Union.


1949 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
The 1949 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship was the 55th staging of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Limerick County Board.


1949 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
St. Patrick's won the championship after a 1-07 to 1-03 defeat of Geraldines in the final. It was their first ever championship title.


1949 Little League World Series
The 1949 Little League World Series was held from August 24 to August 27 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Hammonton All Stars of Hammonton, New Jersey, defeated the Pensacola All Stars of Pensacola, Florida, in the championship game of the 3rd Little League World Series.


1949 Little League World Series
This was the first tournament to be called the "Little League World Series". Attendees at the championship game included Ford Frick, president of the National League (and later Commissioner of Baseball).


1949 Liverpool City Council election
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on Thursday 12 May 1949.


1949 Liverpool City Council election, Ward results
This was the first May local election following the move from November. Councillors standing for re-election at this election were previously elected in 1945. Therefore, comparisons are made with the 1945 election results.


1949 Liverpool City Council election, Aldermanic elections, Aldermanic elections 23 May 1949
At the meeting of the City Council on 23 May 1949 the terms of office of twenty of the forty Aldermen expired and the Council elected twenty Aldermen to fill the vacant positions for a term of six years.


1949 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, Childwall, 15 September 1949
Caused by the election of Cllr. William John Matthew Clark as an Alderman on 23 May 1949


1949 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, Anfield 10 November 1949
Alderman William Albert Robinson died on 31 December 1949His position was filled by Cllr. Michael John Reppion (Labour, elected for the South Scotland ward in May 1949), who was elected as an Alderman by the Council on 1 February 1950 and was assigned as the Returning Officer for the Everton ward.


1949 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, Anfield 10 November 1949
Alderman Peter Kavanagh died on 19 February 1950His position was filled by Cllr. Stanley Robert Williams (Conservative, elected for the Wavertree ward on 1 November 1947), who was elected as an Alderman by the City Council on 5 April 1950 and assigned as Returning Officer for the Vauxhall ward.


1949 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, Anfield 10 November 1949
Her position was filled by Cllr. George Webster Green Armour (Conservative, elected for the Sefton Park East ward in November 1946) was elected as an Alderman by the City Council on 5 April 1950 and assigned as Returning Officer for the Dingle ward.


1949 Liège–Bastogne–Liège
The 1949 Liège–Bastogne–Liège was the 35th edition of the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycle race and was held on 1 May 1949. The race started and finished in Liège. The race was won by Camille Danguillaume.


1949 London County Council election
An election to the County Council of London took place on 7 April 1949. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having three votes in the three-member seats. The Conservative Party made substantial gains, achieving the same number of seats as the Labour Party. However, Labour held the chair of the council, and was thus able to retain control.


1949 London County Council election
The constituencies were completely reorganised before the election. The 60 former two-member constituencies and one four-member constituency were replaced by 43 three-member constituencies, to align with the UK Parliamentary constituencies due to be introduced at the 1950 UK general election.


1949 London County Council election, Campaign
The Labour Party campaigned on its progress on the County of London Plan, its construction of housing and schools, and its takeover of health services.


1949 London County Council election, Campaign
The Conservative Party chose not to stand candidates in Bethnal Green, where it hoped its supporters would instead vote for the Liberal Party candidates. It argued that the Labour administration was short of talent.


1949 London County Council election, Campaign
The Liberal Party and Communist Party of Great Britain each stood only six candidates, and hoped to retain representation in their strongest areas: Bethnal Green for the Liberals, and Stepney for the Communists.


1949 London County Council election, Results
The Conservative Party secured the most votes, but won the same number of seats as the Labour Party. The Liberal Party leader Percy Harris was the only other councillor to win a seat. Because there were ten appointed aldermen, all Labour representatives, Labour retained a majority for the election of a new chair, who would hold a casting vote. While this would usually be a council member, the party instead selected J. W. Bowen, a party member who was not on the council, and thereby secured an ongoing majority. Thus assured, it agreed to a Conservative proposal to arrange for the election of new aldermen in proportion to the party strengths.


1949 London County Council election, Results
Turnout at the election was 39%, a considerable increase from 26% three years earlier.


1949 Los Angeles Dons season
The 1949 Los Angeles Dons season was their fourth and final season in the All-America Football Conference. The team failed to improve on their previous output of 7-7, winning only four games. They failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and folded with the league after the season.


1949 Los Angeles Rams season
The 1949 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 12th year with the National Football League and the fourth in Los Angeles. The Rams were 8–2–2 and won the Western Division title, then lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Championship Game.


1949 Los Angeles Rams season, Regular season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1949 Los Angeles mayoral election
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Priyanjali singh (talk | contribs) at 07:52, 11 October 2020 (Adding short description: "1949 election for Mayor of Los Angeles" (Shortdesc helper)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1949 Los Angeles mayoral election
The 1949 election for Mayor of Los Angeles took place on April 5, 1949, with a run-off election on May 31, 1949. Incumbent Fletcher Bowron was re-elected.


1949 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team
The 1949 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute (now known as Louisiana Tech University) as a member of the Gulf States Conference during the 1949 college football season. In their ninth year under head coach Joe Aillet, the team compiled a 7–2 record and as Gulf States Conference champion.


1949 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 1949 Louisville Cardinals football team was an American football team that represented the University of Louisville as an independent during the 1949 college football season. In their fourth season under head coach Frank Camp, the Cardinals compiled an 8–3 record. The team was led on offense by Ross Lucia and played its home games at DuPont Manual Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.


1949 Loyola Lions football team
The 1949 Loyola Lions football team was an American football team that represented Loyola University of Los Angeles (now known as Loyola Marymount University) as an independent during the 1949 college football season. In their first season under head coach Jordan Olivar, the Lions compiled a 6–4 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 230 to 226.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash
On 2 July 1949 a Douglas DC-3 aircraft departed from Perth, Western Australia for a night flight of 441 nautical miles (817 km) to Carnarvon. The aircraft climbed to a height of about 500 feet (150 m) and then spiralled almost vertically to the ground, killing all 18 people on board. It crashed about a mile north of Perth airport and burned for over an hour. At the time, it was the worst civil aviation accident in Western Australia.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, The flight
The aircraft was the airliner Fitzroy, registered VH-MME and operated by MacRobertson Miller Aviation. On 2 July 1949 it was about to conduct the regular passenger service from Perth to Darwin, Northern Territory which departed about 2 am to allow passengers to connect with the twice-weekly Sydney-London flight operated by Qantas. The first stop was to be Carnarvon in Western Australia. On board were three pilots, an air hostess and 14 passengers. The aircraft took off at 2:14 am in driving rain. Visibility was about 10 miles (16 km). The aircraft climbed unusually quickly after it left the runway. It was observed to climb to a height of about 500 feet (150 m) and then roll and spiral vertically to the ground.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, The flight
The aircraft crashed in a clear area between huts at the South Guildford housing camp, a former Army camp where 70 huts were being used to house civilians. As a result of the aircraft diving vertically to the ground, the wreckage was mostly confined within an area that was no larger than 60 feet (18 m) square. The aircraft narrowly missed the surrounding huts with wreckage coming to within 12 feet (4 m) of one hut, and within 5 paces of the front verandah of another. One propeller was found about 210 feet (64 m) from the wreckage.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, The flight
An intense fire erupted inside the fuselage. The first fire-fighting equipment to reach the site was the fire tender from the airport, crewed by one fireman only. The fireman laid a foam blanket around the burning wreckage and sprayed foam on the fire. He used all the foam without extinguishing the flames. Two other fire tenders from neighbouring areas arrived to assist. It was 90 minutes before the fire was extinguished.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, The flight
After sunrise, police, firemen and undertakers worked for an hour to remove the bodies of the 18 people killed in the accident. All the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Several of the bodies were still sitting in an upright position. The bodies of the 3 pilots in the cockpit were half-buried under a mass of charred newspaper. The aircraft was carrying the Perth daily newspaper to towns in the north-west of the state. Police and two officers from the Department of Civil Aviation sifted through the wreckage in the rain, searching for items to help identify the victims and for clues as to the likely cause of the tragedy.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Investigation
The Department of Civil Aviation immediately appointed a panel of two to investigate the accident. Examination of the wreckage showed that the flaps and undercarriage were retracted and both engines had been producing high power at the time of the crash. All trim tabs were in typical positions for takeoff and all control cable runs were intact. Nothing was found in the wreckage to indicate any prior defect or failure that might have caused the aircraft to crash or the pilot to lose control.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Investigation
The setting of the automatic pilot could not be determined due to destruction of the forward fuselage. The investigation initially focussed on possible failure to remove one of the flight control chocks, defective flight instruments, misuse of the wing flaps, structural failure of the tailplane, defective elevator control system, misuse of the automatic pilot, and incorrect loading.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Investigation
Control chocks for the left aileron, one elevator and the rudder were found correctly stowed in the remains of the aircraft's rear fuselage compartment. Searchers were unable to find the chock for the other elevator or the right aileron, either at the crash site or on the ground between the runway and the crash site. On the morning after the accident an MMA apprentice found the missing elevator chock on the tarmac close to where VH-MME was positioned for an engine test run the previous afternoon. The investigators carried out a flight test on a DC-3 to determine what effect, if any, was caused by installing an aileron chock on the elevator. They found there was no effect and the presence of the chock did not prevent the pilot having full control of the elevator.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Investigation
Staff of the Department of Civil Aviation calculated the most likely position of the centre of gravity on the fatal flight and found it was about 3.3% of Mean Aerodynamic Chord behind the rear limit. They carried out some flight tests in a DC-3 with its centre of gravity 4.7% of MAC behind the rear limit and found there was a loss of longitudinal static stability that made it difficult to trim the aircraft for a constant airspeed but the low-speed flight handling qualities had not deteriorated seriously. They concluded that the incorrect position of the centre of gravity did not adequately explain the accident and there must have been some other cause, possibly highly unusual. The investigation ended without determining the cause.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
In August 1949 the City Coroner, R. P. Rodriguez, conducted an inquest into the deaths of the 18 people on board the aircraft.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
A dispatch officer with MacRobertson Miller Aviation observed the aircraft take off normally, then climb to an almost vertical position, roll over and dive vertically towards the ground, twisting as it did so. Written evidence from the aerodrome control officer on duty in the control tower stated that he observed the aircraft turn through 180 degrees as though in a spiral turn or spin.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
Some witnesses who lived at the South Guildford housing camp believed one of the aircraft's engines had failed by the time of the crash. The City Coroner was satisfied both engines were operating normally during the takeoff and up until the time of the impact.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
A medical officer conducted post-mortem examinations of the bodies. He confirmed there was no indication of alcohol in the bodies of any of the pilots. All on board died of multiple injuries before being burned.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
A resident of the housing camp who was one of the first witnesses to arrive at the crash scene told the City Coroner she saw the air hostess in the cockpit, standing beside the pilot.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquest
The City Coroner was satisfied that the aircraft was airworthy and neither MacRobertson Miller Aviation nor the pilot did anything negligent to cause the fatal crash.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry
On 28 September 1949 the Minister for Civil Aviation, Arthur Drakeford, announced that a court of inquiry would be held to investigate the accident because the investigation by the Department of Civil Aviation had been unable to determine the exact cause. Mr Justice Wolff of the Supreme Court of Western Australia was appointed to chair the inquiry. The inquiry commenced on 12 December 1949.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Observations
The inquiry received evidence from the aerodrome control officer on duty in the control tower at the time of the takeoff. He observed the aircraft climb at a steeper rate than any airline-operated aircraft he had seen previously. When the aircraft was at a height of about 500 feet (150 m) the left wing dropped sharply, as if in a stall. The nose dipped and the aircraft seemed to rotate through 180 degrees before dropping vertically. A ground engineer also saw the aircraft climb abruptly before it nosed over and twisted twice as it dived to the ground.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Aircraft loading
The inquiry heard that on 27 June 1949 the Department of Civil Aviation sent a letter to MacRobertson Miller Aviation advising that the methods used by its operational personnel to check the weight and balance of company aircraft did not conform to the appropriate requirements, and that approved methods must be used in the future. In response, the Operations Manager for MacRobertson Miller Aviation sent specific instructions to pilots on 30 June. On 1 July, the day before the accident, the Operations Manager discussed his instructions with the pilots of the accident flight.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Aircraft loading
Staff involved with the loading of aircraft were instructed to use the method of Index Units to check that the centre of gravity of an aircraft was within limits. The employee who loaded the freight and passengers' luggage on the accident flight told the inquiry that after the freight was loaded, a check of the aircraft weight and balance showed that about 80 pounds (36 kg) of freight should be removed. Freight weighing 102 pounds (46 kg) was then removed. However, this employee believed the Load Sheet column labelled Index Units was not completed.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Aircraft loading
There were suggestions the aircraft had been incorrectly loaded with 1,400 pounds (640 kg) in the rear baggage locker when it was assumed only 1,100 pounds (500 kg) would be carried there. The accuracy of statements regarding 1,400 lb was challenged.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Control chocks
The inquiry heard that the first officer had been unable to find all the control chocks normally used to lock the control surfaces on the aircraft while it was parked. There were concerns that one of the aircraft's control chocks might have been left in position instead of being removed before takeoff. The inquiry heard that all chocks were eventually accounted for. There was also a concern that one of the aileron chocks might have been inadvertently inserted in the elevator circuit.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Control chocks
Chief Inspector James Harper told the inquiry that he made some test flights in a DC-3 aircraft in a similar configuration to the Fitzroy on the accident flight. One test showed that the DC-3 could be flown satisfactorily even with an aileron chock in the elevator circuit. Harper was satisfied the aircraft did not take off with the elevator locked.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Pilot competency
The pilot in command of the aircraft on the accident flight was Captain William Norman. Captain Cyril Kleinig, an approved checking pilot with MacRobertson Miller Aviation, gave evidence to the inquiry. He had flown with Captain Norman on many occasions and described him as competent. A pilot who had flown the Fitzroy to Carnarvon and return the day before the accident told the inquiry the aircraft had behaved normally. He also said he had flown with Captain Norman many times and found him to be careful and competent, and more meticulous than most in performing his cockpit drills.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Air hostess
Two residents of the housing camp who were among the first to arrive at the crash scene told the inquiry they could see two bodies in the wreckage of the cockpit – a male and a female, both wearing uniform, so they presumed the bodies were those of the pilot and air hostess. One described the female as having fairly long blonde hair. The superintendent of air navigation and safety in the western region of the Department of Civil Aviation said the bodies of the pilot and first officer were found in their correct seats in the cockpit.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Air hostess
Particular attention was paid to the body found closest to the rear of the cabin, a few feet (a metre) forward of the hostess's seat. The body was that of a female. Another witness was an employee of MacRobertson Miller Aviation who raced from the airport to the scene of the crash. He contradicted the evidence that the body of a woman could be seen in the cockpit. He told the inquiry the air hostess had red hair.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Irregularities
The inquiry exposed certain irregularities in MacRobertson Miller Aviation's operations. These irregularities centred on the loading of aircraft, proper completion of Load Sheets, and administrative methods.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Counsels' summaries
The Department of Civil Aviation was represented by Henry Winneke. Mr Winneke suggested to the inquiry that the immediate cause of the accident was that the pilot lost flying control of the aircraft. He said the reason for this loss of control was unknown although incorrect loading of the aircraft may have contributed. He acknowledged the excellent work done by the Department's accident investigators in attempting to determine the cause. George Pape, counsel representing MacRobertson Miller Aviation, warned against speculating on what might have caused the crash and urged the court to make an explicit finding that loading of the aircraft was not a possible factor contributing to the cause of the crash.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Counsels' summaries
The inquiry sat for seven days and adjourned on Wednesday 21 December 1949.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Report and findings
The report and findings of the inquiry were not released until 8 March 1950 when the new Minister for Civil Aviation, Thomas White, tabled them in the House of Representatives. The report confirmed that the crash occurred because the aircraft stalled and the pilots were unable to regain control. However, the evidence was not sufficient to allow determination of what caused the stall. The report conceded that over-loading of the aircraft's rear baggage compartment may have contributed to the stall.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Report and findings
The inquiry acknowledged that the operator, MacRobertson Miller Aviation, had distributed instructions about aircraft loading to its pilots on 30 June but considered more should have been done. On the night of the accident the pilot in command had not checked the loading calculations performed by the two men responsible for loading the aircraft, as he was required to do, although the inquiry acknowledged there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the pilot in command was responsible for the accident. The inquiry considered the man responsible for loading the rear baggage compartment possessed inadequate knowledge of aircraft loading and had been untruthful. He had invented his story to hide his over-loading of the compartment.


1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash, Inquiry, Report and findings
The inquiry was critical of the operator and the Department of Civil Aviation. In particular, it was critical of the operator's poor standards of maintenance of aircraft instruments. For this reason, the inquiry recommended the operator's airline licence should be suspended or cancelled. It also considered the Department should have made more checks of the operator's methods and record keeping. The Minister declined to take action against the operator, saying its maintenance record keeping had improved significantly since the accident.