Today in History: The first aircraft jet engine is successfully tested

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on April 121:

1606 - England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.

1838 - English settlers in South Africa defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Tugela. The settlers had guns whereas the Zulus only had spears.

1861 - The bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina marked the beginning of hostilities. The conflict was sparked by deepening economic, social, and political differences between the southern and northern states, which were most palpably embodied by the dispute about the legitimacy of slavery. The southern (pro-slavery) states, surrendered in 1865, ending the war.

1877 - The catcher for Harvard's baseball team, James Tyng, wore a modified fencing mask behind the plate. It is believed to be the first time a catcher's mask was used during a game.

1937 - Sir Frank Whittle invented and tested the engine, only a few months before German engineer Hans von Ohain ran his jet engine, which was to power the first ever all-jet aircraft.

1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63.

1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the Earth once before making a safe landing.

1981 - The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight.

1983 -  Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first African-American mayor.

1999 - U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for giving "intentionally false" testimony in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2002 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resigned under pressure from the country's divided military. (He was returned to office two days later.)

2004 - Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list. (Bonds is now the career leader in home runs.)    

2009 - American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips was rescued from Somali pirates by U.S. Navy snipers who shot and killed three of the hostage-takers.