The temperature on January 31, 1909 was between -0.9 °C and 2.7 °C and averaged 0.6 °C. There was 3.8 mm of rain. There was 3.0 hours of sunshine (33%). The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the northwest. Source: KNMI
January 9 » Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180km; 112mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
January 25 » Richard Strauss's opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
February 12 » New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SSPenguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
March 4 » U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.
July 25 » Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom in 37 minutes.
September 23 » The novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera), by Gaston Leroux, is published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
Day of death March 8, 1999
The temperature on March 8, 1999 was between 3.7 °C and 6.2 °C and averaged 4.5 °C. There was 2.6 mm of rain during 7.1 hours. There was 0.5 hours of sunshine (4%). The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south east. Source: KNMI
April 5 » Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
November 11 » The House of Lords Act is given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
November 30 » Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.
December 18 » NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
December 21 » Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 overshoots the runway at La Aurora International Airport, killing 18.
December 22 » Just after taking off from London Stansted Airport, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 crashes into Hatfield Forest near Great Hallingbury, killing all four people on board.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hans Weening, "Family tree Weening", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-weening/I139470.php : accessed October 11, 2026), "Rinse Loonstra (1909-1999)".
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