What happened this day in history - April 12

1606 - The Union Flag was adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.

1831 - Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester caused it to collapse.

1928 - The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, took off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west, Ireland to Canada.

1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby.

1955 - The polio vaccine, developed by Dr Jonas Salk, was declared safe and effective.

1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.

1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) took place: The STS-1 mission.

1992 - The Euro Disney Resort officially opened with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park’s name were subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.