August 4th, 1939 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Bank Holiday weekend begins.Queen Elizabeth [née
Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon from 1952 through 2002 the
Dowager Queen of the United Kingdom (1900 - 2002)] celebrates her 39th birthday
on holiday at Balmoral Castle. (Marc James Small)
Warsaw: POLAND warns Danzig's Senate that it will arm its customs officers.
ITALY: Count Galeazzo Ciano, Count of Cortellazzo, Foreign Minister and Mussolini's son-in-law,
writes in his diary 'The situation seems obscure to me... The moment has come when we must
really know how matters stand [between
Italy and Germany].'
U.S.A.: The USN aircraft carriers USS Yorktown (CV-5) and USS Enterprise (CV-6) make successful launchings of SBC-3 Helldiver and O3U-3 Corsair aircraft from flight deck and hangar deck catapults in the first practical demonstration of launching aircraft from aircraft carriers by means of a hydraulic flush-deck catapult and in the first demonstration of catapulting aircraft from the hangar deck.