The following events occurred in May 1982:
May 1, 1982 (Saturday) Italian general Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa was appointed as prefect for Palermo to combat the violence of the Second Mafia War. Dalla Chiesa, his wife Emanuela Setti Carraro and their escort agent Domenico Russo would be assassinated in Palermo on September 3. Falklands War: The Royal Air Force completed Black Buck One, the first mission of Operation Black Buck, bombing the main runway at Port Stanley Airport, which was occupied by the Argentine Air Force. Black Buck One was the longest bombing mission ever attempted up to that time. RAF Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers would later be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in the mission. Gato Del Sol came up from last place to win the 1982 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Edwin J. Gregson, Gato Del Sol's trainer, announced that the horse would probably not take part in the 1982 Preakness Stakes on May 15, becoming the first Kentucky Derby winner to skip the Preakness since 1959. The opening ceremonies of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee included an address by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. About 11 million people would attend the Fair during its 6-month run. American television actress Cindy Williams married singer Bill Hudson. Born: Ambrose Akinmusire, American avant-garde jazz composer and trumpeter; in Oakland, California Yalçın Ayhan, Turkish footballer; in Istanbul, Turkey Beto (born António Alberto Bastos Pimparel), Portuguese footballer; in Loures, Portugal Andy Dorman, Welsh footballer; in Chester, England Jamie Dornan, Northern Irish actor and model; in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland Carson Fagan, Caymanian international footballer Mark Farren, Irish footballer; in Donegal, Ireland (d. 2016) Tommy Robredo, Spanish professional tennis player; in Hostalric, Spain Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer; in Metković, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Katya Zamolodchikova (born Brian Joseph McCook), American drag queen; in Boston, Massachusetts Died: Gyula Kertész, 94, Hungarian international footballer Jake Pelkington, 66, American professional basketball player William Primrose CBE, 77, Scottish violist Gene Sheldon, 74, American actor, mime artist and musician Margaret Sheridan, 55, American actress Wolfgang Stammberger, 61, German jurist and politician Vladimir Stenberg, 83, Soviet artist and designer Walther Wenck, 81, German World War II general, traffic collision
May 2, 1982 (Sunday) Falklands War: Admiral Jorge Anaya, Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy, put Operation Algeciras, an Argentine plan to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, on hold in the hope of a political settlement to the war. Later the same day, the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. The Weather Channel aired on cable television in the United States as the first 24-hour all weather network. Darrell Waltrip won the 1982 Winston 500 at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama. The race was notable for the participation of the driver known as L. W. Wright, a con artist who abandoned his car at Talladega and disappeared after the race. 56-year-old Álvaro Magaña was sworn into office as President of El Salvador, restoring civilian rule in the country for the first time since the 1931 Salvadoran coup d'état. U.S. Ambassador Deane R. Hinton attended the inauguration ceremony. Radio Vinceremos, a leftist guerrilla shortwave station, called the new government the "legalization of fascism". After the discovery of human remains in a septic tank at the former home of David and Brenda Venables in Kempsey, Worcestershire, England, on July 12, 2019, David Venables would be charged in 2021 with murdering his wife Brenda sometime between May 2 and May 5, 1982. Born: Tim Benjamin, Welsh professional and Olympic sprinter Valeria Bilello, Italian actress and model; in Sciacca, Sicily, Italy Johan Botha, South African cricketer; in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa Lázaro Bruzón, Cuban chess grandmaster; in Holguín, Cuba Luigi Castaldo, Italian footballer; in Giugliano in Campania, Italy Iván Cervantes, Spanish motorcycle enduro racer Jamie Dantzscher, American Olympic artistic gymnast; in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California Fábio Felício, Portuguese footballer; in Faro, Portugal Chiara Gensini, Italian actress; in Rome, Italy Blythe Hartley, Canadian Olympic diver; in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Csaba Horváth, Slovak footballer; in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia Lorie (born Laure Pester), French singer; in Le Plessis-Bouchard, Val-d'Oise, France Tomáš Mojžíš, Czech professional ice hockey defenceman; in Kolín, Czechoslovakia Died: Salomon Bochner, 82, American mathematician Helmut Dantine, 63, Austrian-American actor Hugh Marlowe (born Hugh Herbert Hipple), 71, American actor Bill Sefton, 67, American Olympic pole vaulter Wini Shaw, 75, American actress, dancer and singer Virginia Vestoff, 42, American actress (cancer)
May 3, 1982 (Monday) Falklands War: At midnight on May 2/3, while searching for the crew of a downed Argentine Canberra bomber, the patrol vessel ARA Alférez Sobral fired on a Sea King helicopter that had detected her. When the helicopter crew requested assistance, Westland Lynx helicopters from and fired on Alférez Sobral with Sea Skua missiles, killing eight of her crew. Alférez Sobral would be escorted into Puerto Deseado on May 5. The Canberra's crew were never located. The New York Times reported that 25% of the NASA budget would be transferred to the United States military. William A. O'Neill, the Governor of Connecticut, and Harry Hughes, the Governor of Maryland, signed bills raising the legal drinking age in their respective states. The new legal drinking age in Connecticut was 19, while that in Maryland was 21. The American Broadcasting Company launched its All Talk network on two radio stations on the West Coast of the United States. In Anchorage, Alaska, seven people were shot to death within an hour in two separate incidents. A woman and two men were killed in a double murder-suicide shooting at a bar, and four teenagers were shot and killed in Russian Jack Springs Park. Charles L. Meach, the killer of the teenagers, had been found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1973 murder trial and was living at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute at the time of the park killings. In a Frank and Ernest comic strip by Bob Thaves, a line about Hollywood actress Ginger Rogers' dance talent was published: "Ginger Rogers did everything he [Fred Astaire] did, ..backwards and in high heels." The quote would eventually become one of the most often repeated descriptions of Rogers in non-fiction publications. Born: Juliana Alves, Brazilian actress and model; in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Juan Carlos Cacho, Mexican footballer; in Mexico City, Mexico Andrew Durante, New Zealand international footballer; in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Sebastian Furchner, German professional and Olympic ice hockey player; in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, West Germany Rebecca Hall, English actress; in London, England Joo Hyun-jung, South Korean Olympic champion archer Casey Laulala, New Zealand rugby union player; in Motoʻotua, Samoa Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American National Football League defensive end; in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union Krzysztof Ostrowski, Polish footballer; in Wrocław, Poland Mário da Silva Pedreira Júnior, Brazilian volleyball player; in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tobias Rathgeb, German footballer; in Ostfildern, West Germany Nick Stavinoha, Major League Baseball outfielder; in Houston, Texas Irakli Tsirekidze, Georgian Olympic champion judoka R. J. Umberger, National Hockey League center; in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Died: Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, 50, Algerian politician; killed when his aircraft was shot down on the Iran-Turkey border during a peace mission concerning the Iran–Iraq War. Werner Schwier, 60, German actor and voice actor Henri Tajfel (born Hersz Mordche), 62, Polish social psychologist
May 4, 1982 (Tuesday) In the 1982 Indonesian legislative election, the Golkar party retained control of the People's Consultative Assembly. The 1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships opened in Munich, West Germany. They would continue through May 15. The Vatican announced that Pope John Paul II had named two new bishops in South America. Gerardo Sueldo was named Bishop of Orán, Argentina, and Alberto Jara Franzoy was named Bishop of Chillán, Chile. Falklands War: During a journalists' strike, editor Kelvin MacKenzie of the British tabloid The Sun reported the sinking of the General Belgrano with a controversial headline inspired by a chance remark by features editor Wendy Henry: "GOTCHA Our lads sink gunboat and hole cruiser." Over the objections of Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Sun, MacKenzie chose to change the headline to "Did 1,200 Argies drown?" for later editions, but due to the strike hundreds of thousands of copies were printed with the original headline. The following day's Sun headline would read, "ALIVE! Hundreds of Argies saved from Atlantic", downplaying the loss of life in the sinking. The British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield was hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burned out of control; 20 sailors were killed. The Troubles in Derry: 21-year-old Protestant Samuel Caskey, a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was shot and killed during an Irish Republican Army sniper attack on an RUC foot patrol in Derry, Northern Ireland. Born: Shaun Bodiford, National Football League wide receiver; in Seattle, Washington Kleopas Giannou, Greek Olympic and professional footballer; in Athens, Attica, Greece Norihito Kobayashi, Japanese Olympic Nordic combined skier; in Kitaakita, Akita Prefecture, Japan Michele di Rocco, Italian Olympic and professional boxer; in Foligno, Province of Perugia, Umbria, Italy Markus Rogan, Austrian Olympic swimmer; in Vienna, Austria Dewarick Spencer, American professional basketball player; in Mobile County, Alabama Georgios Tsiaras, Greek professional basketball player; in Larissa, Greece Nathan Tyson, English footballer; in Reading, Berkshire, England Died: Paul Dörflinger, 27, German footballer (colorectal cancer) Orhan Gündüz, Turkish Honorary Consul, assassinated in Somerville, Massachusetts Harry Hays, , 72, Canadian politician, member of the Senate of Canada from Alberta Barnett Janner, Baron Janner, 89, British politician, Member of Parliament Guido von Mengden, 85, German Sports officer, Nazi Party official Leo W. O'Brien, 81, American journalist and politician, member of the United States House of Representatives from New York
May 5, 1982 (Wednesday) Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip officially opened the new outdoor set of the British soap opera Coronation Street. The Troubles: 64-year-old Protestant civilian Maureen McCann was stabbed and shot to death during an armed robbery by the Ulster Volunteer Force at her post office in Killinchy, County Down, Northern Ireland. A Unabomber bomb exploded in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University; secretary Janet Smith was injured. Born: Pawel Abbott, Polish-English footballer; in York, England Ferrie Bodde, Dutch footballer and coach; in Delft, Netherlands Wouter D'Haene, Belgian Olympic sprint canoer; in Kortrijk, West Flanders, Belgium Velibor Đurić, Bosnian footballer; in Vlasenica, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia Randall Gay, National Football League cornerback; in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Andreas Haddad, Swedish-Assyrian footballer; in Stockholm, Sweden Gunnar Jeannette, American racing driver; in West Palm Beach, Florida Jia Dandan, Chinese Olympic ice hockey goaltender; in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China Przemysław Kaźmierczak, Polish footballer; in Łęczyca, Poland