Human history has always been at the mercy of mother nature, and a uniquely human invention- airplanes- are particularly vulnerable to one of the most powerful forces of nature- volcanic eruptions.
Absent a few coincidences, and "fortunate blunders" on December 5, 1941 the history of December 7th could have different.
Who doesn't want to start their day feeling minty fresh? That question goes back farther than you might imagine.
On November 26, 1914 the battleship HMS Bulwark was moored in the river Medway, part of a fleet assembled in anticipation of a possible raid against London by the Imperial German fleet when, without any warning, as one witness reported, “there was a flash, a cloud of smoke, and the ship vanished.”