1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash
{{Short description|Aviation accident in New York City}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| image = Empirestate540.jpg
| caption = The Empire State Building on fire following the crash
| date = July 28, 1945
| type = Controlled flight into terrain (building) in inclement weather conditions (fog)
| occurrence_type = Accident
| site = Empire State Building, New York City
| fatalities = 3
| injuries =
| aircraft_type = B-25 Mitchell
| aircraft_name = Old John Feather Merchant
| operator = United States Army Air Forces
| tail_number = 41-30577
| origin = Bedford Army Air Field
Bedford, Massachusetts
| destination = Newark Metropolitan Airport
| crew =
| alt=
| ground_injuries=24
|coordinates= {{Coord|40|44|54|N|73|59|08|W|display=title|region:US_type:landmark|name=A Building}}
|passengers=|missing=|survivors=0|stopover=|stopover0=|last_stopover=|total_injuries=24|ground_fatalities=11|total_fatalities=14|occupants=3 (flight crew members)
}}
On July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United States Army Air Forces crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building in New York City while flying in thick fog. The crash killed fourteen people (three crewmen and eleven people in the building), and an estimated twenty-four others were injured. Damage caused by the crash was estimated at {{US$|1{{spaces}}million|link=yes}} (equivalent to about ${{inflation|US|1|1945}} million in {{inflation/year|US}}), but the building's structural integrity was not compromised.{{cite web |url=http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0112/News/News8-0112.html |title=Empire State Building Withstood Airplane Impact |publisher=JOM (monthly publication of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society) |date=2001}}
Incident
On Saturday, July 28, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith Jr., of Watertown, Massachusetts,{{cite news |title=Empire Crash Due to 'Human Errors' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120105822/empire-crash-due-to-human-errors/ |work=United Press |date=August 17, 1945 |access-date=March 3, 2023}} was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport mission from Bedford Army Air Field in Massachusetts. Due to thick fog, the aircraft was unable to land at LaGuardia Airport as scheduled.{{Cite book |last1=Genzmer |first1=Herbert |title=Great Disasters |last2=Kershner |first2=Sybille |last3=Schutz |first3=Christian |isbn=9781445410968 |location=Queens Street house |pages=210}} The pilot requested to divert to Newark Metropolitan Airport in New Jersey.{{cite book |last=Berman |first=John S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDotCyoCdn8C&pg=PA85 |title=The Empire State Building: The Museum of the City of New York |publisher=Barnes, John & Noble Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=9780760738894 |page=85}}{{cite news|last=Barron|first=James|title=Flaming Horror on the 79th Floor; 50 Years Ago Today, in the Fog, a Plane Hit the World's Tallest Building|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/28/nyregion/flaming-horror-79th-floor-50-years-ago-today-fog-plane-hit-world-s-tallest.html|access-date=November 17, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 28, 1995}}{{cite book|last=Byers|first=Roland O.|title=Flak dodger: a story of the 457th Bombardment Group, 1943–1945, 8th AAF|year=1985|publisher=Pawpaw Press}} Smith asked for clearance to land, but he was advised of zero visibility.{{cite news |first=Joe |last=Richman |title=The Day A Bomber Hit The Empire State Building |url=https://www.npr.org/2008/07/28/92987873/the-day-a-bomber-hit-the-empire-state-building |quote=Eight months after the crash, the U.S. government offered money to families of the victims. Some accepted, but others initiated a lawsuit that resulted in landmark legislation. The Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, for the first time, gave American citizens the right to sue the federal government. |work=NPR |date=July 28, 2008 |access-date=July 28, 2008}} Proceeding anyway, he became disoriented by the fog and turned right instead of left after flying dangerously close to the Chrysler Building on East 42nd Street.
File:Bomber Crashed into Empire State Building 1945.jpg
At 9:40 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, making an {{convert|18|x|20|ft|m|adj=on}} hole in the building into the offices of the War Relief Services and the National Catholic Welfare Council. One engine shot through the south side opposite the impact, flew as far as the next block, dropped {{convert|900|ft}}, landed on the roof of a nearby building and caused a fire that destroyed a penthouse art studio. The other engine and part of the landing gear fell down an elevator shaft, severing its cables. The resulting fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. The Empire State Building fire is the highest structural fire to be brought under control by New York firefighters.{{cite web|url=http://nycaviation.com/2009/07/28/on-this-day-in-aviation-history-july-28th/|title=On This Day in Aviation History: July 28th|last=Molnar |first=Matt|publisher=NYCAviation|access-date=2009-07-28}}
Between 50 and 60 sightseers were on the 86th floor observation deck when the crash happened. Fourteen people were killed: Colonel Smith, Staff Sergeant Christopher Domitrovich, Navy Aviation Machinist's Mate Albert Perna, who was hitching a ride, and eleven civilians in the building. Perna's body was not found until two days later, when search crews discovered that his body had entered an elevator shaft and fallen to the bottom. The other two crewmen were burned beyond recognition.{{cite web |url=http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0311.shtml |title=B-25 Empire State Building Collision |website=Aerospaceweb.org |access-date=April 8, 2012}} Approximately 20 to 24 others were injured as a result of the crash.{{cite news |title=Two Probes Underway; 24 Injured |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120112596/two-probes-underway-24-injured/ |work=Sunday News |date=July 29, 1945 |access-date=March 3, 2023}}{{cite news |title=Crash Kills At Least 13 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120113013/crash-kills-at-least-13/ |agency=Associated Press |date=July 29, 1945 |access-date=March 3, 2023}} Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was thrown from her elevator car on the 80th floor and suffered severe burns. First aid workers placed her on another elevator car to transport her to the ground floor, but the cables supporting that elevator had been damaged in the incident, and it fell 75 stories, ending up in the basement.{{cite web |last1=Lynch |first1=Patrick |title=This Woman Cheated Death Twice on the Same Day After a 1945 Disaster |url=https://historycollection.co/cheat-death-twice-betty-lou-oliver-survived-75-storey-elevator-crash-plane-crashed-building/2/ |website=HistoryCollection.co |access-date=11 May 2020 |date=11 October 2017}} Oliver survived this 1,000 feet fall due to the softening cushion of air created by the falling elevator car within this elevator shaft; however, she had suffered a broken pelvis, back and neck when rescuers found her amongst the rubble. This remains the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.{{cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53746 |title=Longest Fall Survived In An Elevator |website=GuinnessWorldRecords.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317041607/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53746 |archive-date=March 17, 2006 }} The occupants of that elevator were rescued, in part, by Donald P. Molony.
Aftermath
Despite the damage and deaths, the building was open for business on many floors on the next Monday morning, less than 48 hours later. After the debris had been cleared away, Armand Hammer purchased the damaged 78th floor, refurbished it, and made it the headquarters of his United Distillers of America.{{Cite news |last=Fenton |first=James |date=2008-03-15 |title=Restoration and removal |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview14 |access-date=2023-03-14 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite magazine |date=1946-06-22 |title=Comment |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/06/29/comment-3390 |access-date=2023-03-14 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}
The crash spurred the passage of the long-pending Federal Tort Claims Act, which was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in August 1946, initiating retroactive provisions into the law and allowing people to sue the government for the accident.
On July 24, 1946, four days before the first anniversary of the crash, another aircraft narrowly missed striking the building. The unidentified twin-engine plane, described as bearing no military insignia, flew past the 68th floor, startling workers and tourists.{{cite news |date=July 25, 1946 |title=Plane Barely Misses Hitting Empire State |work=The Spokesman-Review (credited to Chicago Tribune Service)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120107405/plane-barely-misses-hitting-empire-state/|place=Spokane, Washington|access-date=March 3, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}
The events of the crash were the subject of an episode of the 2001 History channel documentary Disasters of the Century, "It Came from the Sky".{{cite web |title=It Came From the Sky – Disasters of the Century (Season 1, Episode 10) |url=https://tv.apple.com/ca/episode/it-came-from-the-sky/umc.cmc.1jm5d7q0vmscd3117ifhe0kp2?showId=umc.cmc.77xz93jcgs30qw68mjlxv6dl |website=Apple TV |access-date=31 January 2025}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://nycaviation.com/2009/07/28/on-this-day-in-aviation-history-july-28th/ On This Day in Aviation History: July 28th] – NYCAviation
- {{YouTube|cUlWpqLsOVs|Plane Hits Empire State Building}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20040715113106/http://www.eng.uab.edu/cee/faculty/ndelatte/case_studies_project/Bomber.htm Bomber Crash into Empire State Building], engineering case study calculating the impact force of the bomber (Archived from [http://www.eng.uab.edu/cee/faculty/ndelatte/case_studies_project/Bomber.htm the original] on 2004-07-15. Retrieved 2016-06-26.)
- {{Internet Archive short film|id=Pa2107Empire|name=Stillman Fires Collection: Empire State Building}}
- [http://watch.opb.org/video/2260080600/ Empire State Crash] – Video produced by the PBS Series History Detectives
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1945}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire State Building B-25 crash}}
Empire State Building B-25 crash
Category:Accidents and incidents involving military aircraft
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in New York City
Empire State Building B-25 crash
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving fog
Category:Commercial building fires in New York City
Empire State Building B-25 crash
Category:High-rise fires in the United States