It struck the 58th floor of the building at about 8:10 PM, creating a 20-by-10-foot hole in the masonry, and killing all five aboard the plane, including a WAC officer. The fuselage and the wing of the splintered plane fell and caught onto the 12th story ledge.
Fog and low visibility were identified as the main causes of the crash.
The building is significant as one that was in the race, and temporarily won, the title of worlds tallest building, while contending with the architects of the Woolworth Building and the Chrysler Building project, all three were completed and lost out to the Empire State Building
The 40 Wall Street tower was revised from 840 feet to 925 feet in April 1929, making it the world's tallest. (This distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower.)
Construction of 40 Wall Street began in May 1929 at a frantic pace, and it was completed twelve months later.
In response, the Chrysler's architect William Van Alen obtained permission for a 125 ft long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building.
On October 23, 1929, the day before the catastrophic Wall Street Crash of 1929 started, the spire was hoisted and riveted in 90 minutes, helping raise the tower's height to 1,046 feet. The steel tip brought the Chrysler Building to a height of 1,046 feet, greatly exceeding 40 Wall Street's height. Once completed on May 28, 1930, the Chrysler Building surpassed 40 Wall Street as the tallest building in the world, fulfilling Chrysler's dream. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/walter-chrysler-brief-note-about.html
Upset by Chrysler's victory, the consulting architects of 40 Wall Street, wrote a newspaper article claiming that their building was the tallest, since it contained the world's highest usable floor. They pointed out that the observation deck in the Bank of Manhattan Building was nearly 100 feet above the top floor in the Chrysler Building, whose surpassing spire was strictly ornamental and essentially inaccessible.
This became a moot point when the Empire State Building was completed eleven months later in May 1931, becoming the world's tallest building in both of those categories, at 1,250 feet
Unless you were around and paying attention to the international news, you'd have not known about the corrupt tyrant running the country of the Philippines... and it's a side note now in history, but in 1982, President Marcos of the Philippines, purchased the leasing rights of 40 Wall Street.
That made a mess of things when his assets were seized when he was cast out of office, and fled the country he'd held in martial law for a dozen years while getting 5-10 billion dollars out, and since he was smart enough to store that in American banks, the USA politicians gladly welcomed him to stay and invest. He'd probably learned his lesson from the ruler of Cuba that was ousted by Castro, get the money out before you're kicked out, and keep it all.
Ironically, Donald Trump then bought the building, or leasing rights, whatever... to 40 Wall Street, and renamed it the Trump Tower.
Summed up, building contending to be the worlds tallest, is the 2nd in NYC to be run into by a plane, and has been owned or run by 2 presidents. Crazy story huh!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_Wall_Street#1946_plane_crash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
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