The B-25 Mitchell bomber, with two pilots and one passenger aboard, was flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As it came into the metropolitan area on that Saturday morning, the fog was particularly thick. Air-traffic controllers instructed the plane to fly to Newark Airport instead.
This new flight plan took the plane over Manhattan; the crew was specifically warned that the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the city at the time, was not visible. The bomber was flying relatively slowly and quite low, seeking better visibility, when it came upon the Chrysler Building in midtown. It swerved to avoid the building to the right instead of to the left, the move sending it straight into the north side of the Empire State Building, near the 79th floor at 9:40 am
Upon impact, the plane’s fuel exploded, filling the interior of the building with flames all the way down to the 75th floor and sending flames out of the hole the plane had ripped open in the building’s side. One engine from the plane went straight through the building and landed in a penthouse apartment across the street. Other plane parts ended up embedded in and on top of nearby buildings. The other engine snapped an elevator cable while at least one woman was riding in the elevator car.
The emergency auto brake saved the woman from crashing to the bottom, but the engine fell down the shaft and landed on top of it. Quick-thinking rescuers pulled the woman from the elevator, saving her life.
Since it was a Saturday, fewer workers than normal were in the building. Only 11 people in the building were killed, some suffering burns from the fiery jet fuel and others after being thrown out of the building. All 11 victims were workers from War Relief Services department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, into the offices of which the plane had crashed. The three people on the plane were also killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/plane-crashes-into-empire-state-building
https://swarfs.tumblr.com/image/178573083034
more photos at https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/07/27/remembering-the-1945-empire-state-building-plane-crash Thanks George!
I was totally unaware, as I am sure most people were, that the B25 used Jet Fuel.
ReplyDeleteNo idea. I find a story, a photo, a video, I copy, I paste, and then what? People find things to either ask about or gripe about.
DeleteAs far as I know, jets use jet fuel, airplanes with pistons use avgas. Avgas is what I use in my 69 Dodge, it's just high octane low knock gasoline
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Deletehey Mike.... look at the screen in front of you carefully. Up top. see that URL? That means you're on my playground.
DeleteI get to explain things how I like. Oh, it's not the way you think I should? really? Do you think I woke up this morning to please you? Hey Mike? Shut the fuck up. Now.
confrontational? Strap in sparky, today's going to be a rough ride.
DeleteUpon impact, the plane’s jet fuel exploded????? B25 uses Avgas.
ReplyDeleteNo idea. I find a story, a photo, a video, I copy, I paste, and then what? People find things to either ask about or gripe about.
DeleteAs far as I know, jets use jet fuel, airplanes with pistons use avgas. Avgas is what I use in my 69 Dodge, it's just high octane low knock gasoline
It wasn't jet fuel, of course, but avgas. Much more volatile, but in a situation such as that, probably not alot different.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad told me the story when I was a little guy.
No idea. I find a story, a photo, a video, I copy, I paste, and then what? People find things to either ask about or gripe about.
DeleteAs far as I know, jets use jet fuel, airplanes with pistons use avgas. Avgas is what I use in my 69 Dodge, it's just high octane low knock gasoline
There's a great first hand story of this accident.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.radiodiaries.org/the-plane-that-flew-into-the-empire-state-building/
I may well be wrong but I understand that this incident was the first occasion in which Otis's elevator brake system was used in anger (i.e. the first time that ALL the cables failed).
ReplyDeleteTony
I read about it, and the woman in the elevator, and the number of floors she dropped... but I left that out of the post as it's detracting from the airplane vs building story. I wanted to get more of the parts that fell from the plane, but I ran out of time. Years later they found a tire from the plane between buildings when another building was torn down, as the space wasn't accessible until then
Delete