It was a Saturday morning in 1945. New York City was wrapped in a fog so thick you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. People on the ground heard the roar of engines, way too low, way too loud. Then, a bone-shaking thud. Most people today think of 9/11 when they imagine a plane hitting a skyscraper, but the Empire State Building plane crash happened decades earlier, on July 28, 1945. It wasn't an act of terror. It was a tragic, bizarre accident involving a B-25 Mitchell bomber and the world’s most famous office building.
The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith Jr., was a decorated veteran. He’d flown harrowing missions over Europe. But that morning, the "Old 597" was just trying to get from Bedford, Massachusetts, to Newark. Air traffic control warned him. They told him the visibility was zero. He ignored the advice to land at LaGuardia and pushed on.
He got lost. Simple as that.
The Moment of Impact: 79 Floors Up
Imagine being an office worker at the National Catholic Welfare Conference. You’re just starting your shift. Suddenly, the wall disappears. A twin-engine bomber, weighing about 10 tons, slams into the 78th and 79th floors at 200 miles per hour.
The 18-by-20-foot hole was massive. One engine tore straight through the building, exited the other side, and landed on a penthouse across the street. The other engine and part of the landing gear tumbled down an elevator shaft.
High-octane fuel exploded.
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Basically, the 79th floor became a furnace. Fire cascaded down the stairwells. People were trapped. In total, 14 people died—three on the plane and eleven in the building. It sounds like a small number compared to modern tragedies, but for 1945, it was an absolute nightmare that gripped the nation.
The Miracle of Betty Lou Oliver
You can’t talk about the Empire State Building plane crash without mentioning Betty Lou Oliver. Honestly, her story sounds like a tall tale, but it’s 100% documented. Betty was an elevator operator. When the plane hit, she was badly burned. Rescuers, trying to help, put her into an elevator to send her down to the ground for medical care.
They didn't realize the cables had been shredded by the plane's engine.
The cable snapped. Betty Lou fell 75 stories in a free-fall.
She lived.
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The air pressure in the narrow shaft and the severed cables coiling at the bottom acted like a spring, cushioning the impact just enough to save her life. She holds the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall. She went home a few months later. Crazy, right?
Why the Building Didn't Collapse
People often ask why the Empire State Building stayed standing while the Twin Towers fell. It comes down to engineering and the nature of the fire.
The Empire State Building is a "heavy" building. It’s built with a massive steel frame encased in stone and concrete. It was designed to take lateral loads that 1940s engineers couldn't even fully calculate yet. The B-25 was also much smaller than a modern commercial jet.
- B-25 Bomber: Weight ~20,000 lbs, Fuel ~800 gallons.
- Boeing 767 (9/11): Weight ~300,000 lbs, Fuel ~10,000+ gallons.
The fire in 1945 was intense, but it didn't have the volume of fuel needed to soften the heavy steel girders to the point of structural failure. Firefighters actually got the blaze under control in about 40 minutes. It remains one of the highest structural fires ever successfully extinguished by a fire department.
A Legacy of Resilience
The building opened for business on the floors not affected by the fire just two days later. That’s the New York attitude for you. They didn't wait. They just kept moving.
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The cost of the damage was around $1 million, which would be over $16 million today. The accident led to the passage of the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946. Before this, you couldn't really sue the federal government for accidents like this. The victims' families fought for the right to hold the military accountable for the pilot's error, changing American law forever.
Lessons from the Fog
We still learn from this. It changed how we think about urban flight paths and building codes. If you ever visit the Empire State Building, look up at the 78th and 79th floors. The limestone was replaced, but the history is still there, baked into the stone.
If you want to dig deeper into this event or see how it compares to modern aviation safety, here are the best steps to take:
- Visit the Empire State Building Observatory: They have a permanent historical exhibit on the 86th floor that details the construction and the 1945 crash with archival photos.
- Research the Federal Tort Claims Act: If you're into law or history, looking up the case Adams v. United States gives a chilling look at the legal battle following the tragedy.
- Check the National Archives: You can find the original Army Air Forces accident report (Report No. 45-7-28-502) which breaks down the pilot's navigation errors in clinical, haunting detail.
The Empire State Building plane crash is a reminder that even the most iconic landmarks are vulnerable to human error, but also that they—and we—are remarkably good at standing back up.