It appears that the pilot used poor judgment, Arnold wrote, adding that Smith did not maintain the altitude and did not have the minimum visibility to go to Newark. Unfortunately, less than a year later it happened again. 15 memorials Lucille Ann Bath 1926 - 28 Jul 1945 Mount Saint Mary Cemetery Flushing, Queens County, New York, USA Plot info: Section: 010 | Row: 018 Grave 55 W Paul Dearing Grabbing his first-aid kit, he began climbing the stairs. Inside, there was chaos as shocked employees tried to flee as soon as possible. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. On the morning of Saturday, July 28, 1945, the Army Air Corps pilot crashed his Mitchell B-25 bomber into the 78th and 79th floor of the Empire State Building, CBS News recalled. When the plane hit, parts of the engine flew ahead and severed the lifting cables of two elevators on the 79th floor, according to Weingarten. Mayor LaGuardia Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. Before using any images from this site, please review ourTerms and Conditions. First, a plane crashed into the Empire State Building where she worked and then, the elevator she was on plunged 75 stories and for a moment, Betty must have thought she was falling into eternal darkness. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited pilot error and improper de-icing procedures as causes of the crash. He had been warned by the LaGuardia Tower that the top of the Empire State Building could not be seen. Colonel William Smith was trying to reach Newark Airport. Construction began 200 days later on March 17, 1930. "It threw me across the room, and I landed against the wall. In 1985, the 14th Street Bridge was renamed in honor of Arland Williams,. In response to one critical letter to the mayor, Goodhue Livingston Jr., LaGuardias executive secretary, noted that if the pilot had maintained the proper altitude when flying over Manhattan the accident would not have occurred. Just five months later while still recovering, Betty returned to the scene with an elevator inspector who was astonished at her guts for agreeing to travel in an elevator after her ordeal. As it came into the metropolitan area on that Saturday morning, the fog was particularly thick. Empire State Building B-24 Crash - 1945 - Devastating Disasters Although there are more fun ways to end up in the Guinness Book of Records, Bettys name was added for the unlikely feat of longest survived elevator fall; a record she still holds today. Though the events of that day have largely faded from public memory, they remain etched in the minds of those who experienced them. One of the plane's engines shot through the building to the other side, landing in sculptor Henry Hering's penthouse across the street, destroying about $75,000 worth of art. Plane Hits Empire State Building - YouTube Capt. Eight months later, the U.S. Government offered money to the families of the victims. For being the height of summer, the day was unusually dreary and foggy. At the 70th floor, he found three injured people and carried them, one at a time, down to the 67th floor for further treatment. The Archives holds a July 31 story in the Daily Mirror that lent an eerie quality to the story. , Other. November 5, 2021. events, and resources. Seeing her rescuer in the dim light of the elevator car, she murmured, Thank God the Navys here! What happened next was a Greek tragedy composed of many acts, all compressed into a few seconds. One of the plane engines crashed almost 1,000 feet below, while the other landed on the penthouse on the roof of a 12-story building a street over, according to the newsreel. Only 11 people in the building were killed, some suffering burns from the fiery fuel and others after being thrown out of the building. When he saw the B-25 hit the building, he knew there would be casualties. On July 28, 1945, residents of New York City were horrified when an airplane crashed into the Empire State Building, leaving 14 dead. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Your presence at the scene with its attendant acceptance of the risks and rigors of the situation was very impressive and gave testimony to the cooperation that this department has received from you during past years., Miraculously, elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived the 75-story elevator shaft plunge, in what the Guinness Book of Records would later proclaim The Longest Fall Survived in an Elevator. Soon after the horrific accident, as firefighters were still rushing up to the 77th floor to fight the blaze, Army Lt. General Ira Eaker, Deputy Commander of the Army Air Forces, fired off a hand-delivered note to Mayor LaGuardia to express the concern of the Army Air Forces for the unfortunate accident which occurred at the Empire State Building this morning., He vowed to cooperate with city and federal agencies to ensure a complete and thorough investigation of the circumstances It is our keenest desire that everything humanly possible be done for those who have suffered in this unfortunate and regrettable accident and we shall leave nothing undone which lies in our power to that end.. Forgotten History: The Empire State Building Plane Crash Despite being over 20 floors from the impact, it was strong enough to throw her across the room. On July 28, 1945, residents of New York City were horrified when an airplane crashed into the Empire State Building, leaving 14 dead. The startled clerk handed him the largest first-aid kit he had, a quantity of morphine, a syringe, and several needles. One engine from the plane went straight through the building and landed in a penthouse apartment across the street. It was the waning days of World War II, and a B-25 bomber was flying a routine mission ferrying servicemen from Massachusetts to New York City's LaGuardia Airport. A third fire had developed in the basement and sub-basement of the Empire Building itself.. Remarkably, Betty survived her second ordeal of the day with an extraordinary amount of luck by all accounts. On July 28, 1945 A B-25 military bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York. Empire State Building Disaster: Interior, 79th Fl. Sebastian County, Firemen walking through rubble in rear. New York, The tower then cleared him to land at Newark, but noted they were unable to see the top of the Empire State Building and warned the pilot that if he did not have three miles of forward visibility, he should return to LaGuardia. Unfortunately, they didnt know that the cables on the elevator had been weakened in the crash. With his view distorted, he was instructed to land at Newark Airport instead. He took the elevator girls arms. The city was going about its business shortly before 10 a.m., when a US Army bomber plane carrying a pilot and two other men from Bedford, Massachusetts to LaGuardia Airport made a wrong turn and slammed into the north side of the Empire State Building about 935 feet above the street. Following Nazi Germanys collapse, the group had returned to the United States in June 1945, and was in the process of reassembling at Bradley Field, the Army air base in Sioux Falls, in preparation for retraining in B-29s and possible deployment to the Pacific. A B-25 Mitchell Bomber, similar to the one the flew into the Empire State Building. There was panic. The three crewmembers and 13 others were killed instantly, and a body was found seven stories down, according to the newsreel. Other plane parts ended up embedded in and on top of nearby buildings. One of the those injured was Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver, who was working on the 80th floor when the plane struck. The impact tore an 18 by 20-foot hole in the outer wall. Gee, it makes a man feel big and important to have a son like ours.. 15 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. And I thought I won't be around to have them, someone else might as well have use out of them. Above the 70th floor, he encountered pools of fuel and oil, cascades of water coming down the stairs (some of the firemen had taken the still-operable elevators up to the 78th and 79th floors and were dousing the fires), scorched walls, and a thick, choking smoke. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, she was certain it was all over for everyone on the floor. 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. Smith allowed another serviceman, a 20-year-old U.S. Navy Aviation Machinists Mate named Albert G. Perna, to hitch a last-minute ride from Boston to the New York area. Her husband died in 1986, and according to her obituary, Betty died in Fort Smith, Arizona on November 24, 1999. The fire trapped hundreds of office workers, including Willig and Pall. At the time the B-25 bomber slammed into the Empire State Building, an engineer for the American Society of Civil Engineers happened to be dictating a letter onto a recording device. Willig said a man on the street below saw the office workers trapped in the building and signaled to them to stay where they were. Arnold, Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, backed up LaGuardia. Plane crashes into Empire State Building - History As it transpired, the thousand feet of elevator cable had broken away and fallen to the bottom of the shaft before Betty landed. Still not done with his mission of mercy, he made it to the 79th floor and helped the firemen and others in the grim task of retrieving the bodies, most of whom were burned beyond recognition. We have set your language to National Interest Newsletter. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Eight months after the crash, the U.S. government offered money to families of the victims. Fearing that the collision took place at or near the level of their offices, they began sprinting toward the disaster. The left wing was sheared off and sailed down into Madison Avenue, a block away. He helped her crawl through the opening, then helped the man out. Within two minutes, this plane showed up directly southeast of LaGuardia and (LaGuardia Tower chief Operator Victor) Barden believing it intended to land, gave it runway, wind direction and velocity, the memo read. During its more than one year of combat service from its base at Glatton, England, the group had flown 235 missions, the last one being on Hitlers birthday, April 20, 1945. At the moment that Captain Smith crashed the plane into the Empire State Building, Betty Lou Oliver was working on the 80th floor as an elevator attendant. Miraculously, Betty Lou survived with only a broken pelvis, back, and neck to complain about. Offices; charred bodies on desk in background. He had been on the 62nd floor when the building was rocked by the collision. Pall later admitted that she had no idea what happened 23 floors up until she was out of the building and saw the tail of a B-25 bomber sticking out of the building. While someone had managed to open a window and Willig used a handkerchief to protect her from the smoke, several women passed out from the fumes. What caused the crash to occur? On west side of the 80th floor, less than 10 feet from where the plane had imbedded itself in the building, another drama was taking place. Fourteen people died in the crash and the fire that followed: Colonel Smith and the 2 others in the plane, and 11 in what was then the world's tallest building. Empire State Building Disaster: Interior, 12:40 pm; 79th Floor, showing hole in wall where plane crashed, July 28, 1945. Empire State Building | Height, Construction, History, & Facts The day was foggy. Smith, with no navigator on board and, erroneously believing that he was west of Manhattan over the Hudson River when, in fact, he was over the East River and heading into the heart of Manhattan, set a southwest course for what he thought was Newark. 12:55 pm, July 28, 1945. Department of Finance Tax Photo Collection.