75 years ago a B-25 bomber collided with the Empire State Building
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On July 28th, 1945, a North American Mitchell B-25 bomber
was on a transport flight from Massachusetts to Newark airport
when the crew of three encountered heavy fog over New York City
and collided with the Empire State Building in Manhattan
It's a standard case of Controlled Flight Into Terrain...
...where an air-worthy aircraft under pilot control is unintentionally flown into an obstacle
The crew is unaware of the looming disaster until it's too late...
... and in this case the pilot became disoriented in the fog...
...and ultimately ran into the side of the Empire State Building...
...killing 14 people
But if we're just meeting for the first time, my name is Ken Stano
and I am a World War II historian, as well as a mechanical engineer and pilot
It was a Saturday morning, approximately 9:40 am, and World War II was just coming to a close
The flight had a crew of three, including 27-year-old Lieutenant Colonel William Smith
Smith was due to pick up his commanding officer at Newark Airport
Now Lieutenant Colonel Smith, he was an experienced pilot
He had logged over a thousand combat hours and 42 combat missions over in Europe...
...so this transport flight should have been nothing but routine
Now as he was approaching New York City...
...his flight path to Newark was to take him north of Manhattan
Communications with the tower, at what is currently known as LaGuardia Airport...
...informed Smith that the visibility was practically zero, low to zero...
...and the ceiling height was approximately 600 feet
Fatefully, the tower also made the comment that...
...they could not currently see the top of the Empire State Building
The tower that was in communication with Lieutenant Colonel Smith also...
...contacted a group called Army Advisory, who stated that the conditions at Newark...
...appeared to be a little bit better than what were being observed at LaGuardia
With Smith being the pilot, the decision was ultimately his to make
He ignored the tower's report and proceeded on to Newark
However, it seems likely he became disoriented in the fog...
...mistook the East River to be the Hudson River...
...and made his turn, a course leading him straight towards the Empire State Building
The skies were definitely overcast...
...and the temperature was approximately 66 degrees at that time in the morning
As I said before, LaGuardia was reporting heavy fog; ceiling at approximately 600 feet
Now let's take a closer look at the flight path
Witness accounts state that the B-25 bomber...
...passed the east side of the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center
That witness account was made from a 38th story window...
...stating that the plane was at approximately the same level
38 floors: That translates to approximately 450 feet AGL, above ground level
As he passed by the 38th floor window...
witnesses also stated that it appeared the bomber had begun a steep climb
Witness accounts also had the plane passing by the west side of the Chrysler Building...
...altitude unknown, but it's safe to assume the speed for...
...the plane at this particular point was approximately 200 miles an hour
The B-25 bomber and the crew of three impacted the Empire State Building...
...between the 78th and 79th floors
That's a height above ground level of approximately 913 feet, so...
...from the point the plane passed the RCA building at Rockefeller Center at approximately 450 feet...
...that means the plane, between that point and the point of impact at the Empire State Building...
...would've had to have climbed an additional height of 463 feet
That must have put the plane well into that cloud layer
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My name is Ken Stano
Thank you for checking out History X