| Followers | 132 |
| Posts | 200805 |
| Boards Moderated | 19 |
| Alias Born | 12/16/2002 |
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 9:10:16 AM
BACK STORY Seventy years ago today, as World War II was nearing an end, a twin-engine B-25 bomber was on a personnel flight to La Guardia Airport in dense fog.
Trying to find his way instead to the airport in Newark in the blinding cloud, the pilot narrowly missed the Chrysler Building.
Damage to the Empire State Building 70 years ago today. Credit Bettmann/Corbis
A minute later, the plane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest office building.
The three plane occupants died, as did 11 workers in the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and dozens were injured. But the toll could have been far worse had it not been a Saturday morning.
“Brilliant orange flames shot as high as the observatory on the eighty-sixth floor of the building” above Fifth Avenue as the gas tanks exploded, The Times reported.
Miraculously, the building’s standpipes were intact, and the fire took only 40 minutes to extinguish.
And despite the crater in the tower’s north face, the building’s structural integrity remained intact.
The legacy of the crash is landmark 1946 legislation that for the first time gave Americans the right to sue the federal government.
Victoria Shannon contributed reporting.
Trying to find his way instead to the airport in Newark in the blinding cloud, the pilot narrowly missed the Chrysler Building.
Damage to the Empire State Building 70 years ago today. Credit Bettmann/Corbis
A minute later, the plane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest office building.
The three plane occupants died, as did 11 workers in the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and dozens were injured. But the toll could have been far worse had it not been a Saturday morning.
“Brilliant orange flames shot as high as the observatory on the eighty-sixth floor of the building” above Fifth Avenue as the gas tanks exploded, The Times reported.
Miraculously, the building’s standpipes were intact, and the fire took only 40 minutes to extinguish.
And despite the crater in the tower’s north face, the building’s structural integrity remained intact.
The legacy of the crash is landmark 1946 legislation that for the first time gave Americans the right to sue the federal government.
Victoria Shannon contributed reporting.
As Thoreau wrote, “The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
