Empire State Building Secret #2: A Plane Flew Into It
Army combat veteran and pilot Lieutenant Colonel William Smith was flying a B-52 bomber to LaGuardia Airport on July 28m, 1945, when he lost his bearings in heavy fog. Despite his best efforts and a few near-misses of other skyscrapers, he hit the 78th and 79th floor of the Empire State Building. There was an explosion, and petrol from the plane lit some floors on fire.
A piece of the engine cut into the elevator shaft and through cables on two elevator cars. The cars dropped from the 75th floor to the subbasement, a drop of over one thousand feet. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver miraculously survived the drop, the car perhaps being cushioned by severed cables coiled at the bottom of the shaft or a buildup of compressed air from the rapid drop. The crash killed Smith, his crew, and eleven people inside the building.
