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Building DisastersThe day a B-25 bomber collided with the Empire State Building
The New York Times, on July 28, 1945 reported, "A twin-engine B-25 Army bomber, lost in a blinding fog, crashed into the Empire State Building today at a point 975 feet above the street level. Thirteen persons, including the three occupants of the plane died..." The pilot, an experienced bomber pilot just returned from the war in Europe, made a navigation error, resulting in a collision course with the most famous skyscraper in the world. Lieutenant Colonel Smith, was a decorated veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps campaign against the German war machine. He had flown more than 50 missions over Europe, and was now on his way back home. Flying low over Manhattan, in poor weather, he realized he was grossly off course. He flew near St. Patrick's Cathedral, then made an abrupt turn over Rockefeller Center. Banking sharply left, then right again, he found himself flying almost straight down Fifth Avenue. He passed the N.Y. Public Library, only about seven blocks from the world's tallest building. But obscured in fog as he was, it was impossible to foresee the disastrous collision ahead. And so, at 9:55 am on July 28, 1945, Smith's B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, collided with the Empire State Building at the 79th floor level. Almost unspeakable horror confronted the many New York City firefighters and volunteers who, arriving on the scene, attempted to make sense of the catastrophe while trying to save the survivors from the fire raging on the 79th floor.
All modern elevators are designed with safety devices (see Elevator Glossary). Even with all hoist cables on a traction elevator severed, the elevator can still be brought to a safe stop. However, the safety depends on an intact governor cable. The engine also sliced this cable. The car was now in a true free fall. In the history of the modern elevator, this was a singular event. Unfortunately, the elevator was occupied at the time by the elevator operator, Betty Lou Oliver (These were not automatic elevators). She was at the 79th floor level when the hoist cables were cut, almost 1000 feet above the sub-basement. A young, 17 year old Coast Guardsman, Donald Molony, standing in the lobby of the Empire State Building, heard a strange sound which appeared to be coming his way. Another elevator operator, John Monte, in elevator number 8, also heard an unusual sound. Both men soon realized it was the howling voice of a woman - coming at them. The sounds ended in an explosion - now below them! They rushed to the sub-basement, where others were now gathering to find a demolished, almost unrecognizable elevator cab. All high speed elevators have special oil filled buffer mechanisms in the pit designed to cushion the impact of a car that might contact them. But none could possibly be designed to withstand the forces of a free-falling elevator. The elevator cab impaled itself upon this oil buffer, forcing the buffer up through the cab and out the top of the car. Betty Lou Oliver, having been weightless for most of the plunge, ended up in a corner of the elevator car. Molony scrambled down through a mass of rubble, brick, cables and steel around the elevator car. He was surprised to find her still alive. It was almost impossible to believe that anyone could have survived the plunge. Betty had broken both legs and her back. Yet she recovered from her injuries in only eight months. She returned to her home in Arkansas with her husband, where she lives to this day. She became the mother of three children and the grandmother of at least four others. ElevatorPro.com, in an effort to update the story, contacted Mrs. Oliver. She is now in her 70's. We were curious to hear the words, any words, from this most unusual survivor. "Are you Betty Lou Oliver, the woman that survived the Empire State Building elevator accident?" we asked upon finally locating her. "Could you please share a bit of your memories with us?" we asked. Her response in carefully measured words, with a thick southern accent, were.... "I don't talk about it anymore...I just forgot everything about it." Story and photos by Jim Boxmeyer (This article is based on information contained in the book, "The Sky Is Falling," by Arthur Weingarten. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, 1977) Copyright
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Few incidents
involving landmark New York City buildings have
captivated so many or brought so many to the rescue. The September 11th
terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center is still fresh in our minds. But another event has almost faded from our memories. It
was the fulfillment of our worst fears: the collision of
two technologies vying for the same space. The modern
aircraft and that modern technological wonder, the
skyscraper.
When colonel Smith's
plane, nicknamed Old John Feather Merchant,
collided with the Empire State Building, highly volatile
gasoline poured into the building, immediately igniting
with explosive force. The aircraft was powered by two
Pratt and Whitney radial engines. These engines, weighing
2,700 pounds each, along with the heavy landing gear,
punched through the exterior art deco facade of the
building at a speed of perhaps 200 miles per hour. One
engine entered the hoistway of elevator number 7 in G
bank and crashed against the base of the elevator. The
engine entered the adjacent hoistway of elevator number 6
slicing through the six steel hoist cables.