On Saturday, July 28, 1945, Lieut. Col. William F. Smith
Jr. was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport
mission from Bedford Army Air Field to Newark Airport. Smith asked for
clearance to land, but was advised of zero visibility. Proceeding anyway, he
became disoriented by the fog, and started turning right instead of left after
passing the Chrysler Building.
At 9:40 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the north side of
the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, carving an
18-by-20-foot hole in the building. One engine shot through the south side
opposite the impact and flew as far as the next block, dropping 900 feet and
landing on the roof of a nearby building. The other engine and part of the
landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft.
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Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was injured when the
cables supporting her elevator sheared and the elevator fell 75 stories,
ending up in the basement. Oliver managed to survive the fall and rescuers
later found her amongst the rubble. This is record for the longest survived
elevator fall.*
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*There is a second version of the elevator fall in which
Betty Lou Oliver was found injured in the elevator and was being lowered in the
elevator when the cables failed. I do not believe this is a correct version.
Editors Note: For more interesting information about
elevators click on the label “Elevator” in the word cloud at the bottom of page
1 of John Smith’s Blog.
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| Betty Lou Oliver 5 months after the accident |
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