Editing Empire State Building (section)

===1945 plane crash===
{{Main|1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash|l1=B-25 Empire State Building crash}}
[[File:Bomber Crashed into Empire State Building 1945.jpg|thumb|upright|Wreckage from the [[1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash]]|alt=A black-and-white photo of airplane wreckage embedded in the facade, high up]]

At 9:40&nbsp;am on July 28, 1945, a [[B-25 Mitchell]] bomber, piloted in thick fog by Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith Jr.,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.457thbombgroup.org/New/750thSquad.html |title=750th Squadron 457th Bombardment Group: Officers&nbsp;– 1943 to 1945 |access-date=April 6, 2009 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031115007/http://www.457thbombgroup.org/New/750thSquad.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors (then the offices of the [[National Catholic Welfare Council]]).{{sfn|Jackson|2010|pp=413–414}}<ref name="Reynolds p. 291" /> One engine completely penetrated the building, landing on the roof of a nearby building where it started a fire that destroyed a penthouse.<ref name="UPI 1969">{{cite web |title=Upper Floors of Tallest Building Blazing Inferno |work=United Press International |date=December 31, 1969 |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1945/07/28/Upper-floors-of-tallest-building-blazing-inferno/9111501037185/ |access-date=December 4, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/07/29/284668382.pdf |title=Crash Fire Ruins Sculptor's Studio; Photo-Diagram Of The Plane Crash |date=July 29, 1945 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=October 24, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="McGovern 1982">{{Cite news |last=McGovern |first=Tom |date=September 19, 1982 |title=Thick Fog, An Errant Turn, Then Disaster |pages=35 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115221215/thick-fog-an-errant-turn-then/ |access-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226233121/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115221215/thick-fog-an-errant-turn-then/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The other engine and part of the landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft, causing a fire that was extinguished in 40&nbsp;minutes. Fourteen people were killed in the incident.{{sfn|Berman|Museum of New York City|2003|p=86}}<ref name="Bartlett 1976"/><ref name="McGovern 1982" /> Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver fell 75 stories and survived, which still holds the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness World Record]] for the longest survived elevator fall recorded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53746 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317041607/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53746 |archive-date=March 17, 2006 |title=Longest Fall Survived in an Elevator |publisher=Guinness World Records |access-date=October 11, 2010 }}</ref>

Despite the damage and loss of life, many floors were open two days later.{{sfn|Berman|Museum of New York City|2003|p=86}}<ref name="Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1945"/> The crash helped spur the passage of the long-pending [[Federal Tort Claims Act]] of 1946, as well as the insertion of retroactive provisions into the law, allowing people to sue the government for the incident.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Day A Bomber Hit The Empire State Building |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92987873 |publisher=NPR |access-date=July 28, 2008 |archive-date=July 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706075155/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92987873 |url-status=live }}</ref> Also as a result of the crash, the [[Civil Aeronautics Administration (United States)|Civil Aeronautics Administration]] enacted strict regulations regarding flying over New York City, setting a minimum flying altitude of {{convert|2500|ft|m}} above sea level regardless of the weather conditions.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=330}}{{sfn|Berman|Museum of New York City|2003|p=86}}

A year later, on July 24, 1946, another airplane narrowly missed striking the building. The unidentified twin-engine plane scraped past the observation deck, frightening the tourists there.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/07/26/88375043.pdf |title=Empire State Plane Still Not Identified |date=July 26, 1946 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=October 21, 2017 }}</ref>