B-25 crash, Empire State Building

[pjpahs]

Just watched PBS History Detectives show about the B-25 crash into the Empire State Building and they stated that the great destruction was caused by the aircraft carrying "6000 gallons of aviation fuel". I had to watch it again online to be sure that is what was said. Looking up the B-25 on WIKI I found that empty, the AC weighed about 20,000 lbs. and max takeoff is about 35,000 lbs.. From what I could find on max. fuel in a B-25 is about 975 gallons and at about 6.2 lbs per gallon thats only 6045 lbs.. 6000 gal. would weigh 37,200 lbs., a lot more than max takeoff weight. I'm thinking that maybe the fuel load was under 6000 lbs. Sometimes I hear things on TV programs that just don't sound right.

[P51Mstg]

If you don't listen too close, TV is a lot better.........

Mark H

[The Inspector]

413077 'Old John Feather Merchant' it's been a discussion subject here a few times.

[Lynn Allen]

If you don't listen too close, TV is a lot better.........

Mark H

What he said....

[JohnB]

Especially "History detectives".

Hardly detective work...they ask questions anyone with half a brain would ask. It's just that being on TV, people have to answer them.

[Craig59]

There's a great book about the accident, The Sky is Falling, by Arthur Weingarten - 1977. Classic tale - pilot error, getthereitis.

[APG85]

I might be mistaken but I believe it sent an elevator plunging down 78 floors after having the cables severed by one of the engines hurtling down a corridor and a person survived the fall. I think you can also see "marks" on the building surface from impact damage to this day...

[Chris Brame]

Actress/model Gloria Pall, who was in the building when the plane hit, has passed away at age 85. Her website has this account of the crash:

http://www.gloriapall.com/empireb25.htm

Obituary here (the part about her brief run as TV movie hostess "Voluptua" is pretty funny):

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 8763.story

[Dave Downs]

If you don't listen too close, TV is a lot better.........

Mark H

And don't watch too closely either; saw a documentary on P-40's - showed a P-51A.........

[The Inspector]

If you don't listen too close, TV is a lot better.........

Mark H

And don't watch too closely either; saw a documentary on P-40's - showed a P-51A.........

I really love the 4 cylinder diesel farm tractor engine sounds used in a lot of 'documentaries' for taxiing aircraft

[Steve Nelson]

I was watching some show yesterday with a brief bit about heavy airlifters. It was refreshing to see them talk about C-46s flying The Hump, with correct footage no less. But they followed it by talking about the "Fairchild C-19"..among the footage of Flying Boxcars, they managed to sneak in a clip of some B-25s (the Mitchells were blurry and in silhouette, so I guess I can cut them a bit of slack.)

SN

[PlanesOfThePast]

I remember my dad, a WWII Navy vet, talking about seeing the hole in the building from the crash. I wish I remembered more about his account of the situation

[ffuries]

Yeah I know a Necropost.........

Watched a show recently called "Unearthed" Season 5 Episode 2, " Empire State Building: The New Secrets" that showed actual footage following the crash. They stated one engine went all the way through the building, and the other ended up in the elevator shaft. Was interesting and I remember there was a conversation on WIX about the incident.

The episode mentioned originally aired in 2019, but with COVID-19 crud going on, I had to find something to watch that I hadn't seen a 100 times already. So I watched several episodes of this series, as I have never seen them before.