Massachusetts-Based Bomber Crashed Into Empire State Building

The site of commercial airliners crashing into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 was no doubt traumatic, but it was not the first time a plane originating in Massachusetts crashed into a skyscraper in New York City.

The September 11 attacks, known to most as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States.

Four commercial airliners were hijacked on the morning of September 11, 2001 by 19 terrorists. Two of the hijacked flights originated from Boston Logan International Airport. The other flights originated from Dulles, outside Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey.

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In addition to the World Trade Center towers, hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In all, 2,977 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.

As stated, it wasn't the first time New Yorkers saw a skyscraper hit by a plane.

At 9:40 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United States Army Air Force crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building in New York City.

That flight originated at the Bedford Army Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith, Jr. of Watertown, Massachusetts piloted the routine personnel transport mission.

Thick fog prevented Smith from landing at New York's LaGuardia as scheduled.

After seeking permission from air traffic controllers to divert to Newark, New Jersey, Smith reportedly became disoriented by the fog. The bomber nearly missed hitting the Chrysler Building on East 42nd Street and crashed into the Empire State Building between the 78th and 80th floors.

The crash tore an 18-by-20-foot hole in the building. An engine from the plane traveled a city block and landed on a rooftop, starting a fire.

Three members of the flight crew including Smith were killed in the crash, as were 11 people on the ground. Twenty-four others were injured.