Plane Crash At 40 Wall Street (1946)

United News Newsreel

On the evening of May 20, 1946, a United States Army Air Forces C-45 Beechcraft airplane crashed into the north side of the building. The twin-engined plane was heading for Newark Airport on a flight originating at Lake Charles Army Air Field in Louisiana. It struck the 58th floor of the building at approximately 8:10 PM, creating a 20 by 10-foot (3.0 m) hole in the masonry, and killing all five aboard the plane, including a WAC officer. Fog and low visibility were identified as the main causes of the crash. At the time of the accident, LaGuardia Field reported a heavy fog that reduced the ceiling to 500 feet (150 m), obscuring the view of the ground for the pilot at the building's 58th story level. Upon impact, several parts of the aircraft, along with pieces of brick and mortar from the building, fell into the street below. However, there were no reported injuries of any of the estimated 2,000 workers in the building, nor anyone on the street.

This crash at 40 Wall Street was only the second of its kind in New York City's history, the first being when an Army B-25 bomber struck the 78th floor of the Empire State Building in July of the year before. The cause of that crash was also fog and poor visibility.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_Wall_Street

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• The
• Plane
• Crash
• At
• 40
• Wall
• Street
• (1946)
• new
• york
• skyscraper
• United
• States
• Army
• Air
• Forces
• C-45
• Beechcraft
• airboyd
• #airboydtv
• airboyd.tv
• Bank
• of
• Manhattan
• yt:quality=high

[CheifPontiac1]

Awesome Thank you for posting this. The Pilot Mansel Campbell was my Great Uncle. A picture of him hung in my Great Grandmothers living room, he was her younger brother. There has not been much about this crash on the net. My Father has the original news articles. Like the comments below it is typically confused with the Empire crash. Mansel flew nearly 80 Sorties in WW2. He had attempted two other landings at small airfields and was trying to find Newark.

[marvelfannumber1]

I have read about the 40 wall street plane crash but never seen footage. Thanks for sharing =)

[strafrag1]

@strafrag1 happy you liked that info. Mom recalls that day often. She's now 87. Cheers!

[silvereagle2061]

@strafrag1 Thats a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing that.

[strafrag1]

@silvereagle2061 no, the Empire State building crash was in July 1945 when a US military aircraft struck the building on a foggy Saturday morning. My mother was working for New York Rubber Co in the building at the time on the 54th floor. The plane hit the 79th floor. She said she thought the Japanese were bombing the city (the war with Germany was already over).

[jeffhanson1]

@MrRockoutLoud New York has only has a few accidental plane into building incidents. A few other cities have had it happen too. As far as the terrorist attack, is that a serious question? Obviously New York is the biggest symbol of Americana and American civilization in the world. That's why it was chosen by Bin Laden.

[silvereagle2061]

Opps that answers my question lol

[silvereagle2061]

Isn't this the famous Empire State Building crash?

[MrRockoutLoud]

why is it that New York has the most planes flying into buildings?! damn terrorists and poor navigation techniques

[Lockbar]

Interesting. Heard about the B-25 crash many years ago, but never about this one. You keep finding wild stuff.