Customer Reviews

The sky is falling

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I read this (library) book many years ago and have been trying to obtain a copy ever since. I can't agree with Blair (review above/below?), the pilot wasn't tired, he was extraordinarily arrogant and broke just about every aviation rule in the book in a doomed attempt to pick up his commanding officer from another airfield, in absolutely atrocious weather. If I remember right he was a highly decorated war hero named Colonel Smith. His actions cost the lives of many people, not just those in the aircraft but also many in the building - the story of the elevator operator that plummeted 78 floors after having the cables severed by one of the engines hurtling down a corridor is amazing - she went on to become a grandmother! Amazon.com, PLEASE find me a copy of this book!

On a foggy morning in July 1945, the B-25 Mitchell bomber Old John Feathermerchant, which had just returned from Europe, took off from what is now LaGuardia Airport in New York City, headed for Boston, Massachusetts, but instead, it crashed into the 79th Floor of the Empire State Building. A new novel? No, not exactly. The true story of the Old John Feathermerchant--the B-25 that crashed into the 79th Floor of the Empire State Building in July 1945. The pilot was tired, the crew had just returned from Europe and was headed home. All aboard were killed including a Navy Corpsman. It has concise reports and eyewitness testimony. Arthur Weingarten's 1977 book is concise and accurate. It's a good book. I should know. I read it back in the 1980s. Why didn't I read it sooner?

I re-read this book recently following the tragic events in New York on 11th September 2001. Some media reports have been suggesting that the crash of a B25 bomber into the Empire State Building in 1945 has close parallels with the WTC terrorist attacks, but the circumstanes and facts were very different
The B25, being flown by an ex B17 pilot who took extraordinary risks flying visually in thick fog, became lost and hit upper floors of the ESB at an acute angle and at a speed probably close to stalling, under 100mph. The plane weighed about 20 tons and the fuel tanks were under half full. Obviously the kinetic and explosive energy involved in this accident was much less than that suffereed by the WTC. Nevertheless there was a serious fire and substantial damage to the ESB, and the three plane crew and a dozen office workers were killed
The book is certainly worth reading but suffers from over-dramatisation of the events in the B25 during the final flight - of which there were obviously no surviving witnesses