Empire State Building
Art Deco skyscraper with observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors, opened in 1931.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Empire State Building in New York City returns to a foggy Saturday morning in 1945, when a B-25 bomber pilot named Lieutenant Colonel William Smith flew blind into the building's north side, killing fourteen people and barely denting its steel frame. You'll meet Betty Lou Oliver, a twenty-year-old elevator operator badly burned in the blast, whom rescuers placed in another elevator to carry her to safety, not knowing the crash had already severed its cables. The guide picks up as that elevator begins its fall.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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