24 OCTOBER 25, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
How a M.V. man survived
Empire State plane crash
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
In the waning weeks of World War
II, New York City was stunned by
a disaster unlike any other in its
history, up to that point.
On Saturday morning, July 28, 1945,
a U.S. Army bomber carrying three
crew members from the Bedford Army
Air Field in Massachusetts was set
to touch down at LaGuardia Airport.
Air traffi c controllers, however, directed
the crew to instead land at Newark
Airport.
The city was shrouded in fog that
morning, so thick that it made it impossible
to see the upper fl oors of the
Empire State Building. The controllers
relayed that information to the pilot,
Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith
Jr., who began to fl y the plane low and
slow for better visibility.
However, Smith soon realized that
he was on track for a collision with
the Chrysler Building and panicked.
He swerved to avoid striking the skyscraper,
but before Smith could realize
it, the plane crashed into the north side
of the Empire State Building.
The bomber burst into fl ames upon
impacting the 79th Floor, killing the
crew on board and 11 people working
in the National Catholic Welfare Conference
located on that level. Jet fuel
spread down to the 75th Floor and set
of a large offi ce fi re across numerous
fl oors of the building.
It’s a story with elements that are
eerily similar to the tragic events of
Sept. 11, 2001 — but that incident, of
course, was a calculated attack with
devastating consequences. The 1945
crash at the Empire State Building was
a horrible accident, and it occurred
on a weekend, at a time when fewer
people than normal were working in
the skyscraper.
In so many tragedies, unlikely
heroes always seem to come forward.
One of them happened to be Daniel J.
Norden of Middle Village, who was
working at the Empire State Building
at the time of the 1945 crash and
stepped up to save not only his own
life, but also the lives of several of his
co-workers.
His story made the front page of the
Aug. 3, 1945, issue of the Ridgewood
Times, and we present the story in its
entirety:
Daniel J. Norden of 83-33 Penelope
Ave., Middle Village, one of the heroes
of the Empire State Building tragedy,
thrilled neighbors with his story of
how he smashed his way out of his
flame-encircled office on the 80th
floor with a hammer and rescued two
companions.
Norden, who is assistant New York
manager of the Caterpillar Tractor
Company, said he was sure that “this
was the end” on Saturday when the
Army B-25 bomber crashed into the
building one floor below his office.
He told how he was sitting at his
desk when he heard the crash. He said
he could feel the building vibrate and
was knocked to the floor by the impact
before he knew what happened.
Norden said:
“Arthur E. Palmer, an engineer who
works in our office and the only person
there with me, fell out of his chair,
too. As we were getting up, one of the
elevator girls came rushing in. She
was crying and pretty badly burned.”
He said he opened the back door
“and saw that it was a furnace out
there.” He then looked at the windows
and the flame was sweeping up past
them. The room was filled with gas
and the floor was beginning to get hot.
The Middle Village man turned to
Palmer and said, “Art, I guess this is
Photo via Wikimedia Commons the end.”
An Army B-25 Bomber similar to the one that crashed into the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945
link
