Mention is made of the US Coast Guard plane hitting the building in 1946 in thick fog, leaving 4 people dead. Does anyone have any further details ? It would seem that more might be killed from the falling debris or was the accident after midnight when the street were empty ? In the ESB plane crash, an engine went right through the building - what happened in this case ? This may sound morbid but it has been a source of interest here at the University of the Witwatersrand. Anyone able to help ?

• ID# 139.2 (reply to #139.1) - 16 Aug 1999
  Well, to add to the high-brow academic discussion ;^):
  The Financial District becomes effectively something resembling a ghost town after the business hours -- except maybe for those souls sweating away overtime.
  So it's really possible that the building and streets were relatively empty, like in the case of the Empire State Building incident.
  Don't know much about the types that the USCG used at that time, but not necessarily even a seaplane like Catalina (about the size of the B-25 that crashed to the Empire) would have caused much more damage or casualties than a single-engined plane. Moreover, I think that the casualties in this accident may have come from the crew of the plane itself.
  When it comes to the ESB incident, an indication of the force of the impact is that the engine went through all the mesh of columns and (non-bearing) walls inside the building. When one discounts the number of the bomber crew (maybe five or six for a wartime B-25), the civilian losses were fortunately small after such an impact and amount of debris in the Midtown area.
  Maybe the owners of the "New York 1930" or Tauranac's ESB opus can/want to shed more light on the Empire State incident...? ED

• ID# 139.3 (reply to #139.1)
  From: Howard Loel Brown ([email protected]) - 31 Aug 1999

  Would you like further information on the 40 Wall ST & ESB plane crashes? Very odd that both buildings were built by Starrett Brothers. Very good structures! HLB

• ID# 139.4 (reply to #139.1)
  From: Charles B. Atlee ([email protected]) - 3 April 2005

  Crash At 40 Wall St. NYC in March, 1946 I was on duty at the US navy Officer's Discharge Center (36th floor) when the crash occurred about 9pm on a foggy Saturday night. The building was deserted, as was Wall St., except for me and the bank guard on the ground floor. Pilot, evidently, was trying to land at Newark. I was thrown out of my chair and across the office. Only fuselage entered building. Engines and wing tanks sheared off. One started a small fire in adjoining bldg. Another buried in Wall St. Without an explosion the bldg survived well structurally.
  I would appreciate further available information.