1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash

Updated Mar 10, 2025

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Daniel Pinna

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10/13/2020

1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash

On the morning of July 28, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith Jr. was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport out of Massachusetts. He encountered heavy fog and became disoriented as it passed over New York City on its descent into Newark Airport.

At 9:40 a.m., it smashed into the north side of the Empire State Building and the oxygen tanks it was carrying exploded causing severe damage to the building. This photo was taken of the 78th and 79th floors after the crash.

Between 50 and 60 sightseers were on the 86th floor observation deck when the crash happened. Fourteen people were killed: Colonel Smith, Staff Sergeant Christopher Domitrovich, and Navy Aviation Machinist's Mate Albert Perna, who was hitching a ride, and eleven civilians in the building including Anna Gerlach.

Date & Place: July 29, 1945 at Empire State Building, New York, NY, USA in New York, New York County, New York 10001, United States

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Anna May Silvey Gerlach Jun 26, 1904 - Jul 28, 1945 Sag Harbor, New York, United States

Anna May (Silvey) Gerlach was born to Charles and Rosie Silvey who immigrated from Ireland into the United States. Anna had siblings Daniel, Joseph and Katherine. Anna May Silvey married William Gerlach on July 16th, 1922. They had two daughters. She worked at the National Catholic Welfare Conference whose office was in the Empire State building. Anna lost her life when a B-25 bomber crashed and exploded into the 78th floor of the Empire State Building in 1945. See Nineteen Persons Die As Bomber, Lost In Fog, Crashes Empire State Building for details of the incident. See also Twelve Victims of Crash Identified for an article written July 31st 1945 where her name is identified as one of the thirteen victims identified. The damage to the Empire State Building was extensive. To see a photo and read about the incident, see 1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash.

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Daniel Pinna

I want to build a place where my son can meet his great-grandparents. My grandmother Marian Joyce (Benning) Kroetch always wanted to meet her great-grandchildren, but she died just a handful of years before my son's birth. So while she didn't have the opportunity to meet him, at least he will be able to know her. For more information about what we're building see About AncientFaces. For information on the folks who build and support the community see Daniel - Founder & Creator.
My father's side is full blood Sicilian and my mother's side is a combination of Welsh, Scottish, German and a few other European cultures. One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) family members came over on the Mayflower. He was among the first to be hanged in the New World for a criminal offense he made while onboard the ship.

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Crystal Jones

About me:I haven't shared any details about myself.

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Roxy Triebel

I love antique photographs. In addition to sharing old photos of my family, I am also going through my collection of "antique store people". They've been sitting in a storage tub in my back room much too long and maybe some of their families will be able to find them here. If I'm able to identify the people in the photo, I upload it not only to AncientFaces, but also to Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Find-A-Grave. If the person in the picture is a military veteran, the photo also goes on Fold3. I figure that the more places I upload these pictures, the greater the chance that a relative will be able to find them.

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Kathy Pinna

I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Support ). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come. I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in San Jose (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our previous Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director
My family began AncientFaces because we believe that unique photos and stories that show who people are/were should be shared with the world.

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