1945 Empire State Building, New York, Milk Glass Ashtray, Copper Souvenir Metal Building

On July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United States Army Air Forces crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City, while flying in thick fog. The accident caused the death of fourteen people (three crewmen and eleven people in the building) and damage estimated at US$1 million (equivalent to about $14 million in 2020), although the building's structural integrity was not compromised.

The Empire State Building is a 102-story[c] Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970; following the latter's collapse in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the city's tallest skyscraper until 2012. As of 2020, the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City, the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, the 49th-tallest in the world, and the sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas.