Quote from: ConservativeMe on August 17, 2014, 06:36:49 AM
The conspiracy nuts love to pull this one out when talking about 9/11.
Yeah, well, a B-25 was 1/3 the length and had a wingspan less than 1/2 that of a Boeing 757. And the Empire State Building was of a very different construction. Not that facts matter to such insults-to-fruitcakes.
But... but.... Loose Change said it was a B-52!
And it was their second edition, there's no way they'd make a mistake that time! :cursing:
Quote from: SVPete on August 17, 2014, 11:10:53 AM
Yeah, well, a B-25 was 1/3 the length and had a wingspan less than 1/2 that of a Boeing 757. And the Empire State Building was of a very different construction. Not that facts matter to such insults-to-fruitcakes.
A few minor corrections are in order, and perhaps a different perspective too.
The B-25D that struck the Empire State Building in 1945, was 52'11" long and had a wingspan of 67'7". The Boeing 767s (not 757s) that struck the twin towers were 159'2" long with wingspans of 156'1". But such linear dimensions don't tell the story at all.
The North American B-25D "Mitchell" medium bomber had a maximum takeoff weight of 35,000 lbs. and a cruising speed of 230 mph. It is reasonable to assume that the plane that struck the ESB weighed something less than 35,000 lbs. -- it carried no bomb load -- and was probably traveling at or below its cruising speed, in consideration of the low visibility at the time of the collision. Assuming that the bomber weighed around 30,000 lbs. and was traveling at 200 mph at the time of the collision, it exerted a force of roughly 1.3 billion foot-pounds on impact.
American Airlines Flight 11, which struck the north tower of the WTC on 9/11/2001, was a Boeing 767-200ER. It had a maximum takeoff weight of 395,000 lbs. United Airlines Flight 175, which struck the south tower that day, was a Boeing 767-200, with a maximum takeoff weight of 315,000 lbs. Both airplanes had a standard cruising speed of 530 mph. The -200 could carry 16,700 gallons of jet fuel, while the -200ER could hold 24,140 gallons. To put this in perspective, the topped-off fuel load -- FUEL ALONE -- of the
lighter 767-200 weighed over 114,000 lbs., more than three times the gross maximum takeoff weight of the entire B-25D bomber.
Either 767, assuming a flying weight of 300,000 lbs. and a cruising speed of 530 mph, would exert over 90 billion foot-pounds of energy on impact. This explains why both planes penetrated so deeply into the towers, and why the B-25 back in 1945 just sort of stuck in the ESB like a dart in a dartboard.
For what it's worth, the Empire State Building was designed without the slightest regard for the possibility of an aircraft collision. The World Trade Center towers were actually designed to take that possibility into account, with the scenario being based on an accidental collision involving a Boeing 707, a slightly smaller and lighter aircraft than the ones used by the Muslims on 9/11.
Here's an audio recording of the crash, taken from a businessman's dictation recording.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=92987873&m=92991798 (http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=92987873&m=92991798)