On July 28, 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the then tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building, in New York City. The impact was so hard that the plane made a hole clean through the iconic building.
Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was standing in the elevator on the 80th floor of the building at the time of the plane's impact, just a floor below. Oliver suffered severe burns and required immediate medical attention. Rescue crews put her right back into the elevator to get her to the hospital as soon as possible, but the cables were so badly damaged they snapped, and sent Betty Lou plummeting 75 floors to the basement of the building.
Ms. Oliver defied all odds and survived a second time that day. She still holds a Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall.
Just five months later, she returned to her duties as an elevator operator in the very same building. Betty Lou Oliver survived the fall that killed King Kong!
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