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 deaths of fourteen people (three crewmen and eleven people in the building) and damage estimated at US$1 million (equivalent to about $15 million in 2021), although the building's structural integrity was not compromised.

The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II, and after the war ended, many remained in service, operating across four decades. Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 B-25s were built. These included several limited models such as the F-10 reconnaissance aircraft, the AT-24 crew trainers, and the United States Marine Corps' PBJ-1 patrol bomber.