When a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945, killing 13 people including pilot Lt. Col. William F.

Smith Jr., Times photographer Ernie Sisto rushed to the scene. Using his cumbersome 4-by-5 Speed Graphic camera, he climbed to the 81st floor after elevators failed, then leaned far out on a ledge 1,000 feet above street level to capture the wreckage. Colleagues held his legs as he stretched over the edge, changing film sheets multiple times to get the shot.

Sisto, known for getting close at sports events—once tackled at a football game, hit by a puck in hockey—used expert technique with his Big Bertha long-lens camera when needed. His daring effort produced a defining image of the disaster, preserved in the Times archive. The event is part of a series marking 175 years of eyewitness journalism.

Sisto’s photo remains a testament to photographers risking everything for the story, taken just months after WWII ended in Europe.