9/11 Attack on the Pentagon
September 11, 2001 was a warm, sunny day in Washington, D.C., just as it was in New York City and all along the Eastern Coast. That morning, five terrorists passed through security at Dulles International Airport and boarded American Airlines Flight 77 bound for Los Angeles. At 8:20 am, the Boeing 757 took off with 64 people on board — a crew of six plus 58 passengers, including the hijackers.
The last radio communication with Flight 77 occurred about 30 minutes later. It seems the hijackers made their move and took control of the plane somewhere over eastern Kentucky. With one hijacker as pilot, the other four kept guard over the passengers.
Tracking Flight 77 was nearly impossible, since the pilot turned off the plane’s transponder and refused to answer any radio messages. For air traffic controllers, the lack of a transponder signal meant they couldn’t find the plane until it crossed over a ground-based radar system.
At 9:33 am, the plane was picked-up by radar at the Ronald Reagan National Airport. The tower immediately contacted the U.S. Secret Service in Washington, DC, with the alarming word that “an aircraft is coming at you and not talking with us.” At 9:37 am, the terrorist pilot turned the plane abruptly and crashed into the western side of the Pentagon – the massive headquarters for the United States Department of Defense.
184 lives were lost at the Pentagon that day. They were men, women, and children. They came from all walks of life: military leaders and administrative assistants — scientists and students — doctors, teachers, soldiers and flight crew. The youngest was only three years old; the oldest, 71.
While the act was horrific and all the losses on that day were devastating, structural analysis revealed that the death toll at the Pentagon could have been much worse, if not for some critical engineering decisions made 60 years earlier. Ironically, construction of the Pentagon began on September 11, 1941. America was close to entering World War 2, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the country needed a home base for widespread military operations. Wartime urgency allowed the Pentagon to be completed in record time (just 16 months) using 15,000 construction workers.
Since steel was rationed for the war effort, the Pentagon was built almost entirely of reinforced concrete, including 41,000 concrete pilings and concrete ramps instead of stairs connecting the building’s five floors. Completed in 1943, the Pentagon remains the largest low-rise office building in the world with 6.5 million square feet that can hold up to 26,000 employees.
When the Pentagon was built, no one knew that it would become an iconic monument to U.S. military power—or a target for international terrorists. In fact, the designers thought it would be abandoned after the war and turned into a massive, long-term storage depot. Therefore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers added excess strength and structural supports that would end up saving hundreds and potentially thousands of lives on 9/11.
9/11 Attack on the Pentagon
Randall acts as the lead writer for ColdWater’s Drive Thru History® TV series and Drive Thru History® “Adventures” curriculum.
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