In what year was the Lincoln Memorial elevator installed ?
In fact , prior to the September 11th terrorist attacks , the only known free - fall incident in a modern cable - borne elevator happened in 1945 when a B-25 bomber struck the Empire State Building in fog , severing the cables of an elevator cab , which fell from the 75th floor all the way to the bottom of the building , seriously injuring ( though not killing ) the sole occupant — the elevator operator .