Henderson man’s piece of history featured on PBS show

Irv Atkins finally has proof that a piece of melted scrap metal given to him by his father is part of a B-25 bomber that hit the Empire State Building in 1945.

"I've always known what it was," said Atkins, a Henderson resident. "My father wasn't prone to making up stories or lying. I knew he was telling the truth about where he got it."

The piece was authenticated July 24 on PBS' "History Detectives," a television show that explores historical mysteries.

Before the events of 9/11, New York City witnessed another catastrophe on July 28, 1945, when a plane flew into the Empire State Building.

It was a foggy day, and Lt. Col. William Smith didn't heed warnings from air traffic control, Atkins said. He crashed into the 79th floor of the skyscraper. The crash killed 14 people and scattered debris through the streets and onto the roofs of nearby buildings.

Louis Atkins, Irv Atkins' father, worked at an office building across from the Empire State Building.

"It happened on a Saturday, so he wasn't there," Atkins said.

When Louis went to work Monday, there was a piece of debris on his office floor.

"I don't know if it came through the window or the roof," Atkins said.

Louis brought it home and told his family the piece was part of the plane.

"I don't know where I was at the time," Atkins said. "I might have been away at camp."

Excitement from the incident dwindled.

"It was in the news for a little bit," Atkins said. "But we were still at war with Japan."

Less than two weeks later, America dropped an atomic bomb on two Japanese cities: Hiroshima on Aug. 6, and Nagasaki on Aug. 9. Atkins believes those events trumped all news of the Empire State Building crash.

Even though talk of the plane crash died down, the family kept the item as a keepsake. Atkins would bring it out as a conversation starter when guests came over, and his children took it to school for show-and-tell.

"A lot of people don't even know about the plane crash," Atkins said. "It makes for good conversation."

When Atkins moved to Henderson in the '90s, he kept the historical tidbit. Last August, he decided he wanted to find out for sure if the piece was from the B-25 bomber.

"I figured there are so many investigatory type shows on television," Atkins said. "I really had nothing to lose."

PBS' "History Detectives" got back to him.

"They wanted photos of it, so I sent photos of it," Atkins said. "They wanted to see it, so I sent it to them. They asked if they could scratch it to run an analysis, so I let them."

In December 2011, Atkins flew to New York to talk with the show's host, Eduardo Pagan, for two days of shooting. By this point, Pagan already knew the results.

Pagan said that when the show picks items to investigate, it looks for something that connects to American history and has a story behind it.

"Irv has an interesting story," Pagan said. "A lot of people don't know about this incident because it was overshadowed. But when 9/11 happened, I thought about this incident."

Pagan and his crew researched the piece for several months before meeting with Atkins.

"It was a piece of melted metal with some bolts," Pagan said. "It took us a while."

Like any other investigation, Pagan and his team did research on the Internet and made tireless calls.

"You call scholar X who might not know anything but knows scholar Y who might have the information you're looking for," Pagan said.

On the second day of shooting with Atkins in New York, they revealed that the metal was the part of the plane.

"I was impressed with everyone they contacted to find out," Atkins said.

Pagan eventually tracked down the owner of a facility that houses parts of B-25 bombers. The owner, who asked producers to keep his California location a secret, has been reconstructing B-25 bombers for years and was the key to authenticating Atkins' metal.

Atkins said he waited seven months to see the show.

"They kept asking for family photos and follow-up questions," Atkins said. "I never thought this day would get here."

Atkins said he doesn't know what he will do with the piece.

"I would donate it to a museum," Atkins said.

Right now, he keeps the item with other historic objects, such as photos from the Apollo Lunar Module.

"I helped work on that," Atkins said. "I had my finger in the pie."

Atkins said he worked on the navigation system that helped Apollo 12 land on the moon.

"I still get chills when I think about it," Atkins said.

For more information on PBS' "History Detectives," visit pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/.

Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 387-5201.