Tuesday, February 14, 2023

The Fall of the KXJB Tower on This Day in History

The second tallest man-made structure in the western hemisphere, the 2,060 feet tall KXJB Tower at Galesburg, North Dakota, near Fargo, was accidentally knocked down by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that was on a training flight from Grand Forks Air Force Base on this day in 1968. All four men on the helicopter were killed after the aircraft struck a supporting guy-wire and then the television tower itself. Fargo's CBS affiliate, KXJB Channel 4 (now KRDK-TV), went off the air for 8 days. The tower had been second in height only to the nearby KTHI tower, which was 2,068 feet tall.

The tower fell again on April 6, 1997 during an ice storm, subjecting it to wind gusts of 70 mph and causing at least four inches of ice to accumulate on the structure.

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