Why are the buildings in Tokyo flashing red lights at night?

Mainly for aircraft.

The reason is that 1945, American bombers got lost in the fog and crashed into the Empire State Building.

1July 28th, 945, heavy fog filled new york. At this time, an American B-25 medium bomber took off from a military airport in Massachusetts and went to new york to carry out its mission. Smith, who is flying this B-25 bomber, is a 27-year-old boy. He has superb flying skills and has more than 1000 hours of flying experience. When the plane flew near new york, it was too foggy for him to land at the scheduled airport. Seeing this situation, the US military flight control center immediately ordered the plane to fly to dozens of kilometers away.

Newark airport.

After receiving the order, Smith immediately changed course. Then he made a fatal mistake. In order to see the ground clearly, he lowered the height of the plane to about 400 meters. He is going to bypass new york and fly to Newark Airport. He never imagined that when the plane was flying around, a tall and black "big wall" suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking the way head on. Seeing this, Smith immediately yanked the joystick to avoid this sudden monster, but it was too late. Bang, the B-25 plane crashed into the wall like a huge monster. In fact, the B-25 didn't hit the wall, but a skyscraper without any light signal signs. This skyscraper is the Empire State Building that made Americans proud in 1930s and 1940s.

The Empire State Building is the first skyscraper on earth. The whole building is 38 1 m high and has 85 floors. In addition, there is a round tower on the roof which is equivalent to 17 stories high. This skyscraper was built in only 4 10 days, which is also a miracle in the history of architecture. After the building is completed, it attracts a large number of tourists to the top floor to have a bird's eye view of the city every year. When the weather is clear, you can have a panoramic view of the surrounding area 130 km. For a long time, the Empire State Building has been the tallest building in the world. 1973,10/floor sister building of New York World Trade Center was completed, and it only withdrew from its hegemonic position.

At that time, B-25 bombers smashed a big hole in the wall of the 79th floor of the Empire State Building. With a loud noise, a fire rose from the collision and lit up the whole building. Then smoke filled the upper part of the Empire State Building. The plane also exploded, and Smith and three people on the bomber died immediately. The firemen who heard the news immediately began to put out the fire. When the fire was under control, they looked at the losses. In addition to the 79th floor, the 6th floor below the 76th floor was also damaged to varying degrees. Firefighters found the bodies of 1 1 victims indoors. Together with three people on the plane, 14 people died in the big collision. Fortunately, July 28th was Sunday, and the accident happened in the morning. Usually, there are more than 50,000 people in the Empire State Building, but on the day of the incident, there were only about 1500 people in the whole building. It happened at the end of World War II, and the people and rescuers had full experience, no panic and no man-made collateral losses. So it didn't make the Empire State Building a terrible hell. More importantly, the fuel tank of the plane was almost exhausted at the time of the incident, and the combustion caused was still under control, so the Empire State Building was saved from the bad luck of the collapse of the World Trade Center 56 years later.

This tragic accident made people realize that it is necessary to install light beacons at the top of high-rise buildings in the city to prevent planes from hitting buildings in flight. At present, all countries have corresponding regulations on this point. Modern high-rise buildings are equipped with light beacons, which are also very eye-catching at night or in the case of low visibility.