I Watched as a Hijacked Plane Flew Over My Home – Moments Later My Wife Was Killed on 9/11
BBC News
BBC Homepage
Accessibility Help
Your account
Home
News
Sport
Earth
Reel
Worklife
Travel
Culture
Future
Music
TV
Weather
Sounds
More menu
More menu
Search BBC
BBC News
Home
Climate
World
UK
Business
Tech
Science
Entertainment & Arts
Health
In Pictures
BBC Verify
Newsbeat
Wales
Wales Politics
Wales Business
North West
North East
Mid
South West
South East
Cymru
Local News
I watched as a hijacked plane flew over my home – moments later my wife was killed on 9/11.
Image source:
Charles Wolf
Image caption:
Charles Wolf said he "hit the jackpot" when he met his wife, Katherine.
By
Brendon Williams
BBC Wales
Published 5 hours ago
When a plane flew low over Charles Wolf’s New York City apartment on a sunny morning 25 years ago, he knew immediately that something was wrong.
Seconds later, the plane slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center – where his wife Katherine, from Swansea, was working.
Katherine died instantly, becoming one of 2,977 people killed in the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the USA on 11 September, 2001.
Charles, who subsequently led a campaign to ensure the victims’ families and dependants were fairly compensated, said his "wonderful" wife would be proud of what he fought for.
Image source:
Getty Images
Image caption:
Katherine Wolf had been working with insurance firm Marsh and McLennan on the north tower’s 97th floor.
Charles first met Katherine in New York in 1988, when he was singing with a theatre group and she was a piano accompanist.
"We met quite accidentally outside the rehearsal hall and we fell in love with each other in about two minutes, and that was it," he said.
Charles said he "hit the jackpot" when he met her, adding: "There was no parting us."
Katherine took Charles back to the UK for a visit in 1989, as well as trips to parts of Wales that he admitted he "could not pronounce", including Machynlleth and Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.
"It was just the beginning," said Charles.
"We had a wonderful, wonderful relationship."
At 08:06 EDT, on September 11, 2001, Charles kissed Katherine goodbye from their New York City apartment for the last time.
Exactly 40 minutes later, a jet smashed into the 97th floor of the tower – the very floor she had been working on, in a new job she had started less than a fortnight earlier.
"I knew instantly when it flew over my building – our apartment building – that it was a twin engine jet at full throttle," said Charles, a trained pilot.
"I knew it so well that I called the FBI and told them… ‘That was no accident, that was deliberate’."
A year later, when Charles met the FBI agent who took that call, he said the agent told him: "You were the first person to get us on to the fact that that was not an accident."
Image source:
Charles Wolf
Image caption:
Charles says he is lucky to have had Katherine in his life
Katherine had told her husband she was working in "building one". After the first plane hit, news reports described the Twin Towers as "north and south" – and Charles did not know which was which.
But a mile from their home, he could see smoke billowing.
"I couldn’t reach her on the phone. Little did I know she ceased to exist the instant that plane hit the building," he said.
Charles "could only assume the worst" until he had confirmation from her employers three days later that nobody had managed to escape above the 91st floor of the north tower – six floors below Katherine’s office.
"She didn’t know it was going to happen and she never felt a thing," he said.
"In fact… all of her people right there, they were vapourised instantaneously."
He added: "You never knew it was coming – couldn’t, not at 450mph (724km/h).
"It was not a blessing that I lost her. It was a blessing that she never knew it happened, and I am grateful for that."
"Not everybody…
