These images, pulled from the annals of Popular Mechanics, show the thermite devices attached to the steel frame of the East Skyride Tower (left), and the Tower tipping over after the thermite melted the legs (right)

The editors at Popular Mechanics have made a name for themselves as ardent defenders of the official 9/11 story. Editor-in-Chief James Meigs and contributing writers have presented articles in the magazine that dismiss the scientific evidence of controlled demolition of the WTC skyscrapers and characterize the discovery of thermitic residue in the WTC dust as insignificant. However, a recent review of the Popular Mechanics archives has revealed that this “world-renowned” publication reported on the use of thermite to bring down steel structures over 75 years ago.

The SkyRide Towers, an attraction built for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, consisted of two 628-foot-tall steel towers, connected by an aerial suspension system that ferried passengers from one tower to the other. At the time, its staggering height made it the tallest structure in Chicago.

Two years after its construction, the Skyride Towers attraction was closed and scheduled for demolition. The October 1935 issue of Popular Mechanics reported that while demolition teams used conventional dynamite to bring down the West tower, they decided to bring the East Tower down with a thermite compound, which was used to melt two of the steel legs:

Huge “overshoes” in the form of cupolas made of steel and lined with firebrick were constructed around two legs of the tower and filled with 1,500 pounds of thermite, a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide. When fired by electricity, the thermite generated a temperature of more than 5,000 degrees about the two legs, melting the ten-foot sections almost instantly, causing the tower to tip and then to crash.

Unfortunately, today’s Popular Mechanics heads have failed to acknowledge this demolition in their defense of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory. In an NPR interview that aired last August, Meigs admitted that “in certain applications, [thermite] can actually burn through metal,” but he then dismissed the discovery of thermitic residue in the WTC dust, stating that “the notion that you could rig a building with thermite to bring it down… every demolition expert we talked to just laughs at the whole idea.”

The iconic Reichstag dome stood for 60 years until demolition experts used thermite to bring it down

A search through national news archives has brought up another famous example of thermite-assisted demolition that contradicts Meigs’ claims. The steel-framed roof of the German Reichstag, which survived arson in 1933 and Allied bombardment during World War II, was felled by thermite charges in 1954.

It is important to note that the Skyride Towers and the Reichstag dome were not skyscraper buildings like the Twin Towers and WTC 7, and the type of thermite used at the time required massive quantities of material. However, their destruction clearly established the use of thermite as an agent in the controlled demolition of steel-framed structures.

Clipped from the Nov 20, 1954 issue of the Ottawa Citizen, this explosive report also appeared in the New York Times and other major newspapers

In addition, analysis of the WTC dust shows that more sophisticated forms of thermite have been developed over the decades. The research conducted by Dr. Neils Harrit, along with an international team of scientists, has revealed that the composite materials are microscopic in scale, with particle sizes in the nanometer range. This level of precision results in a compound more accurately referred to as nano-thermite, which has a lower ignition temperature and a more energetic reaction.

Harrit explained these characteristics in the new documentary, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out. “It isn’t just two powders being ignited,” he said. “The material is actually being produced at the atom scale, which is what we do in nanotechnology.”

These advanced properties allow the nano-thermite to cut through steel in a fraction of a second, and make it a more effective tool than conventional thermite.

The red-gray chips of un-ignited nano-thermite found in the WTC dust have properties that intensify their destructive power

Another key distinction is that the destruction scenario that best addresses the explosive sounds and flashes reported at the WTC, the violent ejection of building materials, and the discovery of molten iron microspheres in the dust, is a demolition that uses some combination of thermitic incendiaries and explosive material. The thermitic residue may be the most apparent forensic evidence that the WTC skyscrapers were intentionally demolished.

Even more important than the possible demolition scenarios, however, is the mere presence of this incendiary material in the dust. The technical paper detailing these findings, which has been published in the Bentham Open Chemical Physics Journal, was peer reviewed and has withstood the scrutiny of experts – given that it has not been challenged in the peer-reviewed process. The chemical reactions that these scientists identified are clear proof that the official explanation is false, and a real, independent investigation is needed to find out who brought these buildings down.