Release of New Audio Recordings from September 11 Attacks

"Did you just say somethin' hit the World Trade Center?" an incredulous military official asked shortly after the beginning of America's terrorism nightmare on September 11, 2001.

Minutes later, with air traffic authorities warning that another commercial jet was off course and just six miles (10 kilometers) from the White House, Washington ground control sounded in denial, saying it was "probably just a rumor."

The chilling collection of 114 audio recordings spans two hours and captures the desperate efforts of those involved to understand and deal with the unfolding atrocity.

Parts of the audio recordings have been aired before, but others had not been heard and were held in the National Archives.

For one instant on the morning of Sept. 11, an airliner that had vanished from all the tracking tools of modern aviation suddenly became visible in its final seconds to the people who had been trying to find it.