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The Bonanza four-place single engine plane crashed into a field on the W.D. Hurd farm. It did not burn. One of the bodies was pinned in the wreckage and rescue workers called for equipment to...
Oct 26, 2023 · There is a long-standing rumor or suspicion that the cause of the crash was different. One theory is that there was a gun onboard the aircraft, and, somehow, the pilot was shot. Nothing has ever been proven.
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Why did 'the Big Bopper' Richardson crash?
- The Crash
- Official Findings
- Gunfire Rumors
- Later Speculation
- Conclusion
- Aftermath
Shortly after midnight on Feb. 3, 1959, Holly, Valens and Richardson arrived at the airport, gathered their belongings and hurried along through the falling snow to Peterson’s plane. At approximately 12:55 a.m., they took off from runway 17 (now runway 18). Dwyer watched from below as the plane lifted into the dark, wintry night. Three minutes late...
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), predecessor to the NTSB, determined the cause as pilot disorientation due to inclement weather. While Peterson had over 700 hours, 52 in instrument training, he had recently failed his IFR flight exam and wasn’t qualified to fly in IMC. At 11:55 p.m. the night of the crash, a weather briefer advised Peterson of 5,...
Not all were satisfied with the CAB’s findings. Two months later, a .22 caliber pistol, allegedly belonging to Holly, was found near the crash site. The discovery sparked rumors that an accidental discharge may have occurred onboard, leading to the crash. Many believed that Richardson, whose body had been found quite a bit further away than the oth...
In 2015, retired pilot L.J. Coon prodded the NTSB to reopen the investigation. Coon hoped to clear Peterson’s name, believing that the aircraft had suffered a fuel system failure and possible malfunction of the right ruddervator. The initial investigation found no evidence of fire, and no fuel odors were noted in the report, giving weight to Coon’s...
Pilots who have flown in such conditions, as the relatively inexperienced pilot Peterson did, know how snow flurries and dark of night can make for instant ICM. In an airplane that was heavily loaded and likely handling differently than it did when he usually flew it, the young pilot was no match for the sudden loss of visual reference and disorien...
“I can’t remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride. Something touched me deep inside, the day the music died.” — Don McLean, “American Pie,” 1971 Holly’s mother, Ella Pauline Drake, and pregnant wife, Maria Elena, learned about his passing via a news report on TV. The trauma of learning about his death in such a way caused her deep p...
Feb 3, 2024 · At 09:35 a.m., he located the crashed airplane in a farm field approximately 5 miles northwest of the airport. The airplane was destroyed and all four occupants were dead. There was about 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow on the ground.
Much like the Surf, the crash site is the same as it was in 1959: a lonely spot in a giant Iowa field. The access point on the nearest farm road is marked by a big pair of Holly's trademark eyeglasses. It's a long walk from there to the crash site, but the bare patch of dirt in front of the memorial shows that lots of fans make the trek.
- 22728 Gull Ave., Clear Lake, IA
Jun 11, 2012 · The difference was they were in one piece a millisecond before becoming thousands of pieces after a collision with the ground. The V-tails didn’t make it to the ground in one piece, Investigators did find a common thread in V-tail accidents.
Feb 23, 2019 · Chartered Flight Crash . Within minutes of takeoff from the Mason City Airport in Iowa at around 1:00 AM CST, February 3, 1959, the chartered Beech-Craft Bonanza airplane No. N3794N containing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson crashed into the Iowa countryside, killing all three in addition to pilot Roger Peterson.
