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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...
Feb 23, 2019 · Robert Fontenot. Updated on 02/23/19. In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, a private plane carrying musicians J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly (most famous for founding The Crickets) crashed outside of Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all on board.
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Feb 3, 2015 · He quickly became spatially disoriented and lost control of the Bonanza. N3794N impacted the ground in a 90° right bank with a nose down pitch angle, on a heading of 315°. The right wing broke off and parts of the airplane were scattered as far as 540 feet (165 meters).
- 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...
Mar 4, 2015 · In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, a small aircraft carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed a few miles from Mason City Municipal Airport ...
Jun 11, 2012 · If a pilot was going to hand-fly in clouds he had to be both good and attentive. Left to its own devices, a V-tail would be in a spiral dive in a heartbeat. A VFR pilot in clouds was almost autodead. Bonanza pilots were either veterans or made up of a population much like today’s Cirrus pilots.
Buddy Holly's tragic death in a 1959 air crash is attributed to an inexperienced pilot attempting a flight in poor weather conditions.
