 The wreckage of the Bonanza at the crash site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 3, 1959 |
| Summary | Crashed following loss of control in poor weather at night |
| Site | Grant Township, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, U.S. 43°13′13.3″N 93°22′53.1″W / 43.220361°N 93.381417°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Beechcraft Bonanza |
| Operator | Dwyer Flying Service, Mason City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Registration | N3794N |
| Flight origin | Mason City Municipal Airport, Iowa, U.S. |
| Destination | Hector Airport, North Dakota, U.S. |
| Occupants | 4 |
| Passengers | 3 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 4 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.[a][1][2] The event became known as "The Day the Music Died" after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".
At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the "Winter Dance Party" tour across the American Midwest. Rising artists Valens, Richardson and vocal group Dion and the Belmonts had joined the tour as well. The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite.
After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by the conditions on the tour buses, Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, suffering from flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Soon after takeoff, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, pilot Peterson lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which crashed into a cornfield, killing all four on board.
The event has since been mentioned or referenced in various media. Various monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists' last performances.
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- ^ "Rock 'n' roll singers die in air crash". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. February 3, 1959. p. 1A. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ "Stars of rock 'n' roll troupe die in crash which claims 4 lives". Bend Bulletin. (Oregon). UPI. February 3, 1959. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2020.