Wednesday, January 27, 2021

The loss of Buddy Holly, part 3

 




It's February 3rd, 1959, within a few minutes of 1:00 a.m. Young pilot Peterson takes off
from the Mason City Airport in very wintry conditions, with a new weather front coming 
his way from the Northwest.....




The short flight and the crash..


The crash site….

Unfortunately the Beechcraft with Buddy Holly and three others had not gone far.
In less than five minutes and traveling under six miles, the aircraft impacted the terrain
at high speed, descending into a steep bank, hitting the right tip of the wing and leaving
a trail of debris 450 feet long, the remainder of the fuselage rolling into a ball and stopping
at a fence line. Here was an eerie scene for those who arrived the next morning. Four young men with great potential lying around a shattered airplane in a field.

There were no witnesses to the crash. Upon exam, the instruments in the plane read as follows: fuel pressure, oil temperature and pressure gauges were stuck in the green or normal range.
The attitude gyro indicator was stopped in a reading indicating a 90 degree angle.
Also, the rate of climb indicator was stopped at 3,000 feet per minute descent.
The airspeed indicator was stopped showing between 165-170 mph. (At this speed
and rate of descent from 800 feet…it would only take about 15 seconds to impact)
The seat belts had all suffered failures either in their attachment points or buckles.
The violent force of the crash itself resulted in Holly, Richardson and Valens all being
thrown from the aircraft. The bodies of Holly and Valens were within twenty feet of the
fuselage, Richardson’s body was thrown across the fence line some forty feet and onto the
property of Oscar Moffitt. The pilot Peterson’s body was trapped in the cockpit. The deceased were all covered in light snow which had accumulated overnight. The aircraft did
 not catch fire,(with 39 gallons of fuel supposedly on board, it’s kind of unusual that
there was no fire, or even mention of any fuel residue being noticed at the site during
the investigation) the landing gear was retracted at the time of the crash. The propeller hub gave evidence that the engine was under power when hitting the ground. County coroner Ralph Smiley certified that all victims died instantly, cause of death ‘gross trauma to brain’ for the
three recording artists and brain damage for pilot Peterson. The bodies were removed
from the site that morning. The only autopsy performed was that on the pilot
Peterson. Only macroscopic physical exams noting injuries to substantiate cause of death were
performed on Holly, Richardson and Valens.  

Next up part 4;  the pistol found and the years later exhumation of the Big Bopper. 


parts 1 and 2 are found below....

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