The Buddy Holly crash...

It was sixty years ago this weekend, that young entertainer Buddy Holly and
three others died in that chartered airplane crash.  A lot has been written about
it over the years....and there are still some questions six decades later, but time
 takes it's toll, on circumstances, documents, witnesses, etc.

Below is part one and two I wrote about the crash a couple of years ago.
Over the weekend, I'll post parts three, four and five. 

Even though Holly is gone, his music continues to be played, listened to
and enjoyed.

The pilot, Roger Peterson.  Age age 21, was young, having been licensed in 1954, Roger had accumulated 711 hours of flying experience, 128 of those hours in the Beechcraft  Bonanza, an aircraft with a strange v shaped tail assembly.  It was known as the ‘Dr. killer’ because it had many crashes involving amateur pilots, many of them physicians. The aircraft’s top speed

was 165-175 miles per hour, and this version of the aircraft seated the pilot, three passengers

and their luggage. (As a side note, I have flown in this aircraft configuration a couple of times

years ago. We used to fly from the old Palmyra airport to Syracuse and back. I remember

the cockpit being quite tight with not a lot of room.)

Roger’s boss Hubert Dwyer was owner of Dwyer’ flying service, owner of the aircraft which

was designated N3794N. On the evening of the incident, Monday Feb. 2^nd, both Dwyer and

Peterson had made several stops at the weather control center at the Mason City

airport.  The weather was wintry, light snow, winds from the south at 20 mph, ceiling

of 6,000 feet. Dwyer I’m sure was a bit concerned for the flight because of the three famous

people being transported later that night. But it’s quite evident he had confidence in Peterson who had accumulated his hours on charter flights. The flight was going to be 311 miles as the

‘crow flies’, from Mason City to Fargo, N.D.  Fargo’s airport was the closest to their next

gig to be held the following day in Moorhead, Minnesota.

And so it was that evening that pilot Peterson and his passengers of Holly, J.P. Richardson

and Ritchie Valens started on their fateful journey.

As a note; pilot Peterson only had his visual flight rules certification. He had taken 9 months

before, his instrument rating exam and had failed it. So what did this mean? Well,

he would be flying by sight only, landmarks, horizon, lights. Using a compass and the onboard

Sperry attitude gyro. Now that was another challenge. Peterson was used to flying with the

traditional horizontal horizon gyro….and not the Sperry gyro. This is a bit complicated, but

basically, incorrect readings can be taken if not totally familiar with the instrument.

The aircraft was loaded with the luggage and personals and Buddy Holly took the seat

in the front next to pilot Peterson, with Valens and Richardson sitting behind. A last check

and it was off to Fargo and then to Moorhead for more rock and roll.

The take off, the short flight.. the crash

At 12:55 a.m. on Tues. Feb. 3rd, pilot Roger Peterson eased the nose of the Beechcraft

Bonanza airplane out on runway 17 at the Mason City Airport. On board, Buddy Holly,

J.P. Richardson and Richie Valens. (Yes, Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to the Big

Bopper…Richardson was feeling ill with a cold or worse, so Jennings gave up his seat

to the Big Bopper. The actual famous ‘coin flip’ for one seat was between Tommy Allsup

and Richie Valens..the physical flip was made by local D.J. and M.C. Bob Hale.. and

Valens won the seat so he would be on board.)

 The weather had down-graded a bit, but not significantly since the last weather check by Peterson and his boss Hubert Dwyer. The ceiling was now down to 3,000 feet from 6,000 feet, and a front was approaching with light snow, winds were 20 to 30 mph and visibility was 6 miles, the temperature was a frigid 18 degrees.

Unfortunately a ‘flash’ weather advisory issued a few minutes before 1:00 a.m. was

never received or passed on to the pilot.  A large mass of snow was moving in their

flight path from the Northwest, and visibility had been lowered to two miles. This would

be significant upon the post crash investigation later on. Remember, Peterson was flying VISUALLY, with no instrument ratings. The flight, only 311 miles would take about one

 and one half hours.

Hubert Dwyer watched as the airplane lifted off the runway, made an initial left turn

onto a northwesterly heading and started climbing to its’ designated flight level of 800 feet.

Dwyer watched the tail light of the aircraft as it disappeared out of view…. that was

just after 1:00 a.m. Peterson had planned to file a flight plan once in the air, and was

to radio Dwyer once settled in for the flight.  When Peterson had failed to make

contact, several attempts to communicate with the aircraft were made and all were

unsuccessful.

At daylight, Dwyer in another airplane, went to trace the route of Holly’s

plane…… and the wreckage was found less than 6 miles from the airport. It hadn’t gotten

far. Had there been a structure failure? Did Peterson quickly discover the weather was

worse than he thought and was he turning to go back? Did the plane have too much

weight with passengers and luggage? Was there an engine problem that

could have caused loss of power? All good questions which would eventually be

confronted.

Tomorrow:  the crash site, the conclusions, and the pistol and the exhumation.