below are the last three parts of the series I did a couple of years ago
on the death of Buddy Holly and his 3 fellow travelers..... if you
scroll down below it, you will see the first parts published here
yesterday. It's hard to believe that it was 60 years ago... I remember
it very well, and the shock that everyone felt the day that it happened.
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the investigation) the landing gear was retracted at the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.
The investigation:
Before the NTSB, there was the Civil Aeronautics Board
(CAB). They were the official
agency in charge of investigating the who, what and why of
the Holly plane crash.
The post crash investigation at the scene came to no
immediate conclusions. The
instrumentation all appeared normal with gauges and readings
in their acceptable
parameters. The engine
gave no clues to mechanical failure or loss of power, the
propeller hub upon inspection proved the engine was
performing normally at the
point of impact.
There was no part of parts of the wing, or movable control
surfaces
found far away from
the aircraft that might indicate an early departure from the fuselage before the crash. Upon reviewing the autopsy
report of pilot Roger Peterson, nothing remarkable was found that would
indicate a medical emergency that would affect his flying senses or motor
functions.
His injuries as the other victims were of mass trauma
including the head and brain.
The young pilot Peterson was certified to operate under
visual flight rules; i.e.
you need to be able to SEE where you are going. On that
particular night, the lack of
a good horizon, low clouds, minimal amount of ground lights
in the little populated area
would all make for poor visual flying. To my knowledge the CAB never attempted
to calculate the
final weight of the aircraft with its’ passengers,
fuel and luggage.. if the aircraft was overloaded and the
center of gravity was
compromised the plane would be severely challenged to fly
correctly.
The CAB in Sept. of 1959 said the following about the crash,
quote:
‘At night, with an overcast sky, snow falling, no definite
horizon and a proposed
flight over a sparsely settled area with an absence of
ground lights, a requirement
for control of the aircraft solely by reference to flight
instruments can be
predicted with virtual certainty. The board concludes that Pilot
Peterson was
confronted with this situation. Because of fluctuation of
the rate instruments
caused by gusty winds he would have been forced to
concentrate and rely
greatly on the attitude gyro, an instrument with which he
was not completely
familiar. The pitch display of this instrument is the
reverse of the instrument
he was accustomed to; therefore, he could have been confused
and thought
that he was making a climbing turn when in reality he was
making a
descending turn. The weather briefing supplied to the pilot
was seriously
inadequate in that it failed to even mention adverse flying
conditions which
should have been highlighted.’
In 2015, the NTSB,
who succeeded the CAB had considered re-opening the crash investigation. That
was proposed by a pilot L.J. Coon, who felt the first conclusions were not
correct.
He thought a possible right rudder failure, fuel readings
and that improper weight
distribution as mentioned above could be involved. Coon also
thought that Peterson
may have tried to land the aircraft, a distinct possibility,
and that his efforts should
be noted in the official record. The NTSB in 2016 considered
re-opening the
investigation into the crash, but it never happened. And
there you have it.
There are rumors the
plane still exists…..and that the Dwyer family has at
least part of it hidden away. (Jerry and Barb
Dwyer, were the owners of the airplane.)
Jerry Dwyer passed away in Clear Lake in January 2016. He
was writing a book
about the whole affair…his wife has stated she will continue
and eventually
finish the book in his memory and honor.
The pistol and the exhumation….
A few weeks after the Buddy Holly plane crash, farmer Albert
Juhl was plowing the field
where the crash had occurred. Holly owned a 22 caliber handgun and had
placed it in the
bottom compartment of his overnight bag. During the crash,
the bag had been thrown out
and had been torn open, dislodging the gun in the snow. It
remained there and was found
the day farmer Juhl was plowing. Juhl took the gun and
turned it into the local sheriff, but
not before firing the weapon himself. (There is difference
of opinion on whether or not he
shared that ‘firing’ information with the sheriff.)( Holly’s
iconic black glasses were also
not found until much later in a snow bank.)
After testing, it had been determined that the gun had been
recently fired…. giving all
kinds of speculation that something might have happened on
board that flight involving
the pistol. The facts finally surfaced, but not before
planting a seed of inquiry into the mind
of Jay Richardson, only son of J.P. Richardson the Big
Bopper.
It’s summer 2007, the Big Bopper’s son Jay Richardson wanted
to have his father exhumed.
He had never seen his father, J.P. had died three months
before Jay’s birth. There were
unanswered questions…how severe were his father’s injuries?
On a long shot, was that pistol
involved in some way, shape or manner? His father’s body was found the farthest from
the airplane wreckage… had he survived the crash and tried
to go for help? And so
Jay employed Dr. Bill Bass a credentialed forensic
anthropologist to examine his father
upon his exhumation. The grave was at the Forest Lawn
Cemetery in Beaumont, Tx.
There were a few people present at the exhumation including
a film crew. The grave was
opened, the vault was raised, opened and the metal
Batesville Casket removed. It was
in extremely good shape for being interred 48 years. In a
private setting later that morning
the casket was opened and Jay saw his father for the first
time. By all accounts the
Big Bopper was fully recognizable with his familiar crew-
cut he sported in 1959. The
embalming had been superb, and the restorative art to his
features also done well.
Dr. Bass and his assistants removed the body, performed an
extensive examination and
multiple groupings of x-rays. Dr. Bass concluded and
reported to Jay that there was
no foul play in the death of his father and that he had died
from massive trauma, and
that he died instantly. (Dr. Bass noted that Richardson had
more than 60 bone
fractures resulting from the accident.) Batesville Casket Co. provided a new casket
in
which J.P. was placed and a small procession drove him to
his new resting place. The rumors
were nixed, Jay had seen his father for the first and only
time, and had laid his father
back to rest. Sadly, Jay himself passed away in August of
2013.
So the rumor that the pistol was somehow involved in the
crash was finally
dismissed. Jay Richardson
finally got to see his father for the first time….it
must have been a very
bittersweet day for him, for sure.
So what really happened that terrible morning?
I’m not an investigator by any means, but I actually think
that within minutes
of taking off… Holly in the front seat…finding themselves in
swirling, blinding
snow urged, or more forcefully, told Peterson the pilot to
turn around and get
back to the airport a few short miles away. At the time of
the crash, the
landing gear was not deployed, so the chance of him trying
to land the aircraft
is quite remote. The engine was at normal cruise speed at
the time of the
crash. Peterson may have been trying to gain altitude in an
effort
to get above the weather he was confronting, but in actuality
was making a
descending move not an ascending one. I think Peterson, not instrument
rated, was very confused, spatially disorientated, and lost control.
February 3rd of 1959 is talked and written about
a lot…even 60 years later.
The lack of sophisticated weather tracking, communications
and equipment
were most likely also factors in that terrible day.
Accidents similar to this are
rare today. The four lost that day will not be forgotten.
Their memories will
be perpetuated as time marches on…and that’s the way it
should be.
