Frozen Wasteland
Near Clear Lake, Iowa. In this photo the pilot, Roger Peterson, is still in the plane. Jiles Perry Richardson is lying on the other side of the fence, Buddy Holly and Richie Valens are equidistant behind the plane to our right. The plane took off from Mason City at 12:22 AM on Feb. 3rd 1959, headed for Fargo. It crashed less than six miles NW of the Mason City airport. Peterson was not instrument rated and the Sperry Attitude Gyroscope would have displayed the plane's pitch in the opposite manner from what he had used on other aircraft. The Beechcraft Bonanza hit the field at 170 miles an hour. The people on board probably died unaware and instantly. All evidence indicates that the pilot thought he was climbing and turning. The company, Dwyer Flying Service, was only licensed to operate under completely visual conditions. The weather briefings Peterson received did not mention the increasingly unfavorable developments along the proposed route. He sounds like a fine young man who got hit with a whole lot of bad luck all at once, as did all on board.
Pilot Roger Peterson. The plane was found with the nose only slightly lowered, indicating that Peterson was gaining control when he hit. He flew head on into a storm front coming his way. He would have had only seconds to have reacted correctly.
He had 711 hours flight time.
In the middle distance lies the body of J.P. Richardson, testimony as to
how hard the plane hit. (170 mph). There is a left foot in the
foreground belonging to Richie Valens. The living man is standing over Buddy Holly.
The Big Bopper. 28 at the time of his death, he was an army veteran and a disc jockey in Beaumont, Tx. He was a prolific song writer and in addition to Chantilly Lace he wrote Running Bear and Little White Dove, a hit for Johnny Preston, and also White Lightning, a George Jones megahit. Jones was a friend of Richardson and recorded the song a week after his death.
In Jones autobiography I Lived To Tell It All, he tells the
story of the day he went into the studio to record the hit song. He
recalled being so drunk that they had to take approximately 80 takes of
the song before calling quits on the session. Buddy Killen, the upright
bass player on the song, threatened to beat up Jones for having so many
blisters on his hands from playing the song 80 times. After all the
hassle, Jones' producer, Pappy Daily, chose to release the very first
take of the song even though Jones messed up the word "slug" in the last
verse. For the rest of his career, Jones would intentionally mimic his
flub live so that the performance sounded the same as the recording.
Jones sings 's-slug' in that last verse.
Notice the name Frankie Sardo. His hit song was 'Fake Out', the poster
has it wrong. Buddy, J. P. Richardson and Richie Valens had only hours
to live when this concert started. Frank Sardo, aka Frank Avianca was
one of the mobsters in Matilda, the boxing kangaroo picture that is still a byword for disaster.
Frank (Avianca) as Hood #2 on right. Ain't that something? Goddamn right it is!
What an incredible waste.
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