In 1959, an unexpected plane crash took place sending down cold shivers through the spines of rock & roll lovers. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, JP Richardson, and the 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson plummeted to their deaths as their plane crashed in the fields of Clear Lake, Iowa.
Eleven years later, singer-songwriter Don McLean coined this incident “The day the music died” in his song – ‘American Pie’ giving references to this incident.
Various monuments were erected at the crash site. Buddy Holly’s signature big frame black glass is erected near this place. You can also see a stainless-steel monument depicting a set of three records and a guitar with the names of the three performers in a private farmland. A similar stainless-steel monument is set up outside the Riverside Ballroom where they last performed.
Did you know?
The pilot Peterson had logged 52 hours of instrument flight training. However, he was not qualified to fly in weather that required flying solely by reference to instruments.
Leave a Reply