4 Philip Marien Feature
Days the Music died 4 Ford Trimotor, nicknamed The Tin Goose
^ by Philip Marien Continuing on the rather morbid theme of the last issue, this time we’ll look at famous musicians who’ve died in airplane crashes. Not surprisingly, most of them turn out to be American, apart from the last and the first one…
Tango Carlos Gardel, born in France in 1890, emigrated to Argentina at the age of two. In the 1920s, he began to specialize in tango singing, which made him extraordinary fame in Argentina and far beyond. He was killed on 24 June 1935, when two Ford Tri Motor airplanes collided in midair over Medellin, Columbia. His remains(!) then apparently went on to Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro before returning to Buenos Aires, where he is buried. Fans still regularly
He was killed on 24 June 1935, when two Ford Tri Motor airplanes collided in midair over Medellin, Columbia.
place a lit cigarette in the hand of the lifesized statue. Famous WWII big band leader Glenn Millers’ demise was part of an article in the previous issue of The Controller.
The Day the Music Died… … was February 3rd, 1959: a single engine Beechcraft Bonanza B35 (V-tail), registration N3794N crashed just outside Clear Lake, Iowa during a stormy winter night. Onboard were Buddy Holly (22), J.P. Richardson (28), better known as Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens (18). Holly was famous for many hits including “Peggy Sue” The Big Bopper had one big hit, “Chantilly Lace” and Valens was best known for his hits “Oh, Donna” and “La Bamba.”
adverse weather conditions. The plane flew into severe weather and crashed at 6:20 p.m., according to Patsy’s wristwatch, found in a forest just outside of Camden, Tennessee. Cline was famous for her country hit, “Crazy” and had only barely survived a car crash 2 years earlier.
Life’s a Beech II Rock ‘n’ roll singer Otis Redding (26), and four members of his band were killed when their Beechcraft H18 plane crashed in icy Lake Monoma, Wisconsin on December 10th, 1967. Two members of his band survived the crash. Redding had recorded the song “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” just three days previous. When it was released posthumously, it became his biggest hit.
Life’s a Beech III Their pilot was not rated for instrument flying and had not gotten accurate information about the weather on his route. Investigators concluded that the crash was due to a combination of poor weather conditions and pilot error. Don McClean’s song “Miss American Pie” refers to the accident as “The Day the Music Died”. Contrary to popular belief, “Miss American Pie” was not the name of the airplane, but the beauty-queen title of one of McClean’s former girlfriends.
Life‘s Railway to Heaven On March 5, 1963: singer Patsy Cline (30) was killed when a Piper PA-24 Comanche plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee, in
Shortly after taking off from Natchitoches, Louisiana airport on September 20th, 1973, Rock singer Jim Croce (30) died when a chartered Beechcraft E18S failed to gain enough altitude on takeoff and hit a tree. Investigators speculated that the pilot suffered a heart attack causing him to crash into the trees on a clear runway with excellent visibility. He had run a portion of the 3 miles between a hotel and the airport from a motel and had a known heart disease. Croce was famous for his rock hit, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”.
ShoddyAir Several band members, including lead singer and song writer Ronnie Van Zant, of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed on October 20, 1977. According to the NTSB report, the
4 V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza B35.
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