Buddy Holly Plane Crash Site

Author: Jewls Krueger

In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, a small chartered plane carrying rising rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, along with 21 year old pilot Roger Peterson, crashed into a snowy cornfield north of Clear Lake, Iowa just minutes after takeoff. All four men were killed instantly.

The deaths of three of rock and roll's biggest young stars in a single night shocked the country and were later memorialized by singer Don McLean in his 1971 hit "American Pie" as "the day the music died."

The Musicians and the Pilot

Newspaper clipping on February 3, 1959 - Public Domain

Charles Hardin Holley, better known as Buddy Holly, was a 22 year old singer and guitarist from Lubbock, Texas. He had already become one of the most influential figures in rock and roll, with hits including "That'll Be the Day," "Peggy Sue," and "Oh, Boy!"

Richard Steven Valenzuela, who performed as Ritchie Valens, was a 17 year old singer-songwriter from suburban Los Angeles, California. He had recently scored hits with "Donna" and "La Bamba" and was widely regarded as the first major Mexican American rock star.

Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., known professionally as The Big Bopper, was a 28 year old former disc jockey from Beaumont, Texas. His novelty rockabilly song "Chantilly Lace" had reached number 3 on the Billboard charts.

The pilot, Roger Peterson, was a 21 year old commercial pilot for Dwyer Flying Service who was working out of the Mason City Municipal Airport.

The Winter Dance Party Tour

In January 1959, the three musicians joined a poorly planned, 24 city, 24 day "Winter Dance Party" tour across the upper Midwest, alongside Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, and Holly's backing band of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch. The tour bus was a converted school bus that broke down repeatedly in subzero temperatures. By early February, drummer Carl Bunch had been hospitalized with frostbite, while Valens and Richardson had come down with the flu.

On the evening of February 2, 1959, the bands performed at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Frustrated with the bus, Holly chartered a single engine Beechcraft Bonanza for $36 a seat to fly himself and two of his bandmates to Fargo, North Dakota, the closest airport to their next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota. There were only three passenger seats. Richardson, sick with the flu, asked Waylon Jennings for his seat, and Jennings agreed. Valens then won the third seat from Tommy Allsup in a coin toss.

The Plane Crash

The wreckage of the plane - Public Domain

The plane departed Mason City Municipal Airport at approximately 12:55 a.m. on February 3, 1959. Weather conditions had been deteriorating throughout the day. A cold front was pushing through the region, bringing falling temperatures, light snow, and surface winds gusting to 36 mph. The Mason City tower watched the plane's lights climb to about 800 feet, then descend out of sight just five miles northwest of the airport.

When Roger Peterson did not respond to attempts at radio contact and the plane never landed in Fargo, the search began. The wreckage of the Beechcraft was found later that morning by Dwyer Flying Service owner Hubert Dwyer, in a frozen cornfield owned by farmer Albert Juhl, roughly five miles northwest of the airport. The plane had struck the ground at high speed and skidded across the field, scattering debris and the bodies of the four occupants. All four men had died on impact.

The Civil Aeronautics Board's official accident report, released September 23, 1959, ruled that the probable cause was pilot disorientation caused by deteriorating weather and the pilot's lack of experience flying solely on instruments. The report also noted that the Beechcraft was equipped with an attitude gyro that displayed the opposite of what Peterson had been trained on in a conventional artificial horizon, which likely contributed to his confusion.

The Buddy Holly Crash Site Today

The Buddy Holly Memorial at the crash site - Creative Commons: Travellers & Tinkers

The crash site is located in a private cornfield at the intersection of Gull Avenue and 315th Street, in rural Cerro Gordo County roughly six miles north of Clear Lake, Iowa. The site went largely unmarked for nearly 30 years until 1988, when Wisconsin sheet metal worker Ken Paquette built a stainless steel guitar and three steel records bearing the names of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson and placed them along the fence at the crash site. A separate stainless steel set of pilot's wings honoring Roger Peterson was added in 2009. The access point on Gull Avenue is marked by a giant pair of black, Buddy Holly style Wayfarer glasses, built by Michael Connor of Clear Lake.

The memorial sits about a half mile west of the road along a fence line and footpath through the cornfield, which the current landowner mows each season to allow public access. Across from the trailhead, the city of Clear Lake maintains a small Don McLean Parking Area with free parking, restrooms, and donation based bottled water.

The Surf Ballroom, where the three musicians played their last show on February 2, 1959, also still operates today as a live music venue at 460 North Shore Drive in Clear Lake. Each year on the anniversary of the crash, the ballroom hosts a multi-night "Winter Dance Party" tribute concert.

The crash site sits on working farmland. Please stay on the mowed path, pack out anything you bring in, follow all posted signage, and remember that the landowners continue to allow public access to the site out of their own goodwill.