How did Buddy Holly die, and when?

gtho4

After a February 2 show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly and his band, along with Ritchie Valens, and J. P. (the Big Bopper) Richardson, were to take a tour bus on a 430-mile trip to Moorhead, Minnesota, but Holly chartered a plane to fly him and his band to Fargo, North Dakota, near Moorhead. Jennings and Allsup gave up their seats to Richardson and Valens. The red Beechcraft Bonanza, named 'Miss American Pie,' took off from Mason City, ten miles east of Clear Lake, at around 1:50 AM on February 3, 1959. The weather was cold and snowy. The plane crashed just after taking off, eight miles from the Mason City airport. The pilot, Valens, Richardson, and Holly, who was found twenty feet from the point of impact, died. Shortly following Holly's funeral in Lubbock, his pregnant widow, Maria, had a miscarriage. The last Buddy Holly single, 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore,' with 'Raining in My Heart' on the reverse side, which had been released a few weeks earlier on January 5, hit the Top 100 on the day of the crash. http://texas-on-line.com/graphic/buddyholly.htm A picture of the crash site, his grave, and death certificate are on this page: http://yes.co.th/buddyholly/death.html Aug 21 02, 3:36 AM