My brother reminded me of my mothers connection to a historical event. I remember hearing this story a long time ago but had forgotten about it.
In 1959 she was living in Mason City Iowa. On the morning of Feb 3rd, she and some friends got in a car and drove to nearby Clear Lake. A few miles out of Mason city, they saw a plane crash that had happened several hours earlier. They didn't think much of it and continued to Clear Lake.
It was only later that day that they learned who the occupants were: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, J.P.Richardson.
No way! Why would they not stop and rubber neck themselves half to death? This was a 1959 plane crash, ffs.
If you recall, it was just a 4 seat Beechcraft V35 Bonanza like this one.
It was a pretty common sight at small airports back then and alarmingly common to see them crash too, since the early models had an issue with cracks in the empennage causing the tail surfaces to bind up.
I imagine they probably slowed down and took a brief look but we're talking about a car full of young women with other things to occupy their time.
