About This File
FS2004 Holly Beech Bonanza G36. Beechcraft G36 Bonanza in red, white and blue. Created with FSDS v2.10 by John B. Loney. Repainted By Jim Kinter Sr. After a February 2 show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy 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, N3974N, named "Miss American Pie" in a later tribute song, 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. Don McLean released a song calling February 3, 1959, "the day the music died." The song was called "American Pie," and it became a number one hit.