The rock star scored early hits like "That’ll Be the Day" and
"Peggy Sue” before he was killed in rock ‘n’ roll’s most
famous plane crash at age 22.

Holly was among the first artists inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him
number 13 in its list of 100 Greatest Artists in 2010.

Last photo of Buddy during concert at the Surf
Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa.  (February 2,  1959)

A Delta Air Lines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30, similar
to the one involved.

On July 31, 1973, Delta Flight 723 struck a concrete seawall
as it descended into Boston’s Logan International Airport
amid heavy ground fog.

The collision broke off some of the fuselage and the plane
slimed into the ground, breaking apart and bursting into
flames.

Almost all on board died instantly in what became the worst
air disaster at Logan and in all of New England.

An Air France Concorde jet crashed upon takeoff in Paris on
July 25, 2000, killing 109 passengers and crew onboard as
well as four people on the ground.

The Concorde, the world’s fastest commercial jet, had enjoyed
an exemplary safety record up to that point, with no crashes
in the plane’s 31-year history.

Air France Flight 4590 left DeGaulle Airport for New York with
nine crew members and 96 German tourists who were planning
to take a cruise to Ecuador.

Concorde jets went back into service in November 2001, but a
series of minor problems prompted both Air France and British
Airways to end Concorde service permanently in October 2003.

Hindenburg begins to fall seconds after catching fire.

The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the
pride of Nazi Germany, burst into flames upon touching its
mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937.