Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.
“The Big Bopper” Richardson, along with the pilot, were killed
when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashed in
Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight
headed for Moorhead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the
crash on bad weather and pilot error.

Pictured above is a Beechcraft Bonanza similar to the one
chartered for the flight.  

Memorial at crash site, 2024.

Nelson boarded a chartered DC-3 in Guntersville, Alabama,
bound for a New Year’s Eve appearance in Dallas. Shortly
before reaching Dallas the cabin of Nelson’s plane filled
with smoke due to a fire of undetermined origin.

In 1987, Rick Nelson was posthumously inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—an honor no other former
child actor has yet achieved.

Last photo of Rick Nelson and Helen Blair. 

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made
the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-
than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903.

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

At 2:10 p.m. on December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger
torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 took off from the
Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine
three-hour training mission.

After having completed their objective, Flight 19 was
scheduled to take them due east for an additional 67
miles, then turn north for 73 miles, and back to the air
station after that, totaling a distance of 120 miles.

A hijacker who became known as D.B. Cooper parachuted from 
a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 into a raging thunderstorm over Washington State.

He had $200,000 in ransom money in his possession. His brazen
crime still stands as one of the most mysterious in history.

Cooper commandeered the aircraft shortly after takeoff, showing
a flight attendant something that looked like a bomb.

(L to R) Captain William Scott; First officer/copilot Robert Rataczak; flight attendant Tina Mucklow; and second
officer Harold Anderson are shown here at a news
conference in Reno, Nevada, after the arrival of Flight
305 to Reno International Airport.     
    
    
    
    
FBI Special Agent Larry Carr.

Northwest Orient Flight 305’s 727 seen in the light of day.