Monument at the crash site, a corn field near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy Holly                         J. P. "The Big Bopper"   Ritchie Valens 
                                              Richardson                

Roger Arthur Peterson was the 21-year-old pilot of
the 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza that crashed, taking
the lives of Holly, Valens, and Richardson as well
as himself.

A 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza 35 (V-tail) similar to the one flown by
Peterson.

2009

             
              Eddie Cochran

 
December 28,1978

The Douglas DC-8

United Airlines Flight 173 from Denver, a DC-8 approaching Portland, Ore., with 181 passengers, circled near the airport for an hour as the crew desperately tried to sort  
out a landing gear problem. Although warned of the rapidly diminishing fuel supply
by the planes flight engineer, the captain, according to investigative findings, waited
too long to begin his final approach. The DC-8 never made it to runway 28Left. it ran
out of fuel and crashed at 6:15 pm on a cold, clear Thursday evening in 1978. 

In response, United revamped its cockpit training procedures around a new concept
of Cockpit Resource Management (CRM). It emphases teamwork and communication among the crew. It proved to be so successful that it is now used throughout the
world.

.
Cockpit reenactment

    Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976)