ROSS SIMPSON

       
SANDY KOZEL

On May 10, 1785, a hot air balloon crashed in Tullamore,
Ireland, triggering what is considered by many to be the
world’s first aviation disaster.

The blaze, later known as the Great Fire of Tullamore,
exposed the unexpected dangers of early ballooning
experiments.

A Dublin newspaper reported that the stunt had been
devised by two English gentlemen, who persuaded an
“English adventurer” to construct and launch a Montgolfier
hot air balloon “for the amusement of their friends.”

There, it caught fire, scattering embers and flames across
town and setting buildings alight along Barrack Street.

    
  
MIKE GRACIA

On February 27, 1980, the long-lost glasses of rock legend 
Buddy Holly, who died in the deadly plane crash in 1959,
were found—filed away in an envelope in a court clerk’s
office.

When the Beechcraft Bonanza carrying Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed outside
Clear Lake, Iowa, in the early morning hours of
February 3, 1959, it struck the ground with such
force that all three passengers were killed instantly,
and the plane’s wreckage was strewn across nearly
300 yards of snow-covered cornfields.

The death certificate issued by the Cerro Gordo County
Coroner noted the clothing Holly was wearing, the
presence of a leather suitcase near his body and the
following personal effects:

Charles Holley

Cash $193.00 less $11.65 coroner’s fees – $181.35

2 Cuff links, silver 1/2 in. balls having jeweled band

Top portion of ball point pen

Notably missing from the list were Holly’s signature
eyeglasses, the most distinctive visual legacy of a
man who influenced the sound and style of rock and
roll immeasurably.