Showbiz24.11.2007 - A single engine light aircraft ploughed into a cornfield in a snowstorm a few miles from Clear Lake, Iowa, on Tuesday February 3rd 1959. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) died instantly, along with the pilot Roger Peterson who was only 21.
Unknown to his passengers, Peterson was partially deaf, suffered from vertigo and panic attacks, and was not fully qualified for night flying. Hitting a sudden snow flurry shortly after take-off, Peterson panicked and misread his instrument panel. In the mistaken belief that he was climbing, he flew the plane nose-down at 125 mph into a field of frozen stubble.
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