My grandfather, William Carr, was the pilot of the DC-7. I knew Grandpa, a very experienced pilot, died in a Pacoima plane crash while flying for Douglas, but never knew the details surrounding the crash (grandma never really talked about it) until I began researching it several years ago (the CAB report is very thorough!). Your mini-documentary about the crash was very well done and I'm rather dismayed that UA-cam would demonetize it. FWIW, the actual radio transmissions from the DC-7 after the F-89 hit its left wing near Hanson Dam: Pilot Carr: "Uncontrollable." Copilot Twitchell: "We're in a midair collision - midair collision, 10 How (aircraft identification using phonetic How for H) we are going in -uncontrollable, uncontrollable - we are . . . we've had it boy - poor jet too - told you we should take chutes - say goodbye to everybody." Radio Operator Nakazawa: "We are spinning in the valley." At the time of the crash, speeches were being practiced in the auditorium, which were recorded. For those interested, the rather eerie audio recording of the DC-7 hitting the ground can be heard at russellbuchanan.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/pacoima-jr-high-school-airplane-crash-of-1957-audio/ .
Wow that recording is extremely eerie but I am very happy you uploaded it. I can only imagine the chaos. It sounds like shortly before the recording stopped one of the staff was starting to panic and yell into the mic.
Amazing story. Sounded very scary !. Like to hear or read more story's of your Grandfather. Was it your father who kept the recordings ?. By any chance would you be willing to share it Tommy over at Valley Relics Museum at Van Nuys Airport?
The pilots and crew who test these amazing aircraft are unsung heroes. I am sorry for the loss of your grandfather. I am grateful The History Guy did such a good job telling this story, which is part of your family history. God Bless.
Wow. Thanks for the link. We lived in Tujunga and heard about the crash that afternoon. A few years later they built Pacoima Lutheran Memorial Hospital as a result of the crash where it was clear that the area needed more emergency facilities to treat burn victims. My mom became head nurse there. Apparently the 1971 Sylmar Quake damaged it beyond repair and it was demolished. I believe it was in 1958 when my parents took us to Pacific Ocean Park where we saw Ritchie Valens play. It was common to hear sonic booms back in those days from tests out of Edwards AFB. Prayers for those affected by that day.....
My husband's father was Waldo Adams and I was thankful to be able to see your report and share it with our children and grandchildren. Thanks for your excellent coverage.
Thanks again History Guy! Valuable, informative, and touching. At 9:18 the mother said, "I didn't even kiss him goodbye this morning". I know how she feels, when we lost our 16 year old son one of the overwhelming emotions I felt that day was: I don't remember the last time I hugged him. Please, hug your children and tell them you love them, especially if they don't deserve it.
Thank you for reminding us of the 1957 Pacoima Mid-Air Collision. I remember this well. My parents moved us out to Pacoima in 1957 and I was in the 5th grade when this happened. Fortunately the planes didn’t hit my school that was 3 miles away. But I totally understand Ritchie Valens fear of flying. He actually had a good reason for it because we had many very bad airplane accidents in Pacoima from a small private (non-tower controlled) airport in Pacoima called Whiteman Air Park. There were lots of rookie pilots always crashing out there during those years. It was an odd set up at Whiteman Air Port (by Ritchie’s house) where pilots had to get enough lift to clear the power lines located at the end of the runway, and far too many didn’t. So it often resulted in fatal crashes from pilots hitting power lines. I lived over the flight path when I was little and it scared me to death because our local news papers always showed us photos and reports of those local plane crashes by my house in Pacoima. It seemed like it happened a lot. This is part of the story people don’t seem to bring up. Ritchie Valens lived west of the airport, I lived on the east side of it. Our fear of planes falling out of the sky was real. It seemed we always had some weird plane crashes out in the north east San Fernando Valley. All the conditions seem right for aircraft accidents out there. We had plenty of high winds, poorly maintained private aircraft, with rookie pilots at the controls, who were full of money and ego and deficient in flying skills. They were not as good as they though they were. Thank you so much for this excellent presentation. GOOD JOB!
There was also another airport close by in the area, San Fernando. It's gone now, turned into industrial in 1985, but it was badly designed, so the pilot had to take off to the southwest and land to the northeast because of the mountains. At least that's what I was told when I was learning to fly in 1980, so I never flew there. Whiteman Airpark is still there, but it has a working tower now.
We lived in Tujunga and heard about the crash that afternoon. Apparently it showed that there were not enough emergency facilities in the area and burn units were very few. They built Pacoima Lutheran Memorial Hospital near by a few years later and my mom became Head Nurse there. You no doubt remember February 9, 1971 pre dawn.... The Sylmar Quake. It affected my life to this very day. The hospital was damaged badly and was torn down. One day in 1975 my dad was acting weirdly and dragged me to Whiteman Airport. I knew something was up so I stopped asking questions. A Cessna 150 taxied up and shut down in front of us. My dad's old friend was in the passenger seat. My brother was flying it! They kept his flying lessons a secret from me all that time, easily done since I was living in San Luis Obispo and attending Cal Poly.. What a shock. Here's a guy who can't tie his shoes or ride a bike FLYING! I should have been the family pilot! Airplanes were my thing and my brother was never interested. He still lives in the same house we grew up in but I chose NorCal. He got about 80 hours of flying then quit...thank goodness. They were building the 210 freeway during the Sylmar quake and CHIPs was filmed on the closed sections of it. Part of it collapsed and a guy driving an Earth mover crashed into a rest home after having a heart attack. Several people were killed. I rode my motorcycle through the debris to check on friends living in San Fernando and Pacoima. Our high school was wrecked.
Did have similarities of the 1986 Cerritos Air crash in a residential neighborhood, it was almost to the 30 year aniversary of 1957 crash only by four months.
Haven't thought about this for years. I was there that day in a classroom near the field, fortunately I was not injured. I remember my father coming to the school to get me and we walked home since we lived nearby. I remember walking through debris as we left the school grounds. Thanks, Good report.
I'm currently a San Fernando City resident. A few of my elderly neighbors survived unharmed that day. The 2 things they always reminisce about is being Richie Valens classmate and the Pacoima Air Crash. Thank You for reporting this story History Guy.
I used to watch “La Bamba”, with Lou Diamond Phillips, all the time as a kid. I remember his haunting nightmare scenes, with “Sleep Walk” playing... I never knew it was about this incident. Thanks for sharing.
I'm now 70 and saw the planes collide in midair when I was 5. PJHS was about a mile from our home. I still remember walking to PJHS and seeing airplane parts scattered about the athletic field at Pacoima Junior High School.
Mid-air collisions are a pilot's worst nightmare. I was once en-route to Savanna Georgia in my puny Cessna 185 at 12,000 ft when ATC called to say they were painting a target 12 o'clock high, one mile ahead of me...basically head on. I strained and didn't see a thing...seconds later, a twin Beachcraft passed just BELOW me while I was looking upward, so close I could read the octane rating around the fuel caps on his upper wing when I glanced at his passing...so I can relate. The sky is big, really big, be we still manage to run into each other on occasion. Good story!
As a 7th grader, I was on the playground at Robert Fulton Jr. High in Van Nuys, on that day of the mid-air collision. I heard the collision and turned to the Northeast; I can still see the plume of black smoke as it made its way toward the ground. Thank you for filling in the blanks about that tragic day. It could have just as easily occurred over my school.
I remember seeing the parachute coming down in a clear sky over east Burbank after the crash - from John Burroughs High in Burbank. Some students who had cars were ditching to go see where he landed, which looked like it would have been a couple of miles away. Thanks for the memory jog!
History Guy: I love your site and stories. I really love how the general population in the comments sections add their own remembrances of the events you review. Thanks so much!!!!! This is the best!!!!!!!! And, thanks UA-camrs who add the additional information.
As a former air traffic controller I have always been fascinated by air accidents and their numerous causes. I had never heard of this accident; thanks for telling us about it! I've only watched a couple of your videos, but they are excellent and I will definitely keep tuning in!
My father told me he was one of the kids at that school. He mentioned it when we were watching La Bamba (shortly after it first came out on VHS), right after that dream sequence. I got the feeling it impacted him deeply, from the way he reacted. He had been enjoying the movie up to that point, but suddenly got very pale and quiet, edging into anger. He only ever mentioned it the once, and I got the feeling he wouldn't appreciate questions, so didn't ask any. He never watched that movie again, that I know of.
I was about to enter the school yard at Sutter Jr. Hi. When my attention was drawn to the sky and the immediate aftermath of the collision. Years later I worked at the Sepulveda VA hospital with Mike Sullivan who was on the sports field at Pacoima when the debris began to fall. Your father may remember him.
My father was an Air Force pilot of that era, flying f-80 shooting stars, f-86 sabres and f-94 starfires (the 94's also being all weather interceptors). I'm not sure if he ever flew the f-89's. About 10 years ago he finally told me of several times he almost bought it during his time flying, including one near miss mid air collision. Like with so many of these tragedies, there were a series of factors that contributed to the situation. Thankfully the ground crew saved the day. Thanks for the detailed video.
I've known about this all my life, my father worked for Pan Am and talked about the day a Northrop Scorpion took the wing off a Douglas aircraft. I think he was in California and was hearing about while it was happening. He said they were telling the controllers to tell their families Goodbye. I have a commercial pilots license now myself, my first flight instructor died in a plane crash, my flight examiner who gave me all my ratings died in a plane crash, and the first person to give me a job flying died in a plane crash. I don't fly anymore.
pauline2272 yes I also was in a plane crash as a passenger but was luckily a survivor... I still fly in commercial flights if I can't drive to my destination but it scares me 😳
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, even living in the city next to Pacoima in the '70's, and this is the first time I can recall hearing about this crash. Thank you.
god bless him. my stepdad passed away early 2015- he was a general dynamics rocket engineer. he was fascinated by his computer and was online alot at age 86. OMG would he have loved curiosity stream... he loved German stuff (he was british?) and would be driving an infiniti if he were alive today. he would have loved that German guy at the test track! my real dad died in '97 right when he was starting to become computer literate. buy your dad a drink or do something nice for him cause I can't do that anymore. l lost my mom in February. So I have a house full of all their stuff (no clothes) and a dog and a cat. hope your dad keeps on truckin...
I was a little kid visiting my Aunt and Uncle who lived on Garber Street in Pacoima, when this crash happened. Laurel Canyon Blvd., where the crash occurred, was about a mile and a half away. There was a smoke plume in the distance, but everybody in the neighborhood assumed it was an explosion of some sort. Had absolutely no idea that this was the event that traumatized Richie Valens. Thanks History Guy, you've done it again.
@@waynewright2886 --It would appear that Andrew-k is being too literal for his own good much to the annoyance of everybody else who can interpret what you meant. Just so you know for future reference (to avoid overly-literal dolts like him) when shortening a year to two digits from within that past century there should be an apostrophe in front of the numbers, in your instance--'87. Cheers!
I realky appreciate your videos. Refreshing, no click bait, just juicy morsels of the past. And you learn more about the period of any particular video with all the the details you provide. Thank you history guy.
HG, When I listen to your stories, it feels like I'm listening to the voice of History itself. I believe if you continue to create these marvelously informative videos, your popularity will grow very rapidly.
I grew up in the 60s in Pacoima and my dad used to drive us over to the crash site a few years after it happened, amazing you found this and the entire report. Nice work
Great channel . Great content with in-depth explanations of facts . No speculation . No distracting music . You sir are more valuable than the history channel itself . By far .
I loved the History Channel and could be entertained for a long time. You are in the same vein. Yours are concise, short and fascinating. Good work. Looking forward to more of your sterling history accounts.
A guy I knew, Ralph Woolsey, was a teacher at the USC Cinema Dept. and beginning a career as Cinematographer on TV shows. They were shooting exteriors that day, and had to do a retake because of a bright flash in the sky. It was later surmised that it was this crash. They found their shooting site, enlarged the frame and were able to determine where the camera was set.. The math guys got busy and this helped them pin-loint the location of the actual crash in the air, so they could calculate how the wreckage had dispersed.
Yes- that accidental shot was used to help pinpoint the location of the collision, although it was too distant to discern details of the planes' movement.
I click even if I feel I am thoroughly familiar with your chosen subject. You always leave at least a couple 'biscuits', it is fun to learn something new about a story that interested you YEARS ago. Thank you Mr. Guy!
I developed an interest in air disasters after watching an episode of "Mayday" or one of its other names. I ended up watching almost all of them, and I remember this crash from those documentaries very well. I do not remember anyone mentioning the connection between this crash and the one that Ritchie Valens was involved in, so I just wanted to say thanks for telling the story again, as well as the extra information that I may have otherwise never knew. I'll be sharing this information in my conversations about these air disasters.
Excellent, as usual! I had never heard of this crash, but even your videos that cover subjects I have heard of always present me with details I had never heard of before. Still binge-watching, but have most of your videos watched now and not a single one of them has failed to please. I love your delivery as well as the amount of info you can pack into so short a span.
Having had a grammar school education and a history teacher whose idea of teaching was to write text on a black board from a jotter that he had been using since before I was born and told to copy it. This was the same text he had used since the school had opened and simply repeated year on year lesson by lesson. You don't need much imagination to realise I dropped history as a subject as soon as I possibly could. The teacher concerned, and I won't name him even though he is long since in his grave had a PhD in history but absolutely no interest in teaching it. I found your channel only recently and weep at some of the episodes you present. You are to the point with enough background to explain and an obvious enthusiasm for the subject that all teachers should take serious note of. I now have far more years behind me, my history, than I do in the future but there are still lessons to be learnt from the mishaps and adventures of our ancestors. One topic that has recently begun to interest me is the Scottish Highland Clearances. So many people from the area where I now live were forcefully removed from their homes and the land and often transported to the USA and Canada under horrific conditions. There must be dozens of first hand stories to be found from the ancestors of those that survived and thrived. Please keep up the good work, if only I had had a teacher like you 50 years ago. I thank you.
C P: If you're not hearing about Scottish history in Gaelic, not English, you're not getting the real story. Bay-an-uck-let, blessings on you from paternal Clan Watt and maternal Clan Hay.
@J Smith The last time I looked the Scots were white as were their landlords and most of the landlords were also Scottish so it was more a case of have and have nots. It also seems that many of those that were ousted from their meagre crofts ended up in positions of power in foreign lands. In fact the BLM have tried and sometimes succeeded in wiping those Scots who actually built much of the modern world from history. Discrimination is wrong regardless of who is the perpetrator and who is the victim and regardless of colour or creed or sex. And the worst discrimination of all is the so called positive discrimination where an individuals life is judged not on their abilities but on some arbitrary genetic variation.
I saw 'La Bamba' when it came out in the theater, and about 10 years later, was a substitute teacher, who subbed a few times at Pacoima Junior High among several other schools in the east San Fernando Valley, but I never knew the connection of the dream sequence and that school until now! Thanks for the lesson!
Well done. It’s almost like living at that time. The fact that Valens was terrified to fly because of this makes American Pie all the more meaningful from an American cultural point of view. I’m 56 and never realized this. You have yet again, opened my eyes to our collective history. This is the value of what you do. Thanks, as always.
Javier 86 All his work is excellent, so I can't agree this is his "best". He's so very good that it would be tough to narrow down his best 10...or 3, not to mention 1.
what a fascinating story! I really enjoyed it! And I don't think that you speak too quickly. Your pace indicates to me the enthusiasm about your subject. BRAVO! I'll be back!
I actually first learned about this crash from listening to the Radio Classics channel on Sirius radio. They played a radio show from, I think CBS that was from around the time of the crash. It had interviews from some survivors and witnesses. I haven't Googled it so I can't remember the title or the year. I said all that to say I love this channel. I like the format and the subjects you cover on here. Thank you for the work you put into these videos, and I hope you make many more since I'm running out of your videos. I've watched almost all of them and have now started rationing the remaining ones. I eagerly await more.
Manuel Ortiz Guys, don't waste bandwidth commenting on the spam. It's auto generated, there is no human behind these comments (and certainly no "Jennifer"... more likely a fat spammer with bad breath named Brad, still living in his mom's basement...). Just report the comments as spam and ignore them, they will eventually be removed by UA-cam, and then only your comments will remain as residue, out of context. Thanks!
Dsdcain I concur with all you said. My beloved UA-cam, ( I've had two channels for 11years now) has been disappointing me as of late with Dem Liberal bias, and censuring,) however I woke up stiff necked and groggy from the lazy boy chair, just trying to get to the bedroom and real sleep. I look at my phone one last time and behold a notification of this vid and am instantly drawn to this. I am a war history buff loving air war stuff. Author of a book "Up there by me Terry Allan. I remember this story and it's fascinating. Like you I will check out all these vids. What a great channel to wake up to and subscribe to as well. Good night. Have a good one. Tman!........
i’m a Pacoima native, i’ve known this story my entire life. i’ve heard it a million times but never with this much detail. thank you for the deep dive 🙏🏾
I remember that day very well. I was at Pinewood Elementary School in Tujunga when our teacher, Mrs. Armand came out of the classroom and ushered us all back into our class. I remember her and another teacher, Mrs. Henderson talking about the junior high school plane crash. Even then, bad news traveled fast. Funny how a kid can remember such things but our teacher was worried and ushered us in like a mother hen. She was a kind teacher and will always remember the worry on her face at that moment. I can't believe it has been 61 years.
I came across this story several months ago while researching the Valens plane crash. I do love history, especially aircraft history. Many people think history is boring because they were taught in black and white. Thanks for bringing so much color to our past. The 1957 Pacoima incident resulted in more than $10 million in law suits. Thanks again for what you do History Guy.
History Guy - Great video!! Never saw your channel before but ran into it head-on while surfing UA-cam this morning. Just checked out your videos available and am afraid I'm hooked. Will see you often, keep up the great work, and thanks for the video.
You should do more videos on airplane crashes. Most out there are long documentaries and your presentation is amazing. I really enjoy being able to watch many short clips at night before bed instead of being stuck with one 45-60 min video on one thing in the past.
Fantastic video. Thank you. This has quickly become my favorite channel. Your videos are extremely well narrated, short enough to hold my attention, yet informative enough that I learn something new from each of them. Definitely worth remembering.
Another great piece of lost history. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was hearing a newscaster on the 5 o’clock news. Please keep up these wonderful segments of lost history. I open my iPad daily looking to see if there is a new one.
As an aviation enthusiast who grew up in Southern California, I was surprised to learn about this significant incident from your channel! Thank you! I spent considerable time yesterday performing further research online, finding out details of the crews and children who were killed, the subsequent life of the radar operator that survived. Even found a recording that was made in the auditorium of the school, during a presentation to students, in which you can hear the plane coming down and exploding. Very moving accounts of the tragedy by survivors and witnesses. Another significant area air-to-air disaster between military and civilian aircraft occurred over the San Gabriel mountains near Duarte in 1971.
It's been a few years, but yes. Flew in there in a helicopter a couple times when my brother was building time flying out of Van Nuys. I grew up in Chino area, about a 30 minute bicycle ride to the airport there...hung out there as a kid. Now I live in Santa Paula and we have a great little airport here. A short drive to Camarillo which hosts a chapter of the CAF and lots of warbirds.
I was awestruck by this video. This is the first I've heard of this story. PSA Flight 182 collision over San Diego on September 25, 1978 comes to mind.
I was about six weeks old at the time that happened, but years later my mom told me about it. I asked my brother about it one time, and he said that he saw the DC-7 going down right before it hit the schoolyard.
On that day I was in grade school in La Crescenta and while on the playground did observe both the jet going and the guy in the parachute. I will always remember that sight. RIP to all who passed.
I witnessed the debris coming down on the schoolyard from my front lawn. I later attended Pacoima Junior High but only learned about Valens years later. He wasn’t mentioned while I was there.
I remember vividly in Sept 1978, a small plane collided with a PSA 727 over San Diego, killing 144 people ,including I believe 9 on the ground.After that accident I always felt a twinge of anxiety whenever I boarded a plane.
This happened right above me as I was standing in line for lunch at Vinedale Elementary School in La Tuna Canyon, Sun Valley, CA. I was about 10 years old and I have never forgotten it.
This happened less than a year after two passenger planes collided into each other over the Grand Canyon... Planes were just crashing into one another all over the place back in the 50's!
we still have the occasional mid air collision in modern times too, not even TCAS, more advanced ATC radars or even onboard radars have been able to completely eliminate planes crashing into each other
@@billfitzpatrick6910 In spite of the vastly increased number of aircraft in the air and vastly increased mileage, the last time there was a collision involving a commercial aircraft was in Sept of 2015 over Senegal, and before that the last was in Sept of 2006 over Brazil. On the other hand, in June of 1956 there was the Grand Canyon disaster, in January of '57 there was the Pacoima collision, in April of '58 a United DC-7 collided with an F-100 near Las Vegas, in Oct '58 a BEA Vickers Viscount collided with an Italian F-86 over Italy, in Feb '60 over Brazil, a US Navy R6D-1 transport collided with a Brazilian commercial DC-3, in Dec '60, over New York a United DC-8 and TWA Constellation collided. Air crashes ARE deadlier today, because airplanes carry a lot more people, and accidents due to malfunction and pilot error happen more, chiefly because there are so many more aircraft flying so many more miles, but commercial aviation collisions are much rarer.
Very interesting. Of course, many of us know about 'the day the music died', but this connection is one I had never heard of before. Today, flight at 25,000', or Flight Level 250 is Instrument Flight Regulations, or IFR instead of Visual Flight Regulations, VFR. Above 18,000' in the U.S. requires a radar transponder and contact with an Air Traffic Control center. Something like this shouldn't happen today because everyone should be under positive radar control at the altitudes they were flying then. A further part is that military aircraft now operate inside an Military Operating Area, or MOA, and if the MOA is active, or 'hot' a controller will inform you, and you probably will not be allowed inside of it.
I hold a Private Pilot's License, but I am not current, and my medical has lapsed. I do not know if I could get another medical certificate, although if I had to financial wherewithal to return to flying, I'd be doing everything I could to get one. :D
Jerry, I will agree that Google is a very good resource for many things, but I love aviation and everything about it, so I knew this information because of that. Thank you both for your comments.
Gary C I would have my license if I could afford it. I'm looking to go all the way from single engine aircraft to multi engine turboprop and jet engine aircraft. Eventually I want to move on to rotary aircraft so I can fly transport helicopters for the Marines
I enjoy and appreciate it all, as I'm sure even the people you mention that made the history would appreciate it and the fact you didn't forget them. They are worth mentioning and deserve to be remembered. Thanks again, History Guy.
So interesting!! I always thought the dream sequence in La Bamba was just some made up thing to make Ritchie's death more spectacular. Thanks for such a great mini-doc!!
To my recollection the Producer of the film lived in or around Pacoima at the time. His recollection and filming of that seen as exactly how I remembered seeing it.
My grandfather, William Carr, was the pilot of the DC-7. I knew Grandpa, a very experienced pilot, died in a Pacoima plane crash while flying for Douglas, but never knew the details surrounding the crash (grandma never really talked about it) until I began researching it several years ago (the CAB report is very thorough!). Your mini-documentary about the crash was very well done and I'm rather dismayed that UA-cam would demonetize it.
FWIW, the actual radio transmissions from the DC-7 after the F-89 hit its left wing near Hanson Dam:
Pilot Carr: "Uncontrollable."
Copilot Twitchell: "We're in a midair collision - midair collision, 10 How (aircraft identification using phonetic How for H) we are going in -uncontrollable, uncontrollable - we are . . . we've had it boy - poor jet too - told you we should take chutes - say goodbye to everybody."
Radio Operator Nakazawa: "We are spinning in the valley."
At the time of the crash, speeches were being practiced in the auditorium, which were recorded. For those interested, the rather eerie audio recording of the DC-7 hitting the ground can be heard at
russellbuchanan.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/pacoima-jr-high-school-airplane-crash-of-1957-audio/ .
Wow that recording is extremely eerie but I am very happy you uploaded it. I can only imagine the chaos. It sounds like shortly before the recording stopped one of the staff was starting to panic and yell into the mic.
Haunting.
Appreciate the link.
Amazing story. Sounded very scary !. Like to hear or read more story's of your Grandfather. Was it your father who kept the recordings ?. By any chance would you be willing to share it Tommy over at Valley Relics Museum at Van Nuys Airport?
The pilots and crew who test these amazing aircraft are unsung heroes.
I am sorry for the loss of your grandfather.
I am grateful The History Guy did such a good job telling this story, which is part of your family history.
God Bless.
Wow. Thanks for the link. We lived in Tujunga and heard about the crash that afternoon. A few years later they built Pacoima Lutheran Memorial Hospital as a result of the crash where it was clear that the area needed more emergency facilities to treat burn victims. My mom became head nurse there. Apparently the 1971 Sylmar Quake damaged it beyond repair and it was demolished. I believe it was in 1958 when my parents took us to Pacific Ocean Park where we saw Ritchie Valens play. It was common to hear sonic booms back in those days from tests out of Edwards AFB. Prayers for those affected by that day.....
My husband's father was Waldo Adams and I was thankful to be able to see your report and share it with our children and grandchildren. Thanks for your excellent coverage.
Thanks again History Guy! Valuable, informative, and touching. At 9:18 the mother said, "I didn't even kiss him goodbye this morning". I know how she feels, when we lost our 16 year old son one of the overwhelming emotions I felt that day was: I don't remember the last time I hugged him. Please, hug your children and tell them you love them, especially if they don't deserve it.
Thank you for reminding us of the 1957 Pacoima Mid-Air Collision. I remember this well. My parents moved us out to Pacoima in 1957 and I was in the 5th grade when this happened. Fortunately the planes didn’t hit my school that was 3 miles away. But I totally understand Ritchie Valens fear of flying. He actually had a good reason for it because we had many very bad airplane accidents in Pacoima from a small private (non-tower controlled) airport in Pacoima called Whiteman Air Park. There were lots of rookie pilots always crashing out there during those years. It was an odd set up at Whiteman Air Port (by Ritchie’s house) where pilots had to get enough lift to clear the power lines located at the end of the runway, and far too many didn’t. So it often resulted in fatal crashes from pilots hitting power lines. I lived over the flight path when I was little and it scared me to death because our local news papers always showed us photos and reports of those local plane crashes by my house in Pacoima. It seemed like it happened a lot. This is part of the story people don’t seem to bring up. Ritchie Valens lived west of the airport, I lived on the east side of it. Our fear of planes falling out of the sky was real. It seemed we always had some weird plane crashes out in the north east San Fernando Valley. All the conditions seem right for aircraft accidents out there. We had plenty of high winds, poorly maintained private aircraft, with rookie pilots at the controls, who were full of money and ego and deficient in flying skills. They were not as good as they though they were. Thank you so much for this excellent presentation. GOOD JOB!
There was also another airport close by in the area, San Fernando. It's gone now, turned into industrial in 1985, but it was badly designed, so the pilot had to take off to the southwest and land to the northeast because of the mountains. At least that's what I was told when I was learning to fly in 1980, so I never flew there. Whiteman Airpark is still there, but it has a working tower now.
We lived in Tujunga and heard about the crash that afternoon. Apparently it showed that there were not enough emergency facilities in the area and burn units were very few. They built Pacoima Lutheran Memorial Hospital near by a few years later and my mom became Head Nurse there. You no doubt remember February 9, 1971 pre dawn.... The Sylmar Quake. It affected my life to this very day. The hospital was damaged badly and was torn down.
One day in 1975 my dad was acting weirdly and dragged me to Whiteman Airport. I knew something was up so I stopped asking questions. A Cessna 150 taxied up and shut down in front of us. My dad's old friend was in the passenger seat. My brother was flying it! They kept his flying lessons a secret from me all that time, easily done since I was living in San Luis Obispo and attending Cal Poly.. What a shock. Here's a guy who can't tie his shoes or ride a bike FLYING! I should have been the family pilot! Airplanes were my thing and my brother was never interested. He still lives in the same house we grew up in but I chose NorCal. He got about 80 hours of flying then quit...thank goodness.
They were building the 210 freeway during the Sylmar quake and CHIPs was filmed on the closed sections of it. Part of it collapsed and a guy driving an Earth mover crashed into a rest home after having a heart attack. Several people were killed. I rode my motorcycle through the debris to check on friends living in San Fernando and Pacoima. Our high school was wrecked.
Sucks because till this day they hit power lines at whiteman airport
Did have similarities of the 1986 Cerritos Air crash in a residential neighborhood, it was almost to the 30 year aniversary of 1957 crash only by four months.
Haven't thought about this for years. I was there that day in a classroom near the field, fortunately I was not injured. I remember my father coming to the school to get me and we walked home since we lived nearby. I remember walking through debris as we left the school grounds. Thanks, Good report.
I'm currently a San Fernando City resident. A few of my elderly neighbors survived unharmed that day. The 2 things they always reminisce about is being Richie Valens classmate and the Pacoima Air Crash. Thank You for reporting this story History Guy.
I used to watch “La Bamba”, with Lou Diamond Phillips, all the time as a kid. I remember his haunting nightmare scenes, with “Sleep Walk” playing... I never knew it was about this incident. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! You watched the movie with Lou?? Is he a nice guy?
@@benlee7864 I walked right into that one! 😁
I'm now 70 and saw the planes collide in midair when I was 5. PJHS was about a mile from our home. I still remember walking to PJHS and seeing airplane parts scattered about the athletic field at Pacoima Junior High School.
I will NEVER forget the sounds of the crash and the aircraft coming down into the school playground ...I was five years old
Lies
Proof
Mid-air collisions are a pilot's worst nightmare. I was once en-route to Savanna Georgia in my puny Cessna 185 at 12,000 ft when ATC called to say they were painting a target 12 o'clock high, one mile ahead of me...basically head on. I strained and didn't see a thing...seconds later, a twin Beachcraft passed just BELOW me while I was looking upward, so close I could read the octane rating around the fuel caps on his upper wing when I glanced at his passing...so I can relate. The sky is big, really big, be we still manage to run into each other on occasion. Good story!
PUCKER!!!!!
!!!!~YIKES~!!!!
John Emerson l
I hope you had extra scivvies handy.!!! ! I wonder what ATC had told the Beachboy.
Now that close!!!
I'm glad you came through okay... but wow, close. too close.
As a 7th grader, I was on the playground at Robert Fulton Jr. High in Van Nuys, on that day of the mid-air collision. I heard the collision and turned to the Northeast; I can still see the plume of black smoke as it made its way toward the ground.
Thank you for filling in the blanks about that tragic day. It could have just as easily occurred over my school.
enjoy all your forgotten history..thank you Prof Simon.
I recommend your channel all the time. It’s the perfect response to those who think history is boring or not important.
"We've had it boy.... Say goodbye to everybody." that's class man
I remember seeing the parachute coming down in a clear sky over east Burbank after the crash - from John Burroughs High in Burbank. Some students who had cars were ditching to go see where he landed, which looked like it would have been a couple of miles away. Thanks for the memory jog!
History Guy: I love your site and stories. I really love how the general population in the comments sections add their own remembrances of the events you review. Thanks so much!!!!! This is the best!!!!!!!! And, thanks UA-camrs who add the additional information.
As a former air traffic controller I have always been fascinated by air accidents and their numerous causes. I had never heard of this accident; thanks for telling us about it! I've only watched a couple of your videos, but they are excellent and I will definitely keep tuning in!
I have not known of your channel very long, but not only do you teach us, you keep the mornoers of these. People alive. Thank you.
My father told me he was one of the kids at that school. He mentioned it when we were watching La Bamba (shortly after it first came out on VHS), right after that dream sequence. I got the feeling it impacted him deeply, from the way he reacted. He had been enjoying the movie up to that point, but suddenly got very pale and quiet, edging into anger. He only ever mentioned it the once, and I got the feeling he wouldn't appreciate questions, so didn't ask any. He never watched that movie again, that I know of.
I'm no expert but PTSD comes to mind. It would have been a horrific encounter to endure, especially at that age.
Thank you for sharing. I hope your father, and others, are/were well afterwards.
I was about to enter the school yard at Sutter Jr. Hi. When my attention was drawn to the sky and the immediate aftermath of the collision. Years later I worked at the Sepulveda VA hospital with Mike Sullivan who was on the sports field at Pacoima when the debris began to fall. Your father may remember him.
Winter Gray
Winter Gray ominous.
My father was an Air Force pilot of that era, flying f-80 shooting stars, f-86 sabres and f-94 starfires (the 94's also being all weather interceptors). I'm not sure if he ever flew the f-89's. About 10 years ago he finally told me of several times he almost bought it during his time flying, including one near miss mid air collision. Like with so many of these tragedies, there were a series of factors that contributed to the situation. Thankfully the ground crew saved the day. Thanks for the detailed video.
I've known about this all my life, my father worked for Pan Am and talked about the day a Northrop Scorpion took the wing off a Douglas aircraft. I think he was in California and was hearing about while it was happening. He said they were telling the controllers to tell their families Goodbye. I have a commercial pilots license now myself, my first flight instructor died in a plane crash, my flight examiner who gave me all my ratings died in a plane crash, and the first person to give me a job flying died in a plane crash. I don't fly anymore.
Scared?
so how will you avoid a plane crashing into you?
pauline2272 yes I also was in a plane crash as a passenger but was luckily a survivor... I still fly in commercial flights if I can't drive to my destination but it scares me 😳
Good call. You may have saved your own life.
@Andrew_koala love how you lay into the guy who's obviously joking, but not the guy who literally said that this "May have saved your life"
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, even living in the city next to Pacoima in the '70's, and this is the first time I can recall hearing about this crash. Thank you.
The GREAT 'San Fernando Valley"...Born in Burbank, raised in Van Nuys!......Loved it!...40's, 50's & 60's
I just introduced my 81 year old father to your channel. He subscribed and has been binge-watching since the 4th. You're welcome! ; )
morskojvolk thank you!
god bless him. my stepdad passed away early 2015- he was a general dynamics rocket engineer. he was fascinated by his computer and was online alot at age 86. OMG would he have loved curiosity stream... he loved German stuff (he was british?) and would be driving an infiniti if he were alive today. he would have loved that German guy at the test track! my real dad died in '97 right when he was starting to become computer literate. buy your dad a drink or do something nice for him cause I can't do that anymore. l lost my mom in February. So I have a house full of all their stuff (no clothes) and a dog and a cat. hope your dad keeps on truckin...
That is cool.
mark felton productions is also good, mostly ww2 stuff tho.
@@tommurphy4307 I'm sorry for your lost 😔.
History Guy, thanks for this eloquent narrative of these tragic events. You have a way with words!
I was a little kid visiting my Aunt and Uncle who lived on Garber Street in Pacoima, when this crash happened. Laurel Canyon Blvd., where the crash occurred, was about a mile and a half away. There was a smoke plume in the distance, but everybody in the neighborhood assumed it was an explosion of some sort. Had absolutely no idea that this was the event that traumatized Richie Valens. Thanks History Guy, you've done it again.
I love these 1st hand accountings! Did you ever go to the "Laurel" drive-in?
I Found Out in the Movie La Bamba that was Released in 87, cause the Story was Real.
surferdude44444 (((
@Andrew_koala
What the Hell are you Talking About No Movies Released in 87!
@@waynewright2886 --It would appear that Andrew-k is being too literal for his own good much to the annoyance of everybody else who can interpret what you meant. Just so you know for future reference (to avoid overly-literal dolts like him) when shortening a year to two digits from within that past century there should be an apostrophe in front of the numbers, in your instance--'87. Cheers!
I realky appreciate your videos. Refreshing, no click bait, just juicy morsels of the past. And you learn more about the period of any particular video with all the the details you provide.
Thank you history guy.
HG, When I listen to your stories, it feels like I'm listening to the voice of History itself. I believe if you continue to create these marvelously informative videos, your popularity will grow very rapidly.
What? With that stupid, irritating voice and face?
You are just what I've been looking for on UA-cam. Thanks!
I grew up in the 60s in Pacoima and my dad used to drive us over to the crash site a few years after it happened, amazing you found this and the entire report. Nice work
Great channel . Great content with in-depth explanations of facts . No speculation . No distracting music . You sir are more valuable than the history channel itself . By far .
Loved this one! The history you bring up definitely needs to be remembered! Thanks for posting! Love this channel!!!!
You are an amazing story teller. Your telling of this story had me on the edge of my seat.
Don’t be too discouraged about not being able to answer all the comments, just focus on your fantastic content!
It's practically impossible to reply to all comments. I prefer uploaders stick to content than appeasing the narcissism of commentors.
You're doing a great thing History Guy.
Many thanks.
As a airplane buff I have spent many hours reading about this. You did an amazing job, thank you for a great presentation of this incident
I loved the History Channel and could be entertained for a long time. You are in the same vein. Yours are concise, short and fascinating. Good work. Looking forward to more of your sterling history accounts.
A guy I knew, Ralph Woolsey, was a teacher at the USC Cinema Dept. and beginning a career as Cinematographer on TV shows. They were shooting exteriors that day, and had to do a retake because of a bright flash in the sky. It was later surmised that it was this crash. They found their shooting site, enlarged the frame and were able to determine where the camera was set.. The math guys got busy and this helped them pin-loint the location of the actual crash in the air, so they could calculate how the wreckage had dispersed.
Yes- that accidental shot was used to help pinpoint the location of the collision, although it was too distant to discern details of the planes' movement.
Excellent work-as always! I enjoy your history vignettes, Keep them coming!!!!
I only found out about your channel a week ago and have been binging all your videos. Always glad to see a new one at the top of the list.
I'm surprised his channel doesn't have 500k subscribed yet...
same
only here for a few weeks. i'm a past history/archaeology major, so this is just awsum.
I click even if I feel I am thoroughly familiar with your chosen subject. You always leave at least a couple 'biscuits', it is fun to learn something new about a story that interested you YEARS ago. Thank you Mr. Guy!
I developed an interest in air disasters after watching an episode of "Mayday" or one of its other names. I ended up watching almost all of them, and I remember this crash from those documentaries very well. I do not remember anyone mentioning the connection between this crash and the one that Ritchie Valens was involved in, so I just wanted to say thanks for telling the story again, as well as the extra information that I may have otherwise never knew. I'll be sharing this information in my conversations about these air disasters.
same here, one thing i have noticed about people that are interested in air disasters is everyone has one specific crash they are most fascinated by
I love how you tell the stories with enthusiasm
Excellent, as usual! I had never heard of this crash, but even your videos that cover subjects I have heard of always present me with details I had never heard of before. Still binge-watching, but have most of your videos watched now and not a single one of them has failed to please. I love your delivery as well as the amount of info you can pack into so short a span.
nice job on the air collision & related ground tragedy,,,Triple thumbs up!
Having had a grammar school education and a history teacher whose idea of teaching was to write text on a black board from a jotter that he had been using since before I was born and told to copy it. This was the same text he had used since the school had opened and simply repeated year on year lesson by lesson. You don't need much imagination to realise I dropped history as a subject as soon as I possibly could. The teacher concerned, and I won't name him even though he is long since in his grave had a PhD in history but absolutely no interest in teaching it.
I found your channel only recently and weep at some of the episodes you present. You are to the point with enough background to explain and an obvious enthusiasm for the subject that all teachers should take serious note of. I now have far more years behind me, my history, than I do in the future but there are still lessons to be learnt from the mishaps and adventures of our ancestors.
One topic that has recently begun to interest me is the Scottish Highland Clearances. So many people from the area where I now live were forcefully removed from their homes and the land and often transported to the USA and Canada under horrific conditions. There must be dozens of first hand stories to be found from the ancestors of those that survived and thrived.
Please keep up the good work, if only I had had a teacher like you 50 years ago. I thank you.
C P: If you're not hearing about Scottish history in Gaelic, not English, you're not getting the real story.
Bay-an-uck-let, blessings on you from paternal Clan Watt and maternal Clan Hay.
@J Smith The last time I looked the Scots were white as were their landlords and most of the landlords were also Scottish so it was more a case of have and have nots. It also seems that many of those that were ousted from their meagre crofts ended up in positions of power in foreign lands. In fact the BLM have tried and sometimes succeeded in wiping those Scots who actually built much of the modern world from history.
Discrimination is wrong regardless of who is the perpetrator and who is the victim and regardless of colour or creed or sex. And the worst discrimination of all is the so called positive discrimination where an individuals life is judged not on their abilities but on some arbitrary genetic variation.
Great work History Guy! Thank you!
I saw 'La Bamba' when it came out in the theater, and about 10 years later, was a substitute teacher, who subbed a few times at Pacoima Junior High among several other schools in the east San Fernando Valley, but I never knew the connection of the dream sequence and that school until now! Thanks for the lesson!
I find you are a joy to listen to and your subject matter is fantastic
Well done. It’s almost like living at that time. The fact that Valens was terrified to fly because of this makes American Pie all the more meaningful from an American cultural point of view. I’m 56 and never realized this. You have yet again, opened my eyes to our collective history. This is the value of what you do. Thanks, as always.
Thank you so much for all the fresh new content. I get tired of the repetitive content with UA-cam
In my opinion, your best work yet.
ganymedeIV4 im.a 6 month subscriber..excellent stuff..even the parts of history I was never interested in caught my interest.
Javier 86 All his work is excellent, so I can't agree this is his "best". He's so very good that it would be tough to narrow down his best 10...or 3, not to mention 1.
what a fascinating story! I really enjoyed it! And I don't think that you speak too quickly. Your pace indicates to me the enthusiasm about your subject. BRAVO!
I'll be back!
I actually first learned about this crash from listening to the Radio Classics channel on Sirius radio. They played a radio show from, I think CBS that was from around the time of the crash. It had interviews from some survivors and witnesses. I haven't Googled it so I can't remember the title or the year.
I said all that to say I love this channel. I like the format and the subjects you cover on here. Thank you for the work you put into these videos, and I hope you make many more since I'm running out of your videos. I've watched almost all of them and have now started rationing the remaining ones. I eagerly await more.
Dsdcain I thought I was the only person who listens to the channel
Jennifer Robinson just poop a lot
Jennifer Robinson just go to a bar and be blunt.
Manuel Ortiz Guys, don't waste bandwidth commenting on the spam. It's auto generated, there is no human behind these comments (and certainly no "Jennifer"... more likely a fat spammer with bad breath named Brad, still living in his mom's basement...). Just report the comments as spam and ignore them, they will eventually be removed by UA-cam, and then only your comments will remain as residue, out of context. Thanks!
Dsdcain I concur with all you said. My beloved UA-cam, ( I've had two channels for 11years now) has been disappointing me as of late with Dem Liberal bias, and censuring,) however I woke up stiff necked and groggy from the lazy boy chair, just trying to get to the bedroom and real sleep. I look at my phone one last time and behold a notification of this vid and am instantly drawn to this. I am a war history buff loving air war stuff. Author of a book "Up there by me Terry Allan. I remember this story and it's fascinating. Like you I will check out all these vids. What a great channel to wake up to and subscribe to as well. Good night. Have a good one. Tman!........
Fascinating story. Very interesting connection you make to Richie Valens being afraid of flying. Well done video.
Yes, this tradagy deserves to be remembered with out question, Thank You................
i’m a Pacoima native, i’ve known this story my entire life. i’ve heard it a million times but never with this much detail. thank you for the deep dive 🙏🏾
Enjoy your channel a lot ! Very informative and well presented.
Man that’s a gruesome scene on the ground. Another excellent video, one of your best. Love the aviation stories.
I remember that day very well. I was at Pinewood Elementary School in Tujunga when our teacher, Mrs. Armand came out of the classroom and ushered us all back into our class. I remember her and another teacher, Mrs. Henderson talking about the junior high school plane crash. Even then, bad news traveled fast. Funny how a kid can remember such things but our teacher was worried and ushered us in like a mother hen. She was a kind teacher and will always remember the worry on her face at that moment. I can't believe it has been 61 years.
I really like the idea that people lost in history deserve to be remembered. This was a great video, thank you.
I came across this story several months ago while researching the Valens plane crash. I do love history, especially aircraft history. Many people think history is boring because they were taught in black and white. Thanks for bringing so much color to our past. The 1957 Pacoima incident resulted in more than $10 million in law suits. Thanks again for what you do History Guy.
Very well done and researched video. I will certainly watch more of these.
History Guy - Great video!! Never saw your channel before but ran into it head-on while surfing UA-cam this morning. Just checked out your videos available and am afraid I'm hooked. Will see you often, keep up the great work, and thanks for the video.
This was very well done. Great narration.
You should do more videos on airplane crashes. Most out there are long documentaries and your presentation is amazing. I really enjoy being able to watch many short clips at night before bed instead of being stuck with one 45-60 min video on one thing in the past.
Yes, I like the factual , to the point presentation. Most of the big name documentaries have 20 minutes of drama stuff added.
Fantastic video. Thank you. This has quickly become my favorite channel. Your videos are extremely well narrated, short enough to hold my attention, yet informative enough that I learn something new from each of them. Definitely worth remembering.
Another great episode. Sad, but well done.
Another really excellent History Guy presentation. Thanks for the good stuff. Always enjoy your work.
Another great piece of lost history. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was hearing a newscaster on the 5 o’clock news. Please keep up these wonderful segments of lost history. I open my iPad daily looking to see if there is a new one.
Love these history videos. Keep them coming
As an aviation enthusiast who grew up in Southern California, I was surprised to learn about this significant incident from your channel! Thank you! I spent considerable time yesterday performing further research online, finding out details of the crews and children who were killed, the subsequent life of the radar operator that survived. Even found a recording that was made in the auditorium of the school, during a presentation to students, in which you can hear the plane coming down and exploding. Very moving accounts of the tragedy by survivors and witnesses.
Another significant area air-to-air disaster between military and civilian aircraft occurred over the San Gabriel mountains near Duarte in 1971.
There are quite a few resources online, yes.
orangelion03 ever go to whitemans airport???
It's been a few years, but yes. Flew in there in a helicopter a couple times when my brother was building time flying out of Van Nuys. I grew up in Chino area, about a 30 minute bicycle ride to the airport there...hung out there as a kid. Now I live in Santa Paula and we have a great little airport here. A short drive to Camarillo which hosts a chapter of the CAF and lots of warbirds.
Thank you for the video of this historical Incident. I’m from LA and never heard of this accident.
orangelion03 nicee
Thanks a lot of this part of “history” that so few people know about ...
Great presentation and informations released.
I was awestruck by this video. This is the first I've heard of this story. PSA Flight 182 collision over San Diego on September 25, 1978 comes to mind.
Love all your videos!!!!! Thank you!!!!
Fantastic job... you totally crushed it.
Your aviation bits are how I discovered you and remain my favorite tales.
didnt know about richie's connection. excellent vid as always. yeh, i'm that old.
First time hearing from you HG, but am hooked already! Fascinating post
my uncle was one of the boys burned in the crash, but he lived .
I was about six weeks old at the time that happened, but years later my mom told me about it. I asked my brother about it one time, and he said that he saw the DC-7 going down right before it hit the schoolyard.
I died on that plane.
@@oceanblue3050 😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀👻
@@oceanblue3050 dude......😂😪💀
@@oceanblue3050 thoughts and prayers
Nice presentation. Thank you.
On that day I was in grade school in La Crescenta and while on the playground did observe both the jet going and the guy in the parachute. I will always remember that sight. RIP to all who passed.
Another great video, thank you so much.
I witnessed the debris coming down on the schoolyard from my front lawn. I later attended Pacoima Junior High but only learned about Valens years later. He wasn’t mentioned while I was there.
Outstanding video and presentation
I remember vividly in Sept 1978, a small plane collided with a PSA 727 over San Diego, killing 144 people ,including I believe 9 on the ground.After that accident I always felt a twinge of anxiety whenever I boarded a plane.
And I remember the story of the pre-internet troll that called into KGB-FM to say "Nobody rocks San Diego like PSA".
Thank you for your in-depth report.
This happened right above me as I was standing in line for lunch at Vinedale Elementary School in La Tuna Canyon, Sun Valley, CA. I was about 10 years old and I have never forgotten it.
I just found this channel today. Can't wait to see more videos!
This reminds me of the old Paul Harvey show "The Rest of the Story". You have a great channel.
Thank you for making this video.
This happened less than a year after two passenger planes collided into each other over the Grand Canyon... Planes were just crashing into one another all over the place back in the 50's!
Kinda' an exaggeration i'd say.
Definitely far more dangerous back in the Good ol' Days.
Unkraut60
Who are you talking to child?
we still have the occasional mid air collision in modern times too, not even TCAS, more advanced ATC radars or even onboard radars have been able to completely eliminate planes crashing into each other
@@billfitzpatrick6910 In spite of the vastly increased number of aircraft in the air and vastly increased mileage, the last time there was a collision involving a commercial aircraft was in Sept of 2015 over Senegal, and before that the last was in Sept of 2006 over Brazil. On the other hand, in June of 1956 there was the Grand Canyon disaster, in January of '57 there was the Pacoima collision, in April of '58 a United DC-7 collided with an F-100 near Las Vegas, in Oct '58 a BEA Vickers Viscount collided with an Italian F-86 over Italy, in Feb '60 over Brazil, a US Navy R6D-1 transport collided with a Brazilian commercial DC-3, in Dec '60, over New York a United DC-8 and TWA Constellation collided. Air crashes ARE deadlier today, because airplanes carry a lot more people, and accidents due to malfunction and pilot error happen more, chiefly because there are so many more aircraft flying so many more miles, but commercial aviation collisions are much rarer.
Wow. I really enjoy ALL your videos. Thank you History Guy.
Very interesting. Of course, many of us know about 'the day the music died', but this connection is one I had never heard of before. Today, flight at 25,000', or Flight Level 250 is Instrument Flight Regulations, or IFR instead of Visual Flight Regulations, VFR. Above 18,000' in the U.S. requires a radar transponder and contact with an Air Traffic Control center. Something like this shouldn't happen today because everyone should be under positive radar control at the altitudes they were flying then. A further part is that military aircraft now operate inside an Military Operating Area, or MOA, and if the MOA is active, or 'hot' a controller will inform you, and you probably will not be allowed inside of it.
I assume you are a pilot or studying to be one.
I hold a Private Pilot's License, but I am not current, and my medical has lapsed. I do not know if I could get another medical certificate, although if I had to financial wherewithal to return to flying, I'd be doing everything I could to get one. :D
Guns ~ Or he knows how to google and had 30 seconds to spare.
In the Information Age ignorance is a choice.
Jerry, I will agree that Google is a very good resource for many things, but I love aviation and everything about it, so I knew this information because of that. Thank you both for your comments.
Gary C I would have my license if I could afford it. I'm looking to go all the way from single engine aircraft to multi engine turboprop and jet engine aircraft. Eventually I want to move on to rotary aircraft so I can fly transport helicopters for the Marines
I enjoy and appreciate it all, as I'm sure even the people you mention that made the history would appreciate it and the fact you didn't forget them. They are worth mentioning and deserve to be remembered. Thanks again, History Guy.
Great video! Love the military history videos the most, but they're all great!
Invaluable work. Thank you
So interesting!! I always thought the dream sequence in La Bamba was just some made up thing to make Ritchie's death more spectacular. Thanks for such a great mini-doc!!
To my recollection the Producer of the film lived in or around Pacoima at the time. His recollection and filming of that seen as exactly how I remembered seeing it.
excellent video...thank you for the history and link to Valens.
Your channel is about to blow up