1969 Newton Cessna 172 crash observed the airplane reverse its course and then heard a loud sound as it crashed. Iowa had two other air accidents involving celebrities during the 1950s and 1960s: the 3 February 1959 crash near Clear Lake that took the lives of rock and roll stars Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper (plus their pilot), and an incident involving the Minneapolis Lakers (NBA basketball team) on 18 January 1960, when their DC-3 aircraft crash-landed in a cornfield near Carroll, with no injuries. 1969 Newton Cessna 172 crash On August 31, 1969, a Cessna 172 crashed in Newton, Iowa, killing
Dion and the Belmonts February 3rd 1959, the plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, with Holly, Valens, The Big Bopper, and the pilot, Roger Peterson, all being killed. Bobby Vee, then an unknown artist, performed in Holly’s place at the very next concert. Later, Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian were hired to finish the tour in place of the three deceased headliners. As of January 11, 2017 with the death of Holly's tour guitarist Tommy Allsup, Dion is the lone surviving member of the original Winter Dance Party lineup (The lone surviving Belmont, Angelo D'Aleo, was not on the tour as he was