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
Don McLean Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 1971 song "American Pie", which was a number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 and stayed put at 2 for 3 weeks in the UK, as well as a hit for Madonna in 2000. McLean's other well-known songs include: "And I Love You So", sung by Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Helen Reddy, and Glen Campbell, among others; "Vincent", a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh; "Crying", a cover of the Roy Orbison song and a surprise number