# Name of Buddy Holly's death plane **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 1999, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934 "1999-07-11T15:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 1999, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/1 "1999-07-11T15:52:00Z")
Anyone know if Buddy Holly’s death plane was named “American Pie”? My dentist was telling me he’d heard this, and he seemed disbelieving – as though it was spooky or something. I couldn’t respond at the time, and when he was done, I’d forgotten about it. But I got to wondering – so what if that was the name of the plane - the song came later, so it doesn’t strike me as weird, spooky, or anything that (if it’s true) the song is titled the same as the plane’s name --or am I missing something here? Now, if that was the name of the plane, but the song came first – now THAT would be spooky! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 1999, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/2 "1999-07-11T16:02:00Z")
“Enola Gay” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 1999, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/3 "1999-07-11T18:46:00Z")
As far as I know, the airplane didn’t have a name. It was a Beechcraft Bonanza as I recall, and airplanes that small typically aren’t named. Lyrnyrd Skynyrd’s airplane was called 'Free Bird", and that crashed and killed several members of the band. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 1999, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/4 "1999-07-11T19:31:00Z")
To read more SDMB comments, go here: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000105.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000105.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 1999, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/5 "1999-07-11T22:56:00Z")
The plane that Buddy Holly died in was the American Pie, I learned that in Sophmore English, when we disected Don McLean’s song as part of our poetry section. * * * The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. – Henry David Thoreau ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 1999, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/6 "1999-07-12T00:02:00Z")
Sometimes we learn things that aren’t true. I remember in second grade, we were memorizing a poem about how the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The teacher explained a little about how the sun moves around the earth. I found this disconcerting, or maybe I was just a wise guy, because the science books I was reading claimed it was the other way around. I voiced my objection, and the teacher stated that no, the sun really did go around the earth. I still don’t know whether the teacher believed this or just didn’t want to go off on a tangent from her curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 1999, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/7 "1999-07-12T02:50:00Z")
Yes, you’re right, jens, sometimes teachers tell us things that aren’t necessarily true (a practice which should be wholly abolished, it’s totally counter-productive). But, I know I’ve heard this in other places, I just can’t think of any right now. * * * The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. – Henry David Thoreau ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 1999, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/8 "1999-07-12T03:20:00Z")
I’ll have to say it was not _American Pie_ [http://snopes.simplenet.com/music/artists/amerpie.htm](http://snopes.simplenet.com/music/artists/amerpie.htm) * * * Has anyone seen my keys? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 1999, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/9 "1999-07-12T15:11:00Z")
One of “The Three Stars” killed in the crash, J. P. Richardson, aka “The Big Bopper”, had two top forty hits. _Chantilly Lace_ is his best known, but he had a second minor hit called _The Big Bopper’s Wedding_. I heard this song for the first time that I remember over the weekend. In it, the Big Bopper is telling his shotgun-wielding prospective father-in-law that he does not want to go through with the wedding. The song ends with the sound of a single shot… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 1999, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-buddy-hollys-death-plane/1934/10 "1999-07-13T12:13:00Z")
Hmmm…there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on this. I have done some searching of the web with no luck. I may actually have to go the library and get a biography for a definitive answer.