The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
5 hrs ·
42 years ago today, on October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-240 chartered by
Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi, near the end of its flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray all died as a result of the crash. Twenty others survived.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing on a small airstrip, but the plane crashed in a forest near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Cassie Gaines was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd's backup vocal group "The Honkettes". One of the other members of the group, JoJo Billingsley, was not on the plane and was home sick as she had been planning to join the tour in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 23. Billingsley has said that she had dreamed of the plane crash and begged Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using it.
Do you remember your first thoughts when you heard of the crash?
RIP Cassie, Steve, Ronnie, Dean, Walter and William. They are as free as a bird now...
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