Patsy Cline's Final Hours

Patsy Cline's Final Hours

I often receive requests for this information, and while I hate to dwell on it too much, it is an important part of Patsy's story, and fans are entitled to know the answer to the question, how in the world could it happen?

On March 3, 1963, Patsy had participated in a benefit concert in Kansas City for the family of a disc jockey ("Cactus" Jack Call) who had died in a car accident. Her manager, Randy Hughes, had flown her there in his Piper Comanche. They were now taking Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas back with them to Nashville. There was a major storm front that was sitting on top of them in Kansas City on March 4th, so they were unable to fly at all that day. On Tuesday, March 5th at 1230pm, they checked out of their hotel and took off around 130pm from KC. Although KC was experiencing a slight clearing, there was still very bad weather at Springfield and along the Mississippi River from St. Louis on south. At 222pm, there was radio contact with them 70 miles south of KC. Somewhere between KC and Dyersburg, TN they stopped and got 19 gallons of fuel. At full speed a Comanche can clock 120mph, but no doubt the high winds and heavy rain slowed them down a great deal.

They travelled across Missouri and down into Arkansas, following the line of the stalled front, trying to avoid entering it. At one point, the pilot called his wife from Little Rock. At about 520pm they landed in Dyersburg, TN to refuel. This comes from Patsifan Philip Martin:

I was able to locate the woman in Dyersburg, Tennessee who was the young waitress in March of 1963 in the restaurant at the airport when Patsy and her fellow passengers stopped to re-fuel and get something to eat. To hear her describe that evening was like it had just happened...She remarked, "Patsy came into the restaurant. She was wearing all red...red dress, red coat, red shoes. I thought I was going to faint. It's just a good thing I wasn't holding a pot of hot coffee. Patsy was so nice. She ordered a shrimp salad and ice tea. Randy Hughes didn't eat. He just talked on the phone the whole time. The other two had corn beef and cabbage."

Interior of diner today
courtesy Priscilla Lane

From there, they could see in the eastern sky the dark wall of the front, it simply wasn't moving much at all. A phone call to the pilot's wife in Nashville resulted in a misunderstanding: she said that it was clear in Nashville, but as it turns out, she was experiencing only the eye of the storm. There was still plenty of "storm" left between Dyersburg and Nashville!

Unfortunately, the pilot (who was not instrument-trained) decided to go for it: he flew east from Dyersburg at 607pm on March 5th directly into the major storm wall. At the time of the crash, he was for all intents and purposes flying blind, and didn't realize that he was headed straight into the ground at 120mph. Investigators say that it appears that he was trying to get to Highway 70 so that he could land ~ less than a mile away. The plane crashed just west of Camden, TN in a hollow along a ridge line in a heavily wooded area known as Fatty Bottom ~ near a fire tower off Mule Barn Rd. in Sandy Point, about 5 miles west of the Tennessee River. The reported time of the crash varies ~ sometime between 620pm and 700pm. Patsy's watch was stopped at 6:20pm....

It is truly a tragedy that could have been so easily avoided! It's amazing what impatience can do.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Final Concerts ] [ Final Hours ] [ Airplane Artifacts ] [ Crash Site Maps ] [ Crash Brief ] [ Crash Articles ] [ Funeral Program ] [ A Life Remembered ] [ Personal Tributes ] [ Flight Path ] [ Pilot's Perspective ]