The Kingston Trio narrowly averted calamity on a concert tour when their rented twin-engine airplane had to make an emergency hard landing in a farm field near South Bend, Indiana, on March 13, 1959 -- and, yes, it was a Friday. Trio members Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard, along with bass player David Buck Wheat, had been on the way from St. Louis to a sold-out gig at Notre Dame University. In a snowstorm, the plane had consumed more fuel than the pilot had anticipated, and because of adverse runway conditions, the South Bend airport denied permission for the plane to land. With instruments malfunctioning and the fuel tank nearly empty, the pilot skillfully brought the plane down to 200 feet and aimed for a farm field. Although the plane skimmed a fence on its approach, the pilot managed to expertly bring the plane to a halt, thereby avoiding injuries. That incident is described in Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1 (editpros/bookshelf/WHATPSG_Vol_1.html), but in March 2013, we asked Bob Shane to fill in some additional details. He told us, “We were flying in a 1939 Beechcraft D-18, which we leased at the time. Our pilot was Major John Rich, USAF, a B-17 pilot with many decorations. Thankfully he was that good, because we got caught in a blizzard en route. Between the four of us, we drank a fifth of Wild Turkey the last five minutes in the air. Our pilot landed us in a farmers field, just short of a big fence we could have crashed into, which would have been really bad, but he just missed it, and landed -- bumpily, but safely. We went to the farmers house -- we were drunk of course. I cant remember if the farmer knew of the Kingston Trio, but he was really nice. We called two cabs, one for us and one for all the instruments, and made it to the gig in time, barely. Our pilot got dropped off in town, and the next day he flew the plane over to get us. I cant remember how the show was, what with us being rather drunk and all, but I do remember we brought the house down, so we must have been OK.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:33:36 +0000
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