February 3, 1959: "AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED"

  Prior to 9/11, February 3, 1959 was possibly the most notorious day in air travel...

 If someone was to offer a shading of The TWILIGHT ZONE as prologue to the infamous "The Day the Music Died" which unraveled sixty-five years ago, they might begin by writing that Something had not forgotten that a young Mexican American named Richard Steven Valenzuela had been absent from school on January 31, 1957: 

                                                               

 A little over two years later that same student, now going by the moniker of Ritchie Valens and riding the proverbial crest of his "Donna"/"La Bamba" success, 'won' a coin toss: 

                  

 About twenty-four hours later American Airlines Flight 320 crashed into the East River of New York City:
 
                                                           

 Somewhere in between those deadly pair of flights, Pan Am Flight 115 went into a death descent for 29,000 feet before control was fortunately regained. All 129 survived the ordeal - including a young actress by the name of Susan Oliver...
 Susan Oliver was understandably shy of air travel after that deadly day but, oddly, caught the bug for flying sixty years ago and became an accomplished aviatrix no less!
 Susan Oliver is seen here in a 1972 shooting still for an appearance in an episode of THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN: