Devastating Plane Crash: Remembering Patsy Cline & Friends

Sixty-three years ago, on March 5, 1963, a Piper Comanche crashed into a wooded hillside near Camden, Tennessee. The crash killed Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and pilot Randy Hughes. Randy Hughes also managed Cline and was Copas’s son-in-law. They were returning from a benefit concert in Kansas City for the family of disc jockey Cactus Jack Call. All four lived within a few miles of each other in the suburbs north of Nashville. Their homes still stand. Here they are today. PATSY CLINE Cline called her house her “dream home.” She and her husband, Charlie Dick, used a $22,000 royalty check from Decca Records to make a down payment; they closed in May 1962. She lived there for less than a year before the crash. After the crash, her body was brought back to the home one last time before the memorial service. Dick later sold the home to Wilma Burgess, who reportedly found cash that Cline had hidden behind a brick in the den fireplace. A historical marker from the Metropolitan Nashville and Davis County Historical Commission stands in the yard today. HAWKSHAW HAWKINS & JEAN SHEPARD Hawkins and his wife, fellow Grand Ole Opry star Jean Shepherd, shared this home. At the time of the crash, she was pregnant with their second son, Harold Franklin Hawkins, II. He was born about a month later. Their first son, Don Robin, had been named after friends Don Gibson and Marty Robbins. Hawkins recording of “Lonesome 7-7203,” written by Justin Tubb, entered the Country chart on March 2, just three weeks before the crash. It spent 25 weeks on the chart, reaching number one. It was the only chart topper of his career. COWBOY COPAS Loyd Estel “Cowboy” Copas had been a Grand Ole Opry member since 1943, when he replaced Eddie Arnold in Pee Wee King’s band. After years of declining chart toppers, he returned to #1 with “Alabam” in 1960. It stayed there for three months. RANDY HUGHES Born Dorris Hughes, Randy was a respected Nashville session guitarist before becoming a talent manager. He married Cowboy Copa’s daughter, Kathy, becoming his manager. He also managed Patsy Cline and had purchased the Piper Comanche for flying his clients to engagements. He had about 160 total flying hours and was not instrument-rated, having logged less than 45 hours of flying time in the Comanche. Investigators determined that Hughes lost control of the plane while flying into deteriorating weather with low visibility. After Hughes death, singer Ferlin Husky insisted that Kathy Copas Hughes retain her half of a publishing company she and Hughes had shared with Husky. The proceeds, including royalties from Ferlin’s massive hit, “On the Wings of a Dove,” helped Kathy and her two sons pay for college.