Plane Crash Kills 4
On March 3, 1963, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins performed at a benefit concert in Kansas City, Kansas for the family of disc jockey Cactus Jack Call, who had died the previous January in an automobile accident.
Among the performers was Billy Walker who received an urgent phone call and needed to return to Nashville immediately. Hawkins gave Walker his commercial plane ticket and instead flew back later in a private plane in Walker's place.
On March 5, Hawkins, Cline and Copas left for Nashville, Tennessee, USA in a Piper Comanche piloted by Cline's manager and Copas’ son-in-law, Randy Hughes. After stopping to refuel in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the craft took off at 6:07 p.m. (CT). The plane flew into severe weather and crashed near Camden, Tennessee, ninety miles from Nashville, TN. There were no survivors. The reported time of the crash varies sometime between 6:20pm and 7:00pm. Patsy's watch was reportedly stopped at 6:20pm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"God On My Side," said Billy Walker
"God was on my side," Billy Walker said. Else how can you explain my being here and Patsy, Copas and Hawk and Randy gone."
Walker, a Columbia Records recording artist and Member of the Grand Ole Opry, was one of the entertainers who appeared on a benefit show on March 3, 1963 in Kansas City, Kansas.
"No," said the tall, hefty, Texan, I was not scheduled to ride in the plane. Actually there wasn't enough room for me in the four-seater, so I went out and back on a commercial flight."
"There was some kidding about my size and how I weighed too much to get in the small ship. Ironic isn't it that the final appearance of Patsy, Copas, Hawk and Randy would be at a benefit for the widow of a disc jockey (Cactus Jack Call)," commented Walker.
At the time of the accident, Walker's recent hits were Charlie's Shoes, Willie the Weeper and Funny How Time Slips Away. "Sorta prophetic titles, aren't they he asked?"
Charlie's Shoes tells about a sad fellow who would rather be somebody else. "Today, I'm fortunate to just be Billy Walker. This terrible tragedy and my nearness to it, will haunt me a long, long time."
Ironically, Jack Anglin, another country music celebrity, died in a car accident while driving to funeral services for Patsy Cline. As a result of these tragedies, Tex Ritter re-wrote his song, I Dreamed of A Hillbilly Heaven, to include the names of Randy Hughes, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline and Jack Anglin.
