At the request of the landowner: This land is posted and trespassers WILL be prosecuted. It is monitored by cameras at all times. Also an update on the beer can. A tax stamp was found from Florida. So this can originally was purchased in Florida and likely the stop the band made just prior to Greenville. Here is UNCUT part 1 - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DGGRpTDl7T0.html Here is UNCUT part 2 - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-n94QXX0_4DI.html Minelab CTX 3030 - treasuremtndetectors.com/history-seekers-package-minelab-ctx-3030-metal-detector-with-free-gear/ Minelab Equinox 800 - treasuremtndetectors.com/history-seekers-package-minelab-equinox-800-metal-detector-with-free-gear/ History Seekers Shirts - detectees.onlineweb.shop/History_Seekers/p5708246_18943415.aspx Our Amazon Influencer store: www.amazon.com/shop/historyseekers
I've been detecting over 45 years , I'm in my 60's now and still love detecting. And I love watching you guys and gals detecting to . History Seekers is my favorite y'all keep it real and exciting. Keep up the good work.
My then best friend worked at the Miami Oklahoma airport and I knew this plane had landed. When I got there my friend was fueling the plane. As he got down from the wing two limo's pulled up at the back of the plane. I was standing at the stairs that went up to the plane. Steve Gaines and Ronnie Van Zant came up to me, stopped and we spoke for a few minutes, mainly about Miami and where they were headed. Cassie got out of her limo and comes up and says "hello" to me and goes up the stairs with the rest of them. As the stairs rose back up into the bottom of the plane, Steve Gaines came back to the top of the stairs and waved goodbye. I was the last person in Miami Oklahoma to see them alive. Not proud of that but it is part of my history.
That is incredible. We all have those experiences in life that make us unique and that is your little special piece of history with Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines. If you know of a library, museum or protected place at the airport that would like to display the items, please reach out to us. We would be honored to loan them to the Gaines hometown for an exhibit. underwoodkj@yahoo.com
I live in Miami. My sister was good friends with most of the band members. Ronnie Brooks was an original band member but chose to stay home with his family instead of being a part of the traveling band. I used to go over to his house and listen to stories about the band.
That beer can you found might be from the adjoining property owner. He helped get all of them out of the plane, both survivors and the deceased. It took him 25 years to go back. When he was finally able, he would go late in the evening and bring two beers with him. He would drink one and set it down then leave one for Ronnie.
We checked into that. If you will notice in our community section we posted a picture of the can. We found a Florida tax stamp. So unless he went to Florida for a beer run then buried it under crash debris. we think its unlikely. We did however find bush beer cans from MS that we do think were left by someone else. They were on top of the ground and opened. If you have trouble finding the picture from the FL marked can let me know I can post a direct link for you. We were also able to confirm the can was from Florida via the stamp and verified by Budweiser. As to who purchased the beer in Florida and had it on the plane will likely never be solved.
History Seekers This video was in my recommended so I didn’t think to check your community section. I will definitely check it out, though. I just watched the video where the survivors retell their experiences. In the video, Bobby, the adjoining property owner, tells his story. That’s where I got that idea from. Thank you so much for the information!
I was born in 1979. My mom and dad (may they rest in peace) were 15 and 22 at the time of the crash and were huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fans. They always talked about them, their music and the crash. They even took me and my older sister to visit their graves. I wish mom and dad could have seen this video. It surely made my year. 😄
The plane was in the town I live in, Brookhaven MS. It was behind a 6 foot chain link fence. There are a lot of people that have giant parts of the plane here. The American Flag emblem on the tail section was cut off with a torch. The plane was right across the road from The Woodman of the World building that had dances on Friday nights where the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd was played every Friday night. The wreckage of the plane was haunting to see!!!
As a life long Skynyrd fan (I'm 66) I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Seeing those aircraft parts is a haunting reminder of that tragic day when young lives were lost. Great video Heath
I’m 39. Born 3 years after the crash. This was not part of my generation like Nirvana was so it’s none of my business to judge or criticize. However, as a music lover who is pretty familiar with Skynyrd, I believe this stuff should be in a museum or returned to the family and surviving band members. Good job on the dig. I dabble in metal detecting too . Thank you.
Thank you for commenting. Yes, we have spoke to a few and to family members. We are making it so these items can never be sold and displayed to the public.
I was 17 when I went to their show in Asbury Park Nj, July 1977. We packed 9 people in my 72 firebird formula going to the concert ! Oh man, we had a blast that day. I couldn't believe the news about the crash. Their music was a big part of my life growing up. Thanks for the video
I was at their July 2, 1977 show at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, the place was packed!!! It was an awesome show, good times with great friends, I'll never forget that day!!! I must have cried 😭 all day when we heard about the crash. Such a tragic loss of some fantastic people. And yes Ronnie, you had to leave us but yes...we will still remember you. RIP 🙏🕯🕊 Ronnie Van Zant Steve Gaines Cassie Gaines Dean Kilpatrick Fly high Freebirds 🕊🕊🕊🕊 🎶🎸🎤
I have watched probably every live concert footage on U tube. Billy Powel often had a Budweiser cab sitting on top of his piano. At one concert, want to say Asbury park Ronnie took a drink out of can, it was night so you couldn't tell but Ronnie held it uo & said this concert briught to you by Budweiser King of Beer. It wasn't a plug, he was just makin a joke, he lived his Buds. For historical purposes I find this video fascinating but made me want to cry, just like every time I think abt it. One of the best Rock bands & most underrated of all time!
I can still remember this so clearly. It was approximately 10:00pm on my 16th birthday, October 20th, 1977, when my friend called, just as I was about to go to bed, to let me know that he had just heard that Lynyrd Skynyrds plane had crashed. Needless to say, I was shocked by the news. For some reason, I asked him if Ronnie Van Zant had died, but he didn't know whether he had or not. When I got to school the following morning, I headed straight for the library to read the about it in the newspaper, and that is when I learned that Ronnie had in fact died. I remember thinking that there was no way Skynyrd could carry on without him, and I felt very sad.
I happened to be in my room listening to an FM rock station when a dj reported that there had been a crash, this was about 8:30 pm Central time. The plane went down close to 7pm.
I teared up watching this. This has been my favorite band since I was a young kid listening to my brother's records that I wasn't supposed touch. Thankfully he had good taste in music. I was happy to see that you seemed to actually care and respect the task at hand. It was a tragic loss of human life and a tragic loss for music. There are rumors and accounts that people were looting the scene of personal items before the victims were even removed, which sickens me to think that people like that even exist.
Jeanette, we cared very much about recovering the items from the scene so the could be saved and preserved. Each of us had our own personal reason for wanting to go outside of preserving the History. For Scott and Heath, they grew up in Alabama and listened to the band growing up. They have been saving History for years with their metal detecting. I was actually born the day of the crash. The band was one of my Dad's favorites and Freebird was played at his funeral. I am the main historian of the group and this gave me a chance to connect with my Dad. It also made me realize how much the word has changed since 1977. So many of those who arrived at the scene to help were the ordinary people who had tractors and pickup trucks to access that swamp. In today's world, many people would sit back and watch. Heroes saved lives to keep this accident from being much, much worse. Thank you for watching.
@@kellyhistoryseekers3090 Happy Birthday to you tomorrow. Without those there to help, I believe many more whould have perished that day. We need more people like that. Thank you for doing this in a respectful way. Metal detecting is really cool and I hope to do more of it in the future.
Lived in Magnolia, Ms and lived less than 10 miles from the crash site. I arrived at the crash site less than 20 minutes after the crash. Was at a friend's house when the call came over his police scanner from Pike County SO that a plane had crashed and that it was the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane that was involved. Was a member of the Pike County Civil Defense Rescue Unit and I arrived at the site before a lot of the Sherriff department and other rescue personnel arrived. There was a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the site with it's search light on illuminating the crash site. Helped as many of the victims as I could before medical personnel and other law enforcement arrived to secure the site. October 20, 1977.
Thank you. I hope we recognized you honorably in the section with the tribute tree. There likely would have been more fatalities if the community hadn't pulled together to help the survivors. You are all heroes.
Kelly Dzemske Thank you!! It was something that I will never forget. I have not been back to the actual site in the woods. I went to school with the owners of the property at the time of the crash. Not sure if they are still the owners. I did what I could to help but when I arrived and then turned it over to those who were taking charge of the scene.
One of the best from the South. I have a drawing hanging on my wall of Ronnie Van Zandt that I drew while in HS a few months after the accident. Also the original Street Survivors LP with the band on the cover in flames.They were supposed to play NYC where I'm from. Finally got to pay my respects to Ronnie and Steve & Cassie Gaines in Jacksonville Fl where they were laid to rest. Fly on Free Birds. 🎸
I was 15 when this happened, but to me it happened yesterday. i started to cry the fist piece you found.i had to stop the video for a sec.God bless you for not selling this stuff.
Thank you! Keep on the lookout for updates on where we send the pieces. Feel free to give us suggestions if you have an idea of where to donate. Thsnks for watching!
Heath, super job on editing/creating your video. Super spot for all of you to dig and recover some pieces of history. I look forward to the unedited version. Congratulations!
I know where a very large piece of this plane are. It is still very close to the site where it was taken less than 48 hours following the crash. We were chased out of the woods/swamp by the cops. All of us took a piece but I only know where 1 of those pieces are. It appears to be an outter aluminum riveted part of the wing. It's in Tylertown, MS where it has been stored since that day.
My brother and his friends went to the site only a couple of years after they found a lot of coins,dimes,nickles, and quarters pieces of the plane and part of the instrument panel with a wire still attached. But the best thing was half of Leon's sunglasses identical to the glasses he's wearing on the inside picture of street survivors album.
We just released a follow up video from our second trip there and we found more items missed by NTSB investigators. Here is the link to the new video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
You are correct Greg. We have had so many stories of people remembering where they were when they heard the news. We hope that the items being displayed will help preserve their memories.
Enjoyed watching and found it fascinating that so many identifiable objects were able to be recovered to be donated. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to the extended version. GL, HH and take care.
Man I was so excited for this video and you guys and gal didn't disappoint me. Thank you for preserving that crash not only for the Band but for all the others who perished as well. Bless you all.
I was in Jr. High in Liberty, MS at the time and lived on Gillsburg Road that the ambulances drove down when they were rushing the survivors to the hospital. I remember them going by our house with sirens wailing. I found out the next day some of my classmates who lived in Gillsburg had been some of the first people on the crash site helping survivors.
Being how mangled the plane was and how big of an area it spread you just scratched the surface of finds . Such a awesome site to detect what a honor ✌
Mike, the plane was taken by the NTSB to determine the cause of the crash in 1977 and the vast majority of the items were removed. We will post a picture of the debris field in the UnCut version or you can find it on the NTSB report.
Excellent video, this is one of the rare occasions where finding twisted metal is actually treasure instead of trash as it was part of an important historical event.
that is too cool, I am an aircraft mechanic and have worked on a lot of older planes such as this one, I believe that was a Convair 240. it would be awfully hard to tell what the individual pieces are, but you are correct in that the painted pieces would be the exterior while the green is a primer that would generally be found on the interior
hey Scott, yes, numbers would be found on parts, say, from the engines, electrical components and from certain equipment on board, like galley eqiptment. some of the pieces you found appear to be brackets probably from electrical components
The item at 5:48 is a 225 amp fuse. It bolts to a fuse holder using the two rounded cutouts on each end of the larger piece of metal on the left. The rest of the pieces are normally stacked and secured in the center. Knowing how these are bolted in, it had to be a very hard impact to remove it from the plane.
After watching comment. That was awesome. Thinking about the dash piece and the last time someone saw it was before the crash gave me the chills. Love the new Logo. Keep up the great work.
This was a unique opportunity for us. We realize this is more recent history and not what metal detectorists are used to seeing. What do you think about the genre? It's certainly a major historical event, but it's more recent that what most people are used to seeing.
History is history. This is history that many people actually remember happening, which brings it closer to home for me. I remember that day, I remember my brothers sitting at the kitchen table with my dad, listening to the radio reports, and just being in shock. They had tickets to go to the show at LSU. I sent my brothers the link to this video and they both recall that day vividly. I say thank you for the video and thank you for the respect y'all found.
I enjoyed your history part at the beginning. I live about 30 miles from the Airport in Greenville, SC. Yall made some spectacular finds! some museums will love to see these items! Great video!
A completely worthy historical event to dig at. I'm amazed at the number of items that were missed by the FAA when they were picking up at the site. I thought they were way more thorough than that.
It’s good that we have far more intelligent people like you that understand this History was about to be lost. We have a handful of people that think items like this magically appear in museums.
@@HistorySeekers TY I made sure my kids learned every aspect of how rock got started from Elvis to Ritchie Valens and the late great Jimi Hendrix and the loss of a lot of these heroes. Today you just don't hear a lot about rock bands that paved the way for others including rap singers. Thank you again for the work you put in to make sure our history isn't lost.
My husband was at their last concert I could not get off of work what I had found out was Ronnie Van Zant had been up at least 3 or 4 days doing cocaine he walked up to the front of the plane and took some Quaaludes and passed out it was towed when the plane went down Ronnie Van Zant didn't feel a thing because he was passed out God Rest their souls cuz this was a group that will never be forgotten and had the most amazing music I still to this day miss them and always will no one can sign like Ronnie Van Zant
Our favorite as well. I was only a few months old when the crash happened but grew up listening to the same songs. Their songs are so much better than any music currently out by the new artist.
Thank you Tim. We just returned from another dig at that site and posted another video a few days ago. We found even more stuff. Here is that link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
That beer can is the ONE time you will see someone on a detecting video get excited about a pull tab. Awesome dig, I loved their music growing up.......time to pull up and listen to some.
This was a fantastic video documentary of a very dark day in rock and roll history. Thanks for retrieving those items for those of us that appreciate them for what they represent, sort of our final farewell.
That's awesome that your finding parts of the plane, even though they've been gone for ever but we still remember them! Will never be forgotten! Your doing great!🤘💯❤
That would be awesome! I was only 14 when Ronnie and crew had that crash will never forget! They started the southern music! Love y'all's accent!🤘🤘💯❤! I would visit your museum! I Native American Navajo from New Mexico been a fan all these years! Free bird!
Prascilla, thank you! We are all southern boys +1 northern girl. Two of us are from Alabama and were raised on Sweet home Alabama. As soon as we can finalize an agreement we will update everyone. If you are subscribed and hit the bell 🔔. You should get notified when we post that update. We also have a Facebook page.
Like always y'all do a great job! It is odd that last week I spoke to my daughter regarding the "Lynard Skynyrd" crash. Thanks for helping keep history alive!
Yeah Aerosmith literally refused to fly in it because they said it was too dangerous. Sadly, Ronnie was even warned about it and said that if it was his time to go then it was his time to go and told everybody to get on it. They knew better than to tell Ronnie no but this would have sure been the time to do it. The pilots should have known to put fuel in it. The real tragedy of it all is the fact that it could have been avoided.
Went to boot camp in the Marines with Artimus Pyle, the drummer who walked to the farm house to get help. I'm a metal detector myself and enjoyed watching your video. Going to hit some Civil war sites in Missouri this spring. Keep digging that beep.
Thanks Dennis. We have several Civil War videos on the site and actually have one of a civil war soldiers grave being located this week. Check out some of our detecting videos too. Hope that you like them.
@@HistorySeekers I'll check them out. Was talking to my brother in law a while back and told him I was going to come out to the family farm and do some metal detection there, since it was on the route that William Quantrell took to his raid on Lawrence Kansas. He told me of a pile of rocks next to a Morgan building on the property that his dad always thought was a grave. I'll find out more when the weather breaks and I get out there. Maybe it was one of the casualties from the Lawrence raid.
@@DennisEHayes If you use Facebook, follow us on the History Seekers Facebook page. We would love to see your finds and an update on that possible grave. Happy hunting!
I saw them play their very first concert in 1974 when they were the warm up band for The Who, The band 38 Special also played that night. At that time we had no idea who Lynyrd Skynyrd was.
I was in Navy Boot Camp in Orlando, Florida when this happened...I cried when I heard the news...Then I became angry when I heard the reason the plane crashed...RAN OUT OF FUEL..?! THEY JUST TOOK OFF..!
Thanks Ari. We were told it was to small for the trim wheel. Honestly we don’t know. Just relying on all the people that has seen it. Thank you for replying.
@@coreygdndbdj4097 Negative. That is a tiller used to steer the nose wheel on the ground a low speeds. The trim wheels are near the throttle quadrant so that both pilots can access the trim.
Lynyrd Skynyrd is my sll tyme favorite band and alwats will be , I’m completely stoked on your findings , I envy you all , ide kill just to have anything from the crash sight , I know the band is in heaven now playing there music through the heavens , thank you all for this video. God bless you all and thank you for you ❤️♥️🎸🎤🎶
I was at the site in 1998 and we hauled out 3 Hefty trash bags full of the parts of the plane that we unearthed. I still have a lot of it in my storage unit and my friend Steve had the rest of it, he passed away 2 years ago and I'm not sure what he did with what he had from the site. 1 item in particular that I have is a leather belt that has some words carved into it but it was too scuffed and dirty to read what it says. It does have a huge brass buckle with a Confederate flag on it. It's in real bad shape but shape but it's still holding up well. I also have a single blade that's mangled. From one of the propellers. It's not the full prop however it's about 3/4 of a blade. I'm not sure what much of the other items are, mostly just crushed aluminum stuff.
we did a follow up video and just posted if you are interested in what was found on the second trip. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
The part @ 5:40 that’s in pieces is a load limiting bus. Usually around 300amps give or take a few hundred amps. The main power supply would run through them to supply large amounts of current to equipment that had a high current draw. Basically, it’s a fuse. That style is still used today.
I was 7 yrs old hearing about this in the morning on a Philadelphia radio station riding in the car with my grandfather. This and the passing of Elvis Presley were announced on radio not too far apart, both i heard on Philly radio stations going to breakfast with my grampa... I'm glad u guys did this. It's not a gravesite, it's an accident site. In all accident site, pieces and persons are retrieved if possible for understanding and closure purposes. Similar to the Titanic and Potomac crash sites. If things are left to abandon, do then they even exist? Great job everyone !!!
Thank you so much! that is our point too. If things are "left alone" and some people suggest, it just means that it will be forgotten rapidly and the artifacts lost forever.
I have mixed emotions. As you said that everything you found would not be sold, I can respect that. So much talent went down that day. And so many others lost family that day. I’m not say’n that you are wrong for digging the sight. Because like you said it would be respected. Maybe you all could get a hold of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Humble Opinion
We agree and also had mixed emotions. We contacted them already. So far we are hoping they call back. The lady that screens the calls never let us talk to the curator. I told her I would send them the video and we had no desire to sell it to them. We just want it made so these items can never be sold is all we ask. We feel like this will help keep the memory of them alive for many more generations.
Thank you for your efforts. It’s true that it’s hard to get to the right person to talk to at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. And it will be a shame if they turn your genuine intention down. And thank you for your reply.
When I moved to Georgia I realized I live about 2 miles (as the crow flys) from Gary and Dale. I realized at some time I'm going to run into Gary somewhere and the last thing to do is ask him any stupid questions about the crash. It's painful for him, I can see it in his eyes when he's interviewed and one of these questions pops up. This is not something he wants to re-live over and over.
Arthur Brown The UNCANNY KODIAK be sure to check out the video we just released from the site for even more finds. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
We just released a follow up video from our second trip there and we found more items missed by NTSB investigators. Here is the link to the new video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
I was just watching the relic recoverist channel, and she had mentioned y’all. I am a huge fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd, this is really cool that your finding this stuff. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to hold in my hands a piece of history like that.
I used to live about 15 miles from the crash site. Around 2005 they were having memorial concerts there. It never turned out like they wanted so I think the concert fizzled. So sad for the band.
Great video, guys... I heard about something coming out by you guys from Josh Kimmel when he was the guest, on my Tuesday Night Hangout Live on the 15th, I have been out of state and just returned home, and saw this, I know this is what, Josh was talking about, This video was, Great!
Yes it was. Thanks for watching. We have a followup coming too. Hit the bell icon if you want to be notified. We had a big discovery while cleaning more of the relics tonight.
I cried for nearly a month this band was my heart and soul and still is and always will be. Sad this area is going to be cleared to bare ground cause frankly as bad and sad as it is it is also part of the amazing rock and roll history when music was great.
Richard, you are right. Such a tragic loss of life and possibly preventable. Hopefully we were able to respectfully honor their memory as well as help it serve as a reminder for generations in the future.
..the plane was so utterly destroyed, it is a wonder anyone survived the crash..amazing, actually..I have a feeling it had something to do with the fact there was no fire...you take an utterly destructive crash like this...then add in fuel-fed fire, and I almost guarantee there would have been no survivors...far fewer, at least.. :(
This is macabre to say the least , having such good up beat music playing while looking at a site filled with so much death was a bit creepy to say the least
My aunt was a medical student at the University of Mississippi medical school in Jackson when that plane crashed. Some of the fatalities of that crash died at the medical school and my aunt was in Van Zant's room when he flat lined.
I love this behind the scenes information! All the official documentation, including the NTSB report states they all 6 died at the scene. Van Zant, it states, died instantly. Your first hand account is incredible.
@@kellyhistoryseekers3090 Maybe! My aunt said one died at the Ole Miss medical school in Jackson and she was in the room, but she is dead now too, so all I know is what she told me when I was a kid in the 80s.
We just released a follow up video from our second trip there and we found more items missed by NTSB investigators. Here is the link to the new video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aWtt4XgpQtY.html
When you said steering wheel, I about threw my phone!! You are literally correct! That is indeed from the cockpit to steer the nosewheel. Just knowing the captain had his hand on that at the very last second is a somber thought. I do know a survivor that was on this plane. I will forward this video to him, and hopefully he can help you guys get some answers if you still have them.
Thank you Chris. We would like them to re-open the case. We found things on our second trip there that contradicts what they said in the report about finding all the gauges. I think the investigation was not very complete.
I read a guitar world interview about this horrible crash it was very sad I have a deep respect for the band ronnie van zant dispised firearms And wanted peace Saturday night special was a song to remind people to not hurt each other check out his RU-vid interview from his seventies ronnie liked rocking not violence a great southern gentleman
Yes, there are several showing them drinking the same type beer. The picture we had of them with the beer was from Florida. The beer can that we found ended up having a Florida tax stamp. You can see it in our community section where we posted a close up picture. If you have trouble finding it let us know and we will get you a direct link.
So nice of you to reply! I had the original flame album but lost it in a divorce. I don't like the taste of alcohol but sure loved their music and "realness". Such a loss!
What a horrible wreck. It just fragmented so much of that plane into small bits. Its a wonder any of them survived. I remember the day it came over the radio that they had the crash. Sad day.
Great video, y’all! I would rather find things like this than things from ancient history. To me this is more exciting than going to some ancient places and finding relics there.
