Here is the newspaper report from October 12, 1949, which detailed the sad and untimely death of Buddy Clark...
LOS ANGELES - (U.P.) - Singer Buddy Clark changed seats with another passenger only a few minutes before a plane crashed on a busy Los Angeles boulevard, killing the $l00,000-a-year crooner, newscaster Sam Hayes testified at a coroner’s inquest yesterday.
The coroner’s jury ruled Clark’s death was accidental but the plane’s pilot contributed to the accident by acting "with a lack of care and caution.” Clark died of a fractured skull at a receiving hospital Oct. 1, shortly after the chartered cabin plane crashed. Four other passengers and the pilot, Jim Hayter, were injured in the crackup.
Hayes, who suffered head injuries, said the 37-year-old singer moved into a window seat occupied by radio executive Frank (Bud) Berend just before Hayter attempted a forced landing on Beverly boulevard. Hayes said he chartered the four passenger plane from the Mercer Flying Service which assured him the ship could safely carry five passengers in addition to the pilot because there was no baggage...
