Uncle Ronnie

In 1974, my uncle, Ronald James Dickson (His stage name was Jim Dickson, but friends called him Jamie), was part of the cast of a TV documentary called "Primal Man." On March 13, 1974, the cast and film crew had finished shooting at Mammoth Mountain Resort near Bishop CA, and boarded a Sierra Pacific Airlines Convair 440 aircraft for the flight back to Burbank. Seven minutes later, without warning or signs of trouble, the aircraft slammed into the side of a nearby mountain, killing all passengers and crew.

This makeshift memorial, made from actual wreckage, is near the crash site, on top of the mountain, with the airport in the background. The crash is one of only three which remain unsolved in the forty-year history of the NTSB.

I was living with uncle Ronnie and aunt Laura near Hollywood CA when it happened. I remember waking on a rainy Thursday morning to the sound of her crying in the living room after having seen news of the crash on television.

Aunt Laura, if you Google yourself and see this, email me. I would love to see you and catch up.