On March 19th, 1982 Ozzy Osbourne and his band were on their way to Orlando, FL from Knoxville, TN. About 1 mile southwest of Hwy 44 the tour bus pulled over to do some repairs near where the bus driver lived.
The driver was also a pilot and had his small plane nearby. For some reason, a few members of Ozzy’s band decided to go for quick joy rides in the aircraft. The plane first went up with the tour manager and one other person and then landed safely. Shortly after that, the plane went up again, this time with Randy Rhodes and Ozzy’s seamstress, Rachael Youngblood.
The plane circled the bus three times, and on the fourth pass, it clipped the tour bus and careened into a nearby house where it exploded killing all aboard. He was 25 years old.
Randy is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, CA
Randy Rhoads Discography
With Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot (1977)
Quiet Riot II (1978)
The Randy Rhoads Years (1993)
With Ozzy Osbourne
Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
Mr Crowley Live EP (1980)
Diary of a Madman (1981)
Tribute (1987)
Ozzy Live (2011)
Highway 44
Leesburg FL 34748
Thanks to the genius of Rhoads and Lee Ozzy managed to beat the shit out of his old buddies from Sabbath in the period between 1980 and 1983 even though Dio and Gillan did their best to win the race …
DIG ALL THE CONTINUED GUITAR WORK BLIZZARD, USE HEADPHONES AND KEEP TURNING IT UP… WHAT THE STUDIO EDITED OUT IS SOME IF THE BEST WORK ON ANY GUITAR – BY ANYONE !
YOU CAN’T KILL ROCK AND ROLL !
Randy was the heart and soul of that band. Everything after Diary of a Madman was “decent”, at best. RIP, Randy.
The driver, Andrew Aycock, who was the tour bus driver, turned into a small repair facility to have the tour buses air conditioner repaired. Shortly thereafter Aycock walked over to a nearby local airstrip and took a 1955 Beechcraft Bonanza without the owner’s permission. It was later learned that Aycock’s pilot’s license was expired. Aycock started buzzing the tour bus (not circling it) with the intention of waking up drummer Tommy Aldridge, who was still asleep on the bus with the others. On the second flight and after already buzzing the bus 4-5 times and on the the 6th buzz the plane’s wing clipped the bus, breaking the wing into pieces and ripping a huge hole in the side of the bus. The plane then careened into a nearby mansion and broke into pieces and started a fire. Sharon Osbourne said there were body parts strewn everywhere she looked. Aycock had been up for at least three days and had cocaine in his system.