Peter M. Busch

Peter M. Busch was born in 1934 or 1935.[2] He was a U. S. Marine Corps fighter pilot during the Vietnam War.[2] He flew in about 400 missions during the war and was shot down once.[2][4] He retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel in 1976.[2] He ran for the United States Senate for Idaho as a Democrat in 1984.[2][1] He was defeated by the Republican incumbent, Jim McClure,[3] receiving just 26% of the vote.[2] He moved from Lewiston to Caldwell in 1985[4] to help set up his campaign for the 1986 Idaho senatorial election.[2]

On April 10, 1986, Busch was piloting his private airplane, a single-engine Piper, from Coeur D'Alene to a political convention in Idaho Falls.[2][4] The weather was rainy with heavy fog patches.[2] The plane crashed into a hillside near Dubois,[4] and he, his wife, and former Idaho state senator and Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Terry Reilly, the latter two of whom were passengers, were all killed instantly.[2][4] Busch and his wife were buried in Colton, Washington, on April 15.[4]