Below is a link to a YouTube video which tells the story of one of the Little Rascals, "Buckwheat."
What I find interesting about this is that decades ago when I was under the age of ten, there was a "Little Rascals Hour" on TV and it was presented by "Officer Joe Bolton. " I recall it was shown on Channel 11 in NYC. I guess a lot of other people remember this too.

And I recall that Officer Joe Bolton once told about how the Little Rascals films were made way before a lot of the children in the TV viewing audience were born, and he went on to explain what happened to several members of The Little Rascals after outgrowing their roles. That I recall, he did explain that some of them , like "Alfalfa" died in a gang related shooting, or Darla Hood and Spanky were still alive at the time etc .
But what I recall vividly is that Officer Joe Bolton explained that Buckwheat "Died a hero" because he was in an airplane delivering food to needy people in another country when the airplane crashed. When I saw Officer Joe Bolton explaining this on TV I must have been no older than 8 years old so it had to mean that Buckwheat died before 1968. But now this YouTube video says that Buckwheat died in the 1980s.
Which version of events is right? Anyone know?
Was it a different Little Rascal cast member that Officer Joe Bolton was talking about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72ueJONgJ8

There's some controversy surrounding Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer's death but it wasn't a gang-related shooting.

Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas died in 1980, but not in a plane crash while delivering aid to a needy country. Although he wasn't a member of Our Gang, Officer Bolton may have been referring to Pittsburgh Pirates player Roberto Clemente who was killed in a 1972 plane crash while delivering supplies to Nicaragua which had been hit by a massive earthquake.

There's some controversy surrounding Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer's death but it wasn't a gang-related shooting.

Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas died in 1980, but not in a plane crash while delivering aid to a needy country. Although he wasn't a member of Our Gang, Officer Bolton may have been referring to Pittsburgh Pirates player Roberto Clemente who was killed in a 1972 plane crash while delivering supplies to Nicaragua which had been hit by a massive earthquake.


I understand your point but actually, I am sure that I heard Officer Joe Bolton explain Buckwheat's death in that manner. I only might have confused Buckwheat with Farina (maybe) or another Little Rascal, and mostly I don't think so. ( It might be that Officer Bolton was just saying what the producers told him to say on air, but the facts were off and not really researched. After all, in the 1960s there may have been much less fact checking about people who were then former child stars. Now-a-days, former child stars or aging performers go into reality TV).
I was somewhere under 10 years of age and I think that Officer Joe Bolton stopped hosting The Little Rascals on TV before I was 10. Then the Little Rascals films were just shown without Officer Bolton as host.

When the incident with Roberto Clemente happened in 1972 (I was about 11 or 12 when I heard about that) it did seem coincidental to me that Clemente died like "Buckwheat" did. But now only decades later did I find out that what I originally heard about the circumstances of Buckwheat's death weren't really true.
I think Joe Bolton mentioned that some of the Little Rascals died who did not really die. I think the one who played "Butch" wrote a book sometime in 2005 or 2006.

There were some cases of adults claiming to be Our Gang stars as children to profit off it, just as there are scam artists who claim to be Medal of Honor winners. That muddied some of the life stories of these child stars.

I too watched Officer Joe Bolton and the Little Rascals growing up and have collected episodes over the years as well as following many of their stories. The only thing that I can say is either Joe Bolton was wrong or it has been remembered wrong, as clear as it seems to be to you. Bobby 'Weezer' Hutchins joined the Army Air Corp during WWII and died a hero in a flying accident. He's the only Our Gang star that I know of that died in a plane crash.

Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer was shot by a friend after allegedly coming after the friend with a knife claiming he was owed money. Contrary to their onscreen personas, Alfalfa was actually the bully of the group. He was probably the most angry that he had no career after childhood, being fooled by the producers into thinking he could really sing.

The onscreen bully was Tommy 'Butch' Bond, who in real life was friendly with the others.

Spanky McFarland was also bitter that he was a star in name only, never financially benefiting from Our Gang. When making personal appearances, he insisted on being introduced as a successful businessman, when in reality he owned a small auto service station.

There were some cases of adults claiming to be Our Gang stars as children to profit off it, just as there are scam artists who claim to be Medal of Honor winners. That muddied some of the life stories of these child stars.

I too watched Officer Joe Bolton and the Little Rascals growing up and have collected episodes over the years as well as following many of their stories. The only thing that I can say is either Joe Bolton was wrong or it has been remembered wrong, as clear as it seems to be to you. Bobby 'Weezer' Hutchins joined the Army Air Corp during WWII and died a hero in a flying accident. He's the only Our Gang star that I know of that died in a plane crash.

Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer was shot by a friend after allegedly coming after the friend with a knife claiming he was owed money. Contrary to their onscreen personas, Alfalfa was actually the bully of the group. He was probably the most angry that he had no career after childhood, being fooled by the producers into thinking he could really sing.

The onscreen bully was Tommy 'Butch' Bond, who in real life was friendly with the others.

Spanky McFarland was also bitter that he was a star in name only, never financially benefiting from Our Gang. When making personal appearances, he insisted on being introduced as a successful businessman, when in reality he owned a small auto service station.

Wow! Thanks for that info.
Learn something new every day , even if it is only about trivia.
I don't recall reading much about the "personalities" of each Little Rascal cast member. Mostly it was general stuff such as all of them growing up and not being employable in movies.
I think it is interesting that "Alfalfa" was a bully in real life while "Butch" was nothing like his character.
But I guess I would be angry too if I was made to sing just so people could laugh at me.