A Lockheed Constellation L-1049, similar to the aircraft that disappeared. [Credit: Ruth As]
Key Takeaways:
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, carrying 93 U.S. Army soldiers on a secret mission to Vietnam, disappeared without a trace over the Pacific Ocean on March 15, 1962, becoming one of the Vietnam War era's biggest aviation mysteries.
Despite an extensive search, no wreckage or remains were ever found, though witnesses reported seeing a mid-air explosion.
The names of the 107 people lost on Flight 739 are currently excluded from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., causing distress and a sense of being forgotten among their families.
Families are actively lobbying for the inclusion of their loved ones' names on the national memorial, with a monument already erected in Maine and a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate to achieve this recognition.
Sixty years ago, as the U.S. was becoming more involved in the opening salvo of the Vietnam War, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation was making its way west.
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) charter flight was operating under Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, and was headed to Saigon, leapfrogging across the South Pacific by way of Honolulu, Wake Island, and Guam.
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