A Lockheed Constellation L-1049, similar to the aircraft that disappeared. [Credit: Ruth As]
Key Takeaways:
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a military charter carrying 107 people (predominantly U.S. Army soldiers on a secret mission to Vietnam), disappeared over the Pacific on March 15, 1962, without a trace.
Despite reports of a midair explosion, the cause of the disappearance remains an aviation mystery from the early Vietnam War era, with no wreckage or remains ever recovered.
The soldiers lost on Flight 739 are not recognized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a situation their families are actively campaigning to rectify, supported by a memorial in Maine and a proposed Senate bill.
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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