Remembrance Ceremony to Honor Missing Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation Military Air Transport Service (MATS) charter flight was operating under Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 (FTLF 739) and headed to Saigon when it disappeared.

"Sixty-three years ago, on March 16, 1962, President [John F.]Kennedy sanctioned FTLF 739 and its crew to complete a secret mission to survey Vietnam," WAA said in a statement. "This reconnaissance mission went missing, with no trace, the plane or its passengers never found. On board were 93 United States Army soldiers, 11 civilian crewmembers, and four Vietnamese citizens. Very little is known about the fate of FTLF 739, and to this day it remains a mystery."

Decades later, there's still little mention that the lives of the service members were lost to the Vietnam War. Their names have been excluded from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"In 2021, WAA and its founder, Morrill Worcester, erected the only monument bearing the names of these American heroes,” the organization said. “The monument is located on Worcester tip land in Maine, where balsam is harvested to make veterans’ wreaths placed each December as part of National Wreaths Across America Day."

On March 16, WAA will host a ceremony at the WAA National Museum in Columbia Falls, Maine, to share messages and stories about FTLF 739 and pay homage to the crew’s memory. The event will be broadcast on the organization’s Facebook page and on Wreaths Across America Radio.