1962 — Mar 15, MATS charter Flying Tiger #739 disappears, Philippine Sea –104US of 107

–107 Dowd. “‘He knew something’: The 1962 flight of Army Rangers…” SFGATE, 5-11-2021.
–107 Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJofFM&P, 3/1, Mar 1982, Table 1.
–107 Johnson. “60 Years Missing…Mystery of Flying Tiger Line…739.” Flying Magazine. 3-16-2022.
–104US/107. Gero. Aviation Disasters…World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (2nd Ed.). 1996, p48.
–104US of 107. Greer County. “Greer County…Honor List of U.S. Military Casualties from…”
–104US of 107. This Day in Aviation. “15 March 1962.”

Narrative Information

Gero:
“Date: 16 March 1962 (c 00:30)
“Location: Philippine Sea
“Operator: The Flying Tiger Line Inc. (US)
“Aircraft type: Lockheed 1049H Super Constellation (N6921C)

“The four-engine transport was en route from Guam to the Philippines, one segment of a transpacific service originating at Travis Air Force Base, California, US, with an ultimate destination of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in (then) South Vietnam, being conducted under contract to the US Military Air Transport Service (MATS). It was carrying 93 US and three South Vietnamese service personnel plus a civilian crew of 11 Americans, a total of 107 persons.

“Cruising in darkness and, apparently, good weather conditions, with scattered clouds, the aircraft was last reported at an altitude of 18,000 ft (C. 5,500 m). There was no indication of any difficulty in its final radio transmission, gut when the Super Constellation failed to arrive at Clark Air Force Base, located near Manila, a search was begun that went on for more than a week, involving nearly 50 aircraft and eight vessels and covering 144,000 square miles (c 230,000 sq km) of open sea. But no trace of it was ever found.

“Members of a ship’s crew had reported seeing an explosion in the sky from which two flaming objects appeared to fall into the ocean, at the approximate time and location where N6921C was believed to have been, i.e. some 800 miles (1,300 km) east of the Philippines and in an area where the depth of water ranged from 2 to 3 miles (c 3-5 km).

“In its investigative report, the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) concluded that they had probably witnessed the catastrophic demise of the airliner. But where it was a victim of mechanical or structural failure, sabotage, of some other adverse factor, could not be determined due to a lack of tangible evidence.” (Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (Second Edition). London: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1996, p. 48.)

Greer County, OK, Genealogy Website: “This flight originated at Travis AFB, California. The plane was owned by (FTL) Flying Tiger Line, Inc., Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, CA. The plane (Registry number N6921C; FTL Flight 7815/14), and Civilian Crew of 11, were contracted out by the Air Force (under Public Works Contract number A.F. 11-626-389; Air Force Service Order number 29) to transport 93 U.S. ARMY Special Forces Rangers & 3 Vietnamese Nationalists to Saigon operating as (MATS) Military Air Transport Service (Charter Flight 739/14). According to the Civil Aeronautics Board’s (CAB) Accident Report, ‘The plane disappeared 1½ hours after takeoff from Guam enroute to Saigon.’ And ‘the largest air/sea search’ of that time ‘was initiated 5 hours after the plane’s fuel exhaustion time.’ ‘The SS T.L. Lenzen, a supertanker owned by Standard Oil, was in the vicinity and witnessed a vapor trail go behind a cloud,’ and then, what they thought was (according to the depositions of the crew) ‘a covert operation due to the low flying plane.’ The Accident Report continues, that the crew of the SS T.L. Lenzen had also witnessed ‘a mid-air explosion at the approximate time & location of N6921C.’ The Accident Report concludes, ‘Due to the lack of any substantiating evidence the Board is unable to state with any degree of certainty the exact fate of N6921C.’” (Greer County, OK Gen Web.)

This Day in Aviation: “15 March 1962: Flying Tiger Line Flight 7815/13 was a chartered flight for the Military Air Transport Service (M.A.T.S. Flight 739/14), from Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California, to Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, with scheduled refueling stops at Honolulu, Hawaii; Wake Island; Naval Air Station Agana, Guam; and Clark Air Force Base, Luzon, Philippine Islands. The flight departed Travis at 0545 G.M.T., 14 March.

“The airliner was a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation, N6921C, under the command of Captain Gregory P. Thomas. The flight crew consisted of three pilots, two flight engineers, and two navigators/radio operators. There were four stewardesses in the passenger cabin, with 96 passengers. Three of the passengers were Vietnamese military personnel, while the remainder were U.S. Army electronics and communications specialists.

“The Super Constellation departed Guam for Luzon at 1257 G.M.T, 15 March. It climbed to 18,000 feet (5,486 meters). The estimated flight time for this leg was 6 hours, 19 minutes. The airplane carried sufficient fuel for 9 hours, 30 minutes of flight. At 1422 G.M.T., M.A.T.S. flight 739/14 radioed the Guam International Flight Service Station, reporting their position at 1416 hours as North 13° 40′, East 140°, and cruising at 18,000 feet (5,486 meters). The navigator gave the flight’s estimated position at 1530 G.M.T. as N. 14° 00′, E. 135° 00′.

“There was no 1530 hours position report from Flight 739. Beginning at 1533 G.M.T., the Guam I.F.S.S. began attempting to contact the airliner, but was unsuccessful. At 1943 hours, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers at NAS Agana and Clark AFB began search and rescue operations. At 2227 hours, the airliner was declared lost.

“The crew of the Standard Oil Company tanker S.S. T. L. Lenzen reported that at 1530 G.M.T., (1:30 a.m., local time), five persons on board had witnessed a midair explosion near Flight 739’s estimated position for that time. The flash was bright enough to illuminate the ship’s decks.

“It was established, upon interrogation of five of the crew members, that shipboard lookouts had observed a midair explosion at the approximate position and time when N 6921C was expected to reach 14°00′ North and 135°00′ East. It was recalled that a vapor trail, or some phenomenon resembling a vapor trail, was first observed overhead and slightly to the north of the tanker and moving in an east to west direction. The Lenzen was cruising on a heading of 077° at this time. As this vapor trail passed behind a cloud, there occurred an explosion which was described by the witnesses as intensely luminous, with a white nucleus surrounded by a reddish-orange periphery with radial lines of identically colored light. The explosion occurred in two pulses lasting between two and three seconds and from it two flaming objects of unequal brightness and size apparently fell, at different speeds, into the sea. During the last 10 seconds of the fall of the slower of the two objects, a small bright target was observed on the ship’s radar bearing 270°, range 17 miles.

“The captain of the Lenzen stated that he arrived on deck in time to observe the fall of the slower object for approximately 10 seconds before it disappeared from view. He estimated its position in reference to a star and ordered the ship’s course reversed and, after aligning the heading of the vessel with the star, found his heading to be 270°—the same as the bearing of the target previously seen on radar. The captain reported that the weather at that time was: ‘moonlight, clear atmosphere, 1/4 covered sky by small cumulus clouds evenly distributed.’ The ship proceeded to the position of the radar target and searched the area until 2105 at which time the original course was resumed. No signals or unusual sightings were reported.

“The subsequent search, one of the most extensive ever conducted in the history of aviation, covered 144,000 square miles and utilized 1,300 people, 48 aircraft, and 8 surface vessels. A total of 377 air sorties were flown which involved over 3,417 flying hours. Despite the thoroughness of the search, nothing was found that could conceivably be linked to the missing aircraft or its occupants.

“Probable Cause: The Board is unable to determine the probable cause of this accident from the evidence now available.” (This Day in Aviation. “15 March 1962.”

Sources

Dowd, Katie. “‘He knew something’: The 1962 flight of Army Rangers that vanished into thin air.” SFGATE, 5-11-2021. Accessed 10-2-2022 at: https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/flying-tiger-line-flight-739-vietnam-bay-area-16165978.php

Eckert, William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982, Table 1.

Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (Second Edition). London: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1996.

Greer County, OKGenWeb. “Greer County Remembers Honor List of U.S. Military Casualties from Greer County, Oklahoma.” Accessed 3-16-2009 at: http://okgenweb.org/~okgreer/honor.html

Johnson, Kimberly. “60 Years Missing: The Mystery of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739.” Flying Magazine. 3-16-2022. Accessed 10-2-2022 at: https://www.flyingmag.com/60-years-missing-the-mystery-of-flying-tiger-line-flight-739/

This Day in Aviation. “15 March 1962.” Accessed 10-2-2022 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/15-march-1962/