Red Bank pilot, soldiers honored 59 years after plane vanished on the way to Vietnam
Filmmaker Ken Burns visits the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial
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Capt. Gregory Thomas was a 48-year-old pilot with nearly 20,000 flight hours under his belt. Described as “colorful and heroic,” he flew with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and later safely landed a cargo plane on a beach after all four engines quit. He lived on a 55-foot yacht in Red Bank.
On March 16, 1962, he was at the controls for one of the biggest tragedies and mysteries in U.S. aviation history.
Capt. Gregory Thomas was a 48-year-old pilot with nearly 20,000 flight hours under his belt. Described as “colorful and heroic,” he flew with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and later safely landed a cargo plane on a beach after all four engines quit. He lived on a 55-foot yacht in Red Bank.
On March 16, 1962, he was at the controls for one of the biggest tragedies and mysteries in U.S. aviation history.
Early that morning Thomas was piloting Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a military-chartered transport plane that disappeared over the Pacific Ocean with 107 people aboard, including 93 American soldiers. They were headed to Vietnam on a mission whose objective remains secret to this day.
SC man was on top secret Army flight lost at sea. Families still wonder why they died Lyn Riddle, The State (Columbia, S.C.)
Apr. 29 The full-length bronze memorial on the empty grave in Pickens hints at how Ross Walker died. Perished over the Pacific Ocean, says the marker at Hillcrest Memorial Park.
That is all the Walker family and the families of 92 other servicemen aboard Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 know.
The military charter jet on route to Saigon was lost over the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean on March 15, 1962, three years before President Lyndon Johnson sent combat troops to Vietnam.
By LYN RIDDLE | The State | Published: April 29, 2021 (Tribune News Service) The full-length bronze memorial on the empty grave in Pickens, S.C., hints at how Ross Walker died. Perished over the Pacific Ocean, says the marker at Hillcrest Memorial Park. That is all the Walker family and the families of 92 other service members aboard Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 know. The military charter jet on route to Saigon was lost over the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean on March 15, 1962, three years before President Lyndon Johnson sent combat troops to Vietnam. No wreckage was found, not a seat cushion or life vest. No remains.