Tuesday, 22nd of May 1962 was just another routine day for the 45 passengers and crew of Continental Airlines flight 11. For the three pilots and five cabin crew, it was the last flight of the day before getting back to base in California. The almost brand new and sleek Boeing 707 jetliner was proceeding on course from Chicago to Kansas City, the first leg of a transcontinental flight to Los Angeles.  For the 37 passengers, most of whom were frequent fliers, it was the finale or the beginning of a new chapter in their professional lives. An air traffic controller was finally going to see his family again after three weeks of separation, an executive with an air freight firm was coming back home with the happy news of a promotion to his beloved wife, two active members of the United States Armed Forces returning to their assigned defence installations, a highly talented and young Japanese engineer was on a routine business trip and a young stewardess was planning to reunite with her parents again. As Flight 11 cruised fairly comfortably at 39,000ft, it was passing over the intersection between the borders of Northern Missouri and Southern Iowa when at 9:17:21 pm when it vanished from the radar screens. The innocent lives of 43 people and their hopes and ambitions for the future and the loved ones they left behind would be completely decimated, an enduring trauma that lasts to the present day, over 60 years later.