Another little known unexplained airliner loss in the Far East
30 January 1979 a VARIG 707-323C, PP-VLU (s/n 19235) en route NRT-LAX crashed in cruise, about one hour after takeoff at Narita.
At the time it was believed that the airplane may have been hit by a missle, but the true cause of the crash/disappearance has not been published. The cargo consisted of an art gallery. Ironically, the captain of that flight was the captain of the B707-345C PP-VJZ that had crashed short of Orly in 1973 after an uncontrollable cabin fire.