Jack Knott, who regularly dealt with grief in his line of work, could not bring himself to attend Ken's memorial service, she added.

Rose Knott also worked through her pain, not giving up hope that her son might still be alive.

“She would go up to Michigan alone every summer to look for him. She was just sure that she’d find him,” Weaver said.

There were tributes to Lt. Knott in the early years after his disappearance. The Air Force’s crack precision flying team, the Thunderbirds, gave a memorial tribute to Ken during a Lincoln air show exhibition.

For a period of time, the Nebraska Air National Guard named its mess hall in Lincoln after Lt. Knott. The name was dropped after a new facility was built.

In 1972, the Kregger American Legion Post in David City arranged for a retired Nebraska Air National Guard reconnaissance aircraft, similar to the one flown by Ken, to be brought there for display as a tribute.

Plans originally called for the plane to be exhibited on the courthouse lawn. However, that proposal proved unpopular, and the aircraft was moved to the municipal airport. There it was eventually mounted on steel poles to give the appearance of it being in flight.