Final Flight: The Mystery of a WW II Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen in the High Sierra

by Peter Stekel

Uncover the compelling true story behind a mysterious WWII plane crash and the “Frozen Airmen” found in the High Sierra. In October 2005, two mountaineers climbing above Mendel Glacier in the High Sierra found the mummified remains of a man in a World War II uniform, entombed in the ice. The “Frozen Airman” discovery created a media storm and a mystery that drew Peter Stekel to investigate. What did happen to the four-man crew who perished on a routine navigational training flight in 1942, some 150 miles off course from the reported destination? Peter found bad weather, bad luck, and bad timing—empty graves, botched records, and misguided recovery efforts. Then, in 2007, the unimaginable happened again. Peter himself discovered a second body in the glacier. Another young man would finally be coming home. Through meticulous research, interviews, and mountaineering trips to the site, Peter uncovered the story of these four young men. Final Flight explores their ill-fated trip and the misinformation that surrounded it for more than 60 years. The book is a gripping account that’s part mystery, part history, and part personal journey to uncover the truth of what happened on November 18, 1942. In the process, Peter narrates the young aviators’ last days and takes us on their final flight.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

235 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Peter Stekel is an award-winning writer specializing in feature articles and photography of the Sierra Nevada. Stekel grew up in Southern California and has been hiking and backpacking in the Sierra since he was twelve years old.

Peter Stekel's first trip to the Sierra Nevada was at summer camp with his Boy Scout troop, in Sequoia National Park. Under the weight of a heavy backpack and the arduous long distances, Stekel believed he might actually die from exhaustion. Upon reaching their destination amidst the beauty of an alpine lake, granite cliffs, and wildflower fields, Stekel changed his opinion, and believed he had died and gone to heaven. Since that time he has hiked all over the Southern Sierra, from the foothills to the High Sierra.

Peter Stekel is also the author of "Best Hikes Near Seattle," and two published novels: "Growing Up White in the Sixties" and the mystery-thriller, "The Flower Lover."

Stekel has appeared as an authority on the Sierra Nevada in various national and international media outlets including National Geographic, BBC 4, NPR, and countless other print, radio, and television media. He holds a B.A. in Botany from the University of California at Davis, and a teaching credential from Humboldt State University.

Stekel makes his home in Seattle with his wife, their tropical fish, and a menagerie of stuffed animals.

He is now working on his next book, "Beneath Haunted Waters."

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I ordered a copy of FINAL FLIGHT. I mean, this book sets out to try to solve the mystery surrounding the crash of a military plane and the deaths of the pilot and three cadet navigators. Their plane went down in the high Sierra Nevadas in Kings Canyon National Park in 1942.

I greatly enjoy history, including military history, which led me to grab this book in the first place. Anyway, as you probably know, most books on military history deal with regional or global issues, and if they cast a smaller net, they deal with the actions of people or small groups that had a significant impact on the outcomes of military conflicts. In this book, however, the focus is on four men who the vast majority of people have never heard of. In fact, their main claime to fame, which you may have heard about, is that the frozen bodies of two of the men killed in the crash were discovered on a high mountain glacier in 2005 and 2007, respectively, some over 60 years after they died.

Peter Stekel, the author of FINAL FLIGHT, loves the Sierra Nevadas, and has spent much of his life hiking that mountain range. He tackled this story, and through rather extensive research including review of historical records, interviews with the few surviving people who knew these men personally, and interviews with scientists and other knowledgeable professionals, etc., was able to put together an interesting set of possible events that could have produced the tragic crash ending a training flight in 1942.

What was interesting to me about this book was that it was not your usual military history story. It focused on four relative unknowns, and their demise happened during a training mission in California, far from any battle front. This is actually a book that I think has been missing from the genre of military history for some time. It tells a story that is not unlike stories that led to the deaths of many, many US military personel. They died in training, as they prepared to serve their country in war, but they never made it that far.

So if history in general and military history in particular, mated with flying and meteorology, interest you, you will like this book.

I found the writing to be good, the flow of ideas and development of the story to be easy to follow, and, thankfully, the author realized that this story was about these four dead yooung men, not about him, the narrator. I've read too many books where the author claims to want to tell a particular story, but the book ends up being too much about him and his own efforts in trying to discover the story rather than in telling it. That is held to a minimum here.

I was going to assign 4 stars to this book when I started writing this review, but now that I know better what I think about it, I feel compelled to assign FINAL FLIGHT 5 stars.

[Doug Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book sitting comfortably on the cabin deck at Lake George about 9000-ft up in the Sierras one stormy week this summer. Every once in while I'd hear a west-bound single or double engine prop plane heading west from Mammoth Airport droning slowly above the peaks and clouds heading over the mountains. I reckoned those pilots - and certainly the passengers - had not read Final Flight.

[Marlene French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book today. I thought it was an inspiring read and I give Kudos to Peter Stekel for his couraeous and unending investigating of this plane crash. I thought that it was so wonderful that he and his friend took the trouble to go to the site and end up finding a second Airman. I expect him to go many times, as he said he would, and to search until he is no longer capable of the hike. I learned a lot about flights, weather, flying in the mountains, etc. For a person who is very interested in flying or studying weather this book is wonderful. I only gave it 4 stars simply because I was a bit bored reading thru all the scenarious. I hope he does find another (or both) Airmen and tells those stories as well! I will definately read it!

[Christina Dudley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read in many parts, although I admit I love books that end with a now-here's-what-really-truly-happened and this one could only wrap with a best guess. Still, should be of interest to pilots, High Sierra hikers, and WWII aviation buffs.

[Terry Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book hard to classify. World War II history, geology, meteorology, aviation, hiking/travel, mystery. Peter Stekel is an entertaining writer, and a wordsmith. I'm anxiously waiting for his next book to come out--on a missing B-24 bomber and crew. The plane was eventually found in the bottom of a then unnamed lake in the Sierras. If you want more information on the author, his current project or 'Final Flight' check out peterstekel.com

[Turi Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much a story of the author's research as of the plane crash itself, but interesting and readable.

[Adam Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a relaxing read. A nice blend of the geologic history of the sierra nevadas, the history of WWII aviation training, and the personal histories of four doomed crew memebers.

[Cindy Listermann hurckes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed and interesting. The author, Peter Stekel made me feel as though I was there.

[Eugene Miya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chanced upon this book in Bishop. I have other Wilderness Press works.

I have "skin in this game" from 2 directions. First, 3 decades before this book, I made a climb of this glacier couloir on Mt Mendel (small epic because the party before us got to the bottleneck by a few minutes and we had to spend a force bivvy at the notch (my partner reached the summit, so he could walk around a bit). I've done 2 climbing trips in this part of the Evolution Valley subrange as well as a PCT resupply of friends on the Trail.

My 2nd game was being the navigator during 2005 Go-Fly-America challenge to get many pilots to land at 4K of the the public airports in the USA. Our plane have the 2nd most landings, over 260 in mostly western airports. So I know the VFR navigation mentioned in the book. This location is not one of the passes I could attempt to lead a pilot through the Sierra. I have certainly flown to most of the airports mentioned.

OK, I also have a 3rd skin in the game. As a book reviews journal editor, I note the production values of time and life at the start of Peter Stekel's book. This book begins noting the typographic errors not only of documents, article, reports, but also on things like headstones. And also the lie: the main headstone of 4 named aviators actually have no bodies buried there (not far from where I live). Such is life (and death). Every student of the English language can use this against their English teachers. Alas, my 12 grade English teacher who retired to Bishop having since passed away (Mr James would have liked this book (he was a Lt. Col. in the Pacific (and he showed me Lauren Elder's book))).

So sadly, as others have summarized, this is about a crash during WW2 of a training flight: 1 pilots and 3 student navigators. A lot of confusion is covered. And spoiler: 2 of the bodies have still not been recovered. And I walked all over this area when 3 were unrecovered.

And these people (biography about the crew: all young men) and their rescuers/recoverers were neither the first nor the last. Shortly after my first trips, an OV-10 Bronco crashed, and a colleague of mine working on summit registers also went through Darwin Canyon. He could still smell the aviation fuel from that crash. So this book spans many decades (1940s to 2010s).

A lot of material is rehashed more than once (gives better context). These guys weren't shot down during the latter parts of WW2.

The mountains of CA have a lot of plane crashes among them. 3 in this valley alone.

I can certain edit this review for points that other review readers might want to know. Enough other reviews have summarized the context of the book. I need not rehash their fine writing.

So if you are not interested in death, you might skip this WW2 drama. This was no great battle.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Stekel tells the story of one training flight that ended in tragedy thoroughly and well. The crash of AT-7 41-21079 was uniquely remote, but it was also a microcosm of the dangers facing aviation cadets. Thousands of young men* lost their lives before they went "in harm's way" as depicted by Hollywood. More pilots died in training than in action, a sad fact that reflects the vast scale of U.S. war effort. The number of trainee pilots grew exponentially from 1940 through 1945, and their average age fell. That so many died in accidents reflects their numbers and the inherent dangers of learning to fly and training to use warplanes. Mr. Stekel brings the four men who died in the crash of 41-21079 to life, and pays tribute to all those who made sure the remains of two cadets were recovered and the story of all four deaths given an ending. Read the book to discover the full story of the other two Aircrewmen and much more. My only issue with this book was that Mr. Stekel could have provided more background to put this crash in perspective. He provides some background, but the incredible scale of the U.S. military aviation training system is never really conveyed. To grasp it, read the page for 41-21079 on Joe Baugher's USAAF serial number website (https://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_seria...). It's staggering how many aircraft were "written off" (wrecked) in training! That said, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the home front during WWII.
*Aviation cadets in 1941 were male. The female pilots of the WFTD and WAFS, later merged into the WASPs, began flying in 1942. The WASPs had a very low accident rate. Most were experienced civilian pilots who volunteered to ferry military aircraft and later flew a wide variety of training missions.

[RBSProds · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Final Flight: The Mystery of a WW II Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen in the High Sierra" by Peter Stekel, the author takes the reader on a fascinating journey across time and space. It begins when the body of a dead airman is discovered by two climbers protruding from the ice of Mendel glacier in the High Sierras at 12,000 feet. Stekel embarks on quite a detective-like, highly-detailed investigation to put the clues together with past facts and suspicions, supported by 30 photographs. 256 pages. Four DILIGENT Stars. (RBSProds)

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a true story of WWII soldiers who crashed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the 1930s and the mystery behind how they crashed. A couple of chapters were a little technical about planes and other stuff which I skipped over. But all in all I liked it and it was in the area I live in.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intriguing real life story of the crash of a WWII plane crash. The story is part news report the crash and part historical analysis. The two styles lead to an excellent book that provides the reader with a true look at the dangers of flying in the High Sierra.

[Wendy Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story but went on too long

[Graham Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good night above I cannot WAIT to do a video on this one. Best of 2021 list.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I think of this book, I want to cry. It's a riveting story. But the saddest part to me was about one of the crash victims -- a navigator I think -- and how his parents never got closure. Not even a body found. And, years later, the mother would say, "I guess he's up there in those mountains somewhere." That just crushes me. Every once in a while, a book has a certain line that sticks with me forever, and this is one of those lines. Many years later, when her boy's body was finally found "up in those mountains," she was long dead. (And it's shocking to learn that more American pilots died during training than in battle.)

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

In November 1942 a Beech 18 AT-7 Navigator crashed in the High Sierra during a training flight. Sixty-three years later, two men hiking above Mendel Glacier encountered the mummified remains of a crew member embedded in the ice, undeployed parachute still intact. The discovery of the “Frozen Airman” ignited a media firestorm and raised questions about that ill-fated flight that killed four American airmen.

In Final Flight: The Mystery of a WWII Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen in the High Sierra, Peter Stekel examines the events surrounding the tragedy and exposes the flaws in the original crash investigation, which resulted in the both the wreckage and the bodies lying undiscovered in a frozen wasteland until 2005. Sensing inconsistencies in the official record, Stekel set out to learn the truth and publish a definitive account of what happened on November 18, 1942. His research is first rate: he interviewed surviving members of the 1947 and 1948 search parties and actually discovered the body of a second crew member during a 2007 visit to the site.

Despite the strong human interest aspect to the story – four young servicemen died in freezing isolation and remained missing for decades, denying closure to their families- Final Flight is not a book recommended for a general audience. The lengthy segments dedicated to military history, aviation technology, and geology could lose readers who are not conversant or interested in those fields. But as a tribute to America’s World War II heroes and a plausible final solution to a decades-old mystery, Final Flight has immense value.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it enjoyable, but I'm not sure that everyone will. It centers on a minor mystery in the field of aviation, and how a body found in a glacier in 2005 was that of a man that news reports had said was already buried, back in the 1940s. Then, a second "already buried" body was found, by the author and a companion.
The book was a testament to the investigator who patched together a series of possible scenarios that would explain both the "burial" and the puzzling plane crash itself, which involved a plane nowhere near where it was supposed to be, hitting a mountain glacier in California...even though the plane was a training flight for navigation students.
How a plane could crash under those conditions, and how the plane and those aboard it could remain lost for so many years were the most informative parts of the story. Some of the solutions to the puzzle remain speculative, but at least were fairly interesting and believable.
One weakness of the book was that some of the characters were almost ciphers, due to the passage of time and the loss of records over the years. A small number of readers will also hit the "but who cares" wall, since the mystery and its solutions have little application on anything else.
Oddly, though, there was just a military plane crash in that same region of California, an area still being used to train pilots for combat around the world. The book points out high casualty rates among air crews during World War II. We have learned enough to reduce that casualty rate, but not eliminate it. For that reason alone, the book still has relevance.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I walked into this book completely biased. I am enamored with flight, mystery, WWII, plane crashes, frozen airmen, and high sierras. I was hook, like, and sinker before I turned the page.

It was just gravy that the book was written by a dogged author, whose impeccable, pressing research was admirable. His sudden full immersion in the story he was unfolding was also something to behold. Mostly, his excellent, healthy, plentiful skepticism carried the day. He teased out facts from contradictions, and made as best a stab at the most possible truth derivable.

And he brought honor to four of the 88,000. What a good man and a great book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two hikers find a body frozen in time in a national forest. A writer/reporter following up on the story a year or so later finds another. Finding out who these "icemen" were and how they got there is an interesting tale. The "back" story on the icemen gave them a purpose and made them come to life so to speak. The book did get dry and tiresome to read once all of the who, what and why questions were answered. If you are interested in this story, I am sure you can get the same effect of reading this book if you find a magazine article on the discovery.

[Renu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried to make a story out of nothing (not to dishonor the lost pilots)…... There are some interesting bits of information, but no real mystery is being solved. To the authors credit, he's set right a lot of misinformation in the print.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review is under heading of another book of same title, but Stephen Coonts

[E.J. Cullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other than some small biographical details re: the frozen airmen, you may as well read the one-page prologue, then go to page 187.

[Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting account of a search in our local Sierra.