FINAL FLIGHT is the story of William Gamber, John Melvin Mortenson, Ernest Glenn Munn, and Leo Mustonen. They were a United States Army Air Forces pilot and three aviation cadets lost in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks on November 18, 1942 during a navigation training mission.

Author Interviews

Listen HERE to a September 30, 2010 mp3 of my interview on Insight with Jeffery Callison on Sacramento's Capitol Public Radio, KXJZ 90.0 FM.

Read HERE Mike Bodine's article about Final Flight from the September 26-27, 2010 Inyo Register in Bishop, California.

Listen HERE at KUOW.org or HERE at the Final Flight website for an 8:10 mp3 of a March, 2010 interview I did with Dave Beck from Seattle's NPR affiliate, KUOW.org.

Read HERE Tyler Hemstreet's January 20, 2011 article about Final Flight for NorthwestMilitary.com, the newspaper from western Washington's Fort Lewis. Back up of the article HERE.


Book Reviews

Ranger, The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers. Winter 2010-2011.

Report of October 21, 2010 Alki Community Council meeting Final Flight book presentation in West Seattle Blog.

Aviation Week & Space Technology - October 14, 2010 PDF letter from David A. Fulghum, senior military editor.

Library Journal - June 9, 2010 [scroll down about half-way].


In October 2005, two mountaineers climbing above Mendel Glacier in the High Sierra found the mummified remains of a man in a WW II uniform, entombed in the ice. The "Frozen Airman" discovery created a media storm and a mystery that drew author Peter Stekel to investigate. What did happen to the four-man crew who perished on a routine navigation training flight in 1942, 150 miles off-course from its reported destination?

Stekel found bad weather, bad luck, and bad timing. Empty graves, botched records, and misguided recovery efforts. Then, in 2007, the unimaginable happened again. Stekel himself discovered a second body in the glacier. Another young man would finally be coming home.

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