Download High resolution image of Final Flight book cover HERE.

Movies - credit all files to Peter Stekel. Contact me for further explanation on the camera angle or the view. 01 Aerial view from 15,000 feet of Mendel and Darwin Glaciers 02 Aerial view from 13,000 feet of Mendel Glacier crash site 03 Mendel and Darwin Glaciers 04 Darwin Canyon Panorama 05 Mendel Cirque 06 Mount Darwin and Mount Mendel 07 Mendel Glacier from Lamarck Col [looking west] 08 Beech 18 AT-7 wheel/tire, Mendel Glacier 09 Mendel Glacier bergschrund 010 Beech 18 AT-7 engine buried in Mendel Glacier 011 Mendel Glacier Panorama 012 Darwin Canyon view of Mendel Glacier cirque in clouds

 

"Naturalist, turned cold-case detective, Peter Stekel takes us through a detailed look of the cost of freedom, paid by our WWII on the home front and by the veteran. Training aviators for combat was in many ways more statistically hazardous than combat itself. But the stories that give context to that are generally not as compelling. Until now. Final Flight gives the context for a detailed view of life, and death, on the home front. And most importantly, provides some long overdue closure to those families who wrote the emotional check necessary to put our combat forces in the field of combat." LtCol Greg Anders, Retired USAF combat aviation veteran

Peter Stekel, Author photos. Credit all photos to Peter Stekel.

Peter Stekel portrait #1	23. Peter Stekel portrait #2
24. Peter Stekel portrait #3	Peter Stekel portrait #4
Peter Stekel portrait #5	Peter Stekel portrait #6
Peter Stekel portrait #7	Peter Stekel portrait #8
Peter Stekel portrait #9	Peter Stekel portrait #10

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2008 blog entries - - - December November October September August July  June May April March February January 

2007 blog entries - - - December November October September

These photos are from August, 2007 during my trip to the Mendel Glacier and when I found Glenn Munn. Photo credit to Peter Stekel.

Mt. Mendel & Mendel Glacier from Lamarck Col [view from east to west]	Mt. Mendel & Mendel Glacier [view to west; note hiker in foreground for scale]
Engine wreckage
Glenn Munn's ring	Beech 18 radial engine wreckage
Glenn Munn, sweater fragment	Glenn Munn's unopened parachute
Glenn Munn's pocket comb	Body location

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Other Photos

AT-7 Reported and Conjectured Routes [color]    AT-7 Reported and Conjectured Routes [greyscale]

Crash site map [greyscale]     Gamber-Mortenson Headstone, January 2010 [greyscale] photo by Peter Stekel

Beech 18 AT-7 Navigator     Mt. Mendel and Mt. Darwin from 15,000 feet photo by Peter Stekel

These photos are from March, 2008 during my trip to the San Francisco Bay Area while doing research for Final Flight. Photos by Peter Stekel.

Headstone in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, CA [located about 10 miles south of San Francisco] with the names of William R. Gamber, Ernest Glenn Munn and John M. Mortenson	Entrance to Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, CA [located about 10 miles south of San Francisco]

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Crew photos. Credit assigned with each photo.

2nd Lt. William R. Gamber [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]	Cadet John M. Mortenson [courtesy Carol Benson and John M. Mortenson family]
Cadet Ernest Glenn Munn [courtesy Glenn Munn family.	Cadet Leo A. Mustonen [courtesy Leane Ross & Leo Mustonen family]
William Gamber, high school graduation [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]	[courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]
2nd Lt. William R. Gamber [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]	Bill Gamber and his mother at Bill's college graduation from Tri-State University [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]
Cadet William Gamber, Ryan PT-20 Recruit monoplane - a two seat primary training aircraft [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]	Bill Gamber in uniform [courtesy Bill Ralston & William Gamber family]

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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.

Through meticulous research, interviews, and mountaineering trips to the site, Stekel uncovered the story of these four young men. Final Flight explores their ill-fated trip and the misinformation surrounding 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 Stekel narrates the young aviators' last days and takes us on their final flight.

I appreciate your interest in this story. Final Flight was published in 2010 by Wilderness Press.

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Bibliography

Links to Published Work