Peter Stekel, author of “Final Flight: The Mystery of a WWII Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen of the High Sierra,” will speak at the Oakland Aviation Museum in California Saturday, April 23, at 1 p.m.
In 2005, two mountaineers climbing above Mendel Glacier in the High Sierra found the mummified remains of a uniformed World War II US airman frozen in the ice. The ensuing media storm surrounding the man in the ice immediately gripped the attention of the nation.
Who was the frozen airman? Where did he come from and how did he get there? How had he remained so well preserved? The mystery drew writer and Sierra devotee Peter Stekel deeper and deeper as he investigated: A navigation training flight missing since 1942 with its four-man crew. An airplane crash 150 miles off-course from its reported destination. Early attempts at recovery thwarted. Empty graves and botched records. Bad weather, bad luck, bad timing. Families waiting, long forgotten.
Then, in 2007, the unimaginable happened again: Stekel himself discovered a second body in the glacier and became part of the story. Another young man would finally be coming home.
For more information: OaklandAviationMuseum.org
