Description
Book SynopsisIn Vanishing Point, award winning journalist and author Tom Wilber pieces together the largely forgotten story of the bomber, Getaway Gertie, and an eclectic group of enthusiasts who have spent years searching for it.
At the height of World War II, a B-24 Liberator bomber vanished with its crew while on a training mission over upstate New York. The final hours and ultimate resting place of pilot Keith Ponder and seven other US aviators aboard the plane remain mysteries to this day. The tale is at once a compelling instance of loss on the World War II American home front and a more extensive, largely unreported history. Pondera 21-year-old from rural Mississippiand his crew were tragically unexceptional casualties in the monumental effort to recruit and train an air force en masse to counter the global conquest of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. More than fifteen thousand American airmen and, in some cases, women burned, crashe
Trade Review
Smoothly written and painstakingly researched, this is a fitting tribute to unsung heroes of the Greatest Generation.
* Publisher's Weekly *
Vanishing Point unspools what happened—or might have happened—to Ponder's ill-fated flight. It's the story of the story, the people behind the story, and the keepers of the story who maintain a vigil of exploration nearly 80 years later.
* USA Today *
Tom Wilber, author of Vanishing Point which documents the case of the "Getaway Gertie" crew, said that few people today are aware of the stunning casualty rate of training exercises. Thousands perished while preparing to fight in the second World War.
* Choice *
