Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front

by Tom Wilber

Overview

In 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. Ponder–a 21-year-old from rural Mississippi–and 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, crashed, or fell to their deaths in stateside training accidents during the war–their lives and stories shuffled away in piles of Air Force bureaucracy.

The forgotten story of Getaway Gertie was originally inspired by summer evenings around the campfire on the shores of Lake Ontario, where parts of the plane have washed up. Building on those campfire tales, Wilber deftly connects myth with fact and memory with historicity. The result is a vivid portrait of the forgotten soldier of the home front and a new take on the meaning of wartime sacrifice as the last survivors of the Greatest Generation pass away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501769641
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2023
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	616,864
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Tom Wilber's writing career spans 25 years at USA Today Network's Central New York Newspaper Group, where he won Best of Gannett honors on multiple occasions. He also taught journalism at Binghamton University, and is the author of Under the Surface.

What People are Saying About This

Robert J. Mrazek

Vanishing Point provides a new and important chapter in the history of World War II. Tom Wilber tells the story of the thousands of American Air Force crews killed while training to go overseas. Their sacrifice is reflected in this brilliantly researched and beautifully paced account of the mysterious loss of one B-24 Liberator aircrew, and the long search to find them.

Susan P. Gately

Vanishing Point documents in vivid detail the little known and tragic history of some of World War II's 'forgotten soldiers,' telling the ongoing story of these lost aviators.

Michael Sledge

In unraveling the fate of Getaway Gertie, a WWII B-24 bomber, Tom Wilber has penned an eloquent tale that expertly captures the experience of the many thousands of US airmen lost—and often unfound—in training for war.

Aaron Hiltner

Original and captivating, Vanishing Point tells a deeply engaging, lovingly researched, and remarkably textured story. This book explores how memory, myth, and remembrance shape our perceptions of the lost airmen of World War II and the sacrifices they made.

Valerie Van Heest

In Vanishing Point, Tom Wilber poignantly connects shipwreck hunting, aviation, and the history of World War II. Wilber's story spans generations and shows the enduring relevance of the fallen, the lost, and the almost forgotten of that last great war.

Jack Kelly

Fifteen thousand American service members died in training during World War II, each death as grievous as one in combat. In describing the decades-long search for a B-24 that crashed into Lake Ontario in 1944, Vanishing Point unfolds a vivid and suspenseful tale of courage, loss, and hope. Tom Wilber has a journalist's eye for detail and a knack for emotionally compelling story telling.

Susan P. Gately

Vanishing Point documents in vivid detail the little known and tragic history of some of World War II's 'forgotten soldiers,' telling the ongoing story of these lost aviators.

Editorial Reviews

02/20/2023

Journalist Wilber (Under the Surface) shines a light in this poignant history on the more than 15,000 U.S. Army Air Force pilots and crew members who died in stateside training missions during WWII. The focus is on one such accident, the disappearance of a B-24 bomber known as Getaway Gertie in Upstate New York in February 1944, and the ripple effects on the crew members’ families and the community of Oswego, N.Y., where “war buffs and amateur divers” continue to search for the wreckage in nearby Lake Ontario. (The official search was called off two weeks after the accident, with only a wing section recovered.) Wilber pieces together the life of pilot Keith Ponder through archival research and a visit to his relatives in Scott County, Miss., and vividly recreates the plane’s low-altitude flight over Oswego County after a “blinding snowstorm” left the crew “unable to communicate, unable to see, and running out of fuel after missing the airport on multiple passes.” Elsewhere, Wilber profiles locals who have spent decades scouring the bottom of the lake for the Gertie and other wrecks. Smoothly written and painstakingly researched, this is a fitting tribute to unsung heroes of the Greatest Generation. Photos. (May)

Publishers Weekly

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

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.

Choce Connect