Sign-In
Cart
Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front
Hardcover
Regional: Middle AtlanticWorld War II
Publisher Price: $29.95
ISBN13: 9781501769641
Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr
Published: May 15 2023
Pages: 264
Weight: 1.00
Height: 0.55 Width: 5.67 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
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.
2 different editions
Also available
Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front
Wilber, Tom
Audio Book
Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front
Wilber, Tom
Audio Book
Also from
Wilber, Tom
Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front
Wilber, Tom
Audio Book
Vanishing Point: The Search for a B-24 Bomber Crew Lost on the World War II Home Front
Wilber, Tom
Audio Book
Also in
World War II
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich
Metaxas, Eric
Paperback
Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942 (Revised)
Eric M Hammel
Paperback
The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II
Groom, Winston
Paperback
Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and the Battlefields of Italy
Harmon, Mark
Carroll, Leon
Hardcover
A Librarian's War: The Man Who Fought World War II with Books and Brought the Joy of Reading to Millions
Manning, Molly Guptill
Hardcover
They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted
Lachman, Charles
Hardcover
The Nuremberg Women: The Untold Story of the Eight Women Who Brought the Nazis to Justice
Livingstone, Natalie
Hardcover
The Last Full Measure: An American Family and How the United States Brought Home the Dead of World War II
Clarke, Kim
Hardcover
Operation Sparrow: The Incredible True Story of the Spies Who Tricked Hitler and Won the War
Bell, Jason
Hardcover
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Paperback
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Paperback
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
Strauss, Gwen
Paperback
Countdown Battle of the Bulge: The 40 Days of World War II That Crushed Hitler's Last Hope
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
The Distance Between Our Names: The Untold History of America's War on Japanese Immigrants
Richter, Paul
Hardcover
The Wanderers: A Story of Exile, Survival, and Unexpected Love in the Shadow of World War II
Gerson, Daniela
Hardcover
The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
Willner, Nina
Hardcover
The Hour Strikes: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Hitler at the Hinge of History, 1941
Thomas, Evan
Thomas, Oscie
Hardcover
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Browning, Christopher R.
Paperback
The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising
Hyman, Elizabeth R.
Paperback
Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945
Slim, Field-Marshal Viscount William
Paperback
The Visionaries: Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, and the Making of the Post-World War II Order
Holland, James
Hardcover
The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram: The Man Who Stared Down World War II in the Name of Love
Whitmire, Ethelene
Hardcover
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
Aikman, Becky
Paperback
The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
Isserman, Maurice
Paperback
Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
He Leadeth Me: An Extraordinary Testament of Faith
Ciszek, Walter J., S. J.
Flaherty, Daniel L., S. J.
Paperback
Just Beneath the Soil: World War II Through the Eyes of Its Last Witnesses (Large Print Edition)
Smith, Clint
Paperback
Every Man a Hero: A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach, and a World at War
Lambert, Ray
DeFelice, Jim
Paperback
The Navigator's Letter: The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together
Dondi, Jan Cress
Hardcover
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
Freeman, Gregory A.
Paperback
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Makos, Adam
Alexander, Larry
Hardcover
The War They Won: The Story of World War II, as told by Those Who Were There
K. Kistler, Lt Hobart
Hardcover
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
Kiernan, Denise
Paperback
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
Aikman, Becky
Hardcover
Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History
O'Reilly, Bill
Dugard, Martin
Paperback
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Alexander, Larry
Makos, Adam
Paperback
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Mundy, Liza
Paperback
Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
Olson, Lynne
Paperback
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Hardcover
The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945, Revised Edition
Allen, William Sheridan
Paperback
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
Miller, Donald L.
Paperback
Reich of the Black Sun: Nazi Secret Weapons & the Cold War Allied Legend
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
Snyder, Steve
Paperback
The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
Letts, Elizabeth
Paperback
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
Kladstrup, Petie
Kladstrup, Donald
Paperback
Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
Keene, Anne R.
Paperback
Countdown Battle of the Bulge: The 40 Days of World War II That Crushed Hitler's Last Hope (Large Print Edition)
Wallace, Chris
Paperback
The History of World War II: A Graphic Novel Retelling of the 20th Century's Defining War
de la Croix, Arnaud
Hardcover
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust
Bettina, Elizabeth
Paperback
The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
Willner, Nina
Paperback
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel
Minear, Richard H.
Seuss
Paperback
Into the Storm: Inspired by the true story of the Half Moon and her only survivor
Palmer, Jamie Kay
Paperback
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man
Vladic, Sara
Vincent, Lynn
Paperback
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Meltzer, Brad
Mensch, Josh
Paperback
Моя Борьба - Майн Кампф: Mein Kampf
Гитлер, Ад&#
Hitler, Adolf
Paperback
W.E. Fairbairn's Complete Compendium of Lethal, Unarmed, Hand-to-Hand Combat Methods and Fighting
Fairbairn, W. E.
Hardcover
Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II
Brown, Daniel James
Paperback
The Last Stand of Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Hornfischer, Estate Of James D.
Hardcover
The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War
Sanders, Charles J.
Paperback
The Fate of the Generals: Macarthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines
Horn, Jonathan
Paperback
Japan's Infamous Unit 731: First-Hand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program
Gold, Hal
Paperback