Beneath Haunted Waters - by Peter Stekel (Paperback)

About the Book

The rarely known story of a father's search for his son's body after one of the most mysterious and tragic plane crashes in war history.

Beneath Haunted Waters is the story of two B-24 Liberator bombers that disappeared in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains in early December, 1943. One plane wasn't found until 1955 at the bottom of a reservoir. The other plane was discovered in 1960 at the bottom of a lake, high in the mountains. It's the story of these planes and their two crews and how they died so young, as well as the story of a father's devotion: Clinton Hester looked for his pilot-son Robert's body for the next 16 years, dying one year before Robert's body was discovered within ten miles of where Clinton thought it would be. California named the crash site Hester Lake in his honor.

Book Synopsis

Beneath Haunted Waters is the tale of waters in the High Sierra haunted by generations of people who cannot forget the story of how two B-24 Liberator bombers disappeared in 1943 and what happened to the boys on board.

During World War II the USA lost 7,100 combat aircraft and 5,300 trainers, along with 15,530 pilots, crew members, and ground personnel in over 52,000 domestic accidents. Between 1942-1945, US aviation losses to accidents (12,400) exceeded combat losses (4,500) to the Japanese. For every plane shot down in the South Pacific there were three lost to accidents within the United States.

While memoirs of those who served, histories of military and political leaders, and books about combat abound, very little has been written about the terrible toll of aviation training accidents during the war. Beneath Haunted Waters tells this unknown and unappreciated story.

Review Quotes

An expertly written tale about two long missing WWII era B-24s, and the High Sierra Lakes that held them. The fate of their crews, a troubling mystery, is fully described and explained by master story teller Peter Stekel.

In Beneath Haunted Waters Peter Stekel unfolds four equally gripping and poignant stories. He takes us into the cockpits to experience the dread of two World War II bomber crews struggling with uncertain navigation and aircraft malfunctions. He leads us into the world of aircraft wreck hunters captured by the mystique surrounding these bombers in the lakes. His deep research illustrates the often forgotten fact that America lost significantly more aircrews during the Second World War in training accidents than in combat in the Pacific Theater. And, finally, he makes us relate to those lost flyboys and grieve for them.

In Beneath Haunted Waters, author Peter Stekel recovers a compelling story of bravery and unspeakable loss from the icy vastness of California's Sierra Nevada. This wartime story of youthful bravery and the desperate times that put these men at risk deserves to be read and remembered by us all.

Peter Stekel has written a fascinating and highly-readable account of two military training accidents that but for his and the efforts of others profiled in his book, might have fallen into obscurity. Any disaster takes place at the intersection of multiple paths, each one of which has contributed. Beneath Haunted Waters is a highly-readable tour down these side roads that lead us to new ways of thinking about history, warfare, aviation, journalism and civics in mid-20th Century America.

Peter Stekel has, once again, penned a meticulously researched account that pays homage to America's Hidden Battle, that of the rigors, dangers, and incredible number of lives lost in training.

Peter Stekel's Beneath Haunted Waters tells the story of the discovery and investigation into the mysterious disappearance of two Liberator bombers lost in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains during World War II. Stekel expertly brings to life the personal stories of the bomber's crew and those who uncovered these lost bombers. A great read!

Poignant and gripping, Beneath Haunted Waters reminds us of a side of war we seldom hear about, the high toll it takes outside of combat. Flying into a mountainside at night is just as deadly as flying into a hail of enemy gunfire--and just as painful for the families of those killed. Perhaps even more so, because in the two cases Peter Stekel expertly reconstructs here, years passed before the survivors knew how their sons' lives ended.

Praise for Final Flight by Peter Stekel:

"An invigorated appreciation of the dedication of the men and women of the Greatest Generation."--Michael Sledge, author of Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen.

"Peter Stekel has captured the history, geography, and the mystery surrounding this inspiring tale of the High Sierra."--G. Pat Macha, author of Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of California.

"Stekel has breathed warm life into these long lost World War II airmen who disappeared while on a training mission in 1942. Entombed in High Sierra glacial ice for more than sixty years before being discovered by climbers and the author himself, Stekel skillfully weaves the crew's fate in these rugged mountains with his own quest to unravel the mystery."--Eric Blehm, best-selling author of The Last Season and The Only Thing Worth Dying For.

The B-24 hidden for 17 years in what is now Hester Lake has fascinated me since 1961, the year after it was found. I was then working on a summer trail crew only a mile or two from this wreckage, and heard the story of its discovery from the park ranger, Leroy Brock, who stumbled onto it. So interesting was it to me, I later visited the gravesite of its crewmen in Arlington National Cemetery. In Beneath Haunted Waters, Peter Stekel recounts the history of these plane wrecks with an historian's eye for detail and a story teller's gift for touching the human heart.

About the Author

Peter Stekel is the author of Final Flight, the Mystery of a World War II Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen in the High Sierra (Wilderness Press), Best Hikes Near Seattle (Falcon Guides), Best Wildflower Hikes Western Washington (Falcon Guides), and a mystery novel, The Flower Lover.

He has published feature stories in more than 700 magazines and newspapers, including articles on aviation, science and nature, Olympic sports, outdoor adventure and recreation, history, theatre arts and entertainment, and celebrity profiles.

In 1975, Stekel received a B.A. in botany from the University of California, Davis. He conducted graduate work in ecology at Humboldt State University and in 1982 received a secondary teaching credential in life science. He has worked as an educator, outdoor adventure guide, laboratory technician, botanist, and plant ecologist.

He lives in Seattle, Washington.