Sole Survivor

The B-25 is damaged during the bombing run by German fighters. Hamner panics and bails out without any orders, abandoning his navigator. With no navigator left, the remaining crew drift far from their target and overfly their base by about 300 miles.

The five surviving crew bail out and parachute to safety, believing they are over open water. They land alive, though Brandy is badly injured. The crashed bomber remains somewhere ahead as they begin to realize they are in the Libyan desert.

To secure water and survival gear, Tony walks toward the downed bomber, following the heading that would have been flown. He hopes to locate the aircraft and bring back much-needed supplies for the others. The bomber had crash-landed in the Libyan desert.

The tail, hanging precariously, breaks away as Tony crawls under it to escape the sun. The collapsing tail instantly crushes him, ending his attempt to aid the group. His death compounds the crew’s peril in the desert.

After several days beneath the relentless African sun, the remaining crew perish from exposure. They had hoped for rescue or supplies, but the harsh desert environment proved fatal. Their bodies remain near the wreckage as the world moves on.

The five crew members’ spirits remain at the wreckage in a limbo state for seventeen years. They long for repatriation home and pass the time by playing baseball in the wreckage setting. Their hope rests on someone recovering their bodies.

An oil surveying aircraft spots the crashed B-25 and reports the discovery back to the United States Air Force. The potential visitation of searchers spurs the ghosts to act, trying to influence what happens next. The discovery marks the first real chance of closure for the crew.

The ghosts begin moving objects and artifacts, putting them back in their original positions as if the crash had happened yesterday. They hope this will convince investigators to search for their bodies and bring them home. The spectral activity is an effort to signal the living that they never abandoned the aircraft.

Lieutenant Colonel Josef Gronke and Major Michael Devlin arrive and ask Hamner to accompany their team to the remains. Hamner fears disciplinary action and the end of his military career if the truth comes out. He reluctantly agrees to join the investigation.

Hamner attempts to hide the truth, claiming the crew bailed over the Mediterranean and that the pilotless plane continued on. He worries about being exposed and the consequences for his career. The lie sets up the tension for the investigators’ inevitable scrutiny.

The discovery of a harmonica belonging to Gant indicates the crew did not bail out over the sea. Despite this, the bodies are still missing, muddying the investigators’ ability to confirm the story. The evidence raises more questions about the flight’s final moments.

Devlin confronts Hamner with mounting evidence and possible guilt. Hamner finally admits his earlier cowardice and explains that Mac had refused a Nazi-occupied landing point, with the others likely bailing rather than continuing the flight. The confession reframes what happened that day.

The crew’s ghosts appear to Hamner, prompting him to flee across the desert in a jeep with the investigators. They reach the life raft site, where the truth is revealed: the men had not drifted at sea as Hamner feared. The discovery points toward the real fate of the missing crew.

The crew’s heading to the life raft and survival estimates allow the team to locate the missing bodies. As bodies are recovered, the ghosts vanish and accompany their remains home. Tony, however, died beneath the tail and remains at the aircraft, unrecovered.

A diary found near Mac’s body mentions Tony’s potential return to the aircraft. The team resolves to conduct one final, detailed search at the crash site to resolve lingering questions. The next step is anticipated as they attempt to complete the crew’s repatriation.