Fireball

This fresh look at Hollywood's "e;Queen of Screwball,"e; CaroleLombard, presents a first-ever examination of the events that led to theshocking flight mishap that took her life on the side of a Nevada mountain in1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard'shusband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with thetragedy. In effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds andstamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard became thefirst Hollywood star to sacrifice her life in the war.The War Department offered Gable a funeral service with fullmilitary honors, but he refused it, knowing his wife would not approve of suchspectacle. Based on extensive research rather than gossip, thisinvestigation further explores the lives of the twenty-one others on theplane, including fifteen members of the US Army Air Corps, and addresses one ofthe most enduring mysteries of World War II. On a clear night full of stars,with TWA's most experienced pilot at the controls of a ten-month-old aircraftunder the power of two fully functioning engines, why did theflight crash into that Nevada mountainside?This gripping page-turner presents the story of the peopleon the plane, the friends and families left behind, and the heroic firstresponders who struggled up a mountain hoping to perform a miracle rescue. Itis a story of accomplishment, bravery, sacrifice, and loss.