Includes bibliographical references: (p. 356-358) and index.
Contents:
A perfectly routine Friday night -- Perpetual motion machine -- The radiating halo -- The long road -- A long and grim weekend -- Merely physical -- A perfect flying experience -- Inflexible fate -- Jimmy Donnally lands his plane -- Calculated mayhem -- Flight 3 is down -- A man in a man's body -- The plane that fell -- Somber hymns and cold marble -- Hoping against hope -- Certified bombs -- The plain, black night -- Malaise -- Road king -- A flame to many moths -- Fool's errand -- The VIPs -- Gleaming silver -- The coin flip -- The computer -- Stranded -- The glamorous life -- I won't be coming home -- There's no rush -- Caring enough to climb a mountain -- The entire gang showed up -- Groaning pines -- Unfixable -- I still see it in my dreams -- The fatal flaw -- The complication -- Just a few yards apart -- All in a day's work -- The little boy was gone -- Flying with full acceptance -- The under side -- Even the unfortuanates -- The cream of the crop -- Skyrocketing -- Mangled -- If I can do it, so can you -- Epilogue: High-energy impact.
Summary:
This fresh look at Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball," Carole Lombard, presents a first-ever examination of the events that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her life on the side of a Nevada mountain in 1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard's husband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with the tragedy. Based on extensive research rather than gossip, this investigation further explores the lives of the 21 others on the plane, including 15 members of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and addresses one of the 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 10-month-old aircraft under the power of two fully functioning engines, why did the flight crash into that Nevada mountainside?
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.