Fireball

Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3

By: Robert Matzen

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's 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. In effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds and stamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard became the first Hollywood star to sacrifice her life in the war.

The War Department offered Gable a funeral service with full military honors, but he refused it, knowing his wife would not approve of such spectacle. 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 US 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 gripping page-turner presents the story of the people on the plane, the friends and families left behind, and the heroic first responders who struggled up a mountain hoping to perform a miracle rescue. It is a story of accomplishment, bravery, sacrifice, and loss.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2013 Robert Matzen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Devoured Fireball in a single day while recuperating from the Toronto International Film Festival. Fantastic job of research, served up as a real page-turner. It would make a great movie." (Lou Lumenick, chief film critic, New York Post)

Never Knew This Was a Mystery

I did know that Carol Lombard died in a plane crash but never knew the circumstances. This book brought that to life and gave many grizzly details. It also describes the other passengers and the people who were supposed to be on that flight and didn't make if for one reason or another. Very, very compelling book.

Love the narration and will definitely listen to other books read by Tavia Gilbert.

Great job, Robert Matzen!!

Incredibly Interesting

I love biographies and while this one zeros in on the events leading up to and surrounding Carole’s death, I was still captivated by it. I was afraid it might use too much aviation jargon and be too technical to be interesting to me, but thankfully it wasn’t.
The author swaps back and forth from perspectives and keeps you hanging on for the continuation.
The narrator was just fabulous to listen to. Often I find myself speeding up the narration to about 1.3 on certain narrators just to tolerate their voices (and sometimes to get me out of my misery sooner). This lady was great - her inflections and her speed of reading made for a very pleasant listen.
**Be aware that there is some offensive language.**

Great story, overly dramatic narrator

Compelling narrative that kept my attention the entire time. The description of the crash scene investigation went on a bit longer than I would have preferred. But the only real criticism I have is the narrator’s inflection is overdone and too dramatic, lending an unsophisticated and annoying quality to the audiobook. But overall it was a good listen, particularly the relationship between Lombard, Gable, and their friends.

Very detailed

Learned a lot about Carol and Gable. Details about the accident that killed her were new to me. Liked it very much.

GREAT READ

This book is very well written. other reviews had mentioned that the performance was distracting and too much. I didn't think it was as bad as some said. it's an intense book and the performance helped with that. Highly recommend this book.

Observation

We know the plane was overloaded, and witnesses saw one engine smoking, and the beacons were turned off.

Why would they not think the plane was trying to climb, and the load caused the engine to work harder.

The plane just could not get to altitude to make it over the mountain.

The second plane that hit the mountain in 2007, had a lot of equipment onboard, that should helped them over the mountain.

After the crash in 1942, no one thought of lighting the mountain at night, or have a beacon emitting a sound.

If the mountain was in the ocean, and they need to avoid it, a light house would have been built.

It is kind of absurd that 65 years after the crash of Flight 3, two men lost their lives, because someone could not make a

simple decision.

The pilots, why are the pilots always blamed. I believe the blame for Flight 3 going down sits squarely on the shoulders of the guy, who decided to manipulated the weight on that flight.

Lets not forget the Bahamas Flight August 2001, that flight also went down, cause, overloading.

I will say I enjoyed the book, it took me on an emotional ride.

Such a loss for all involved, the ones who lived and the ones who died.

Well done.

Some of the best books/ listens are in the Audible Plus Catalog. This is one of them. This book has it all ... Hollywood, a Love Story, A Tragedy, it stirs many emotions on many levels.

Enjoyable

I enjoyed learning the details of Carol Lombard’s life and tragic death. However, the narrator should have done a better job with pronunciation of names and other words. A simple Google search would have given her Franchot Tone’s correct pronunciation, Fran shō not Fran chot (as in shot with the ch as in church).

Sad, but wonderfully written

I'm a big fan of Carole Lombard and I'd read this in hardcover when it first came out and thought that it was very good. I still think that it's very well written AND now I also feel that the narrator made it even better. She read it with the proper amount and placement of emotion (not overly, but not flat either).

This is not just about Carole Lombard though, it's about her mother and Otto Winkler, and the service men and flight crew all of whom also died in that crash.

It's a great reminder (I think anyway) to lead a good life, love and appreciate your loved ones, have good fun..and don't make important decisions based on emotion...and listen to other people who also have a part in your decision making and understand their feelings.

Highly recommend it!

SO GREAT!!!!

Loved how the author went back and forth between her history and the crash. Learned a lot. Such a crazy story. I wish they would make this book into a movie, ASAP!!