Douglas Corrigan

Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan (January 22, 1907–December 9, 1995) was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. In 1938 after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, even though he was supposed to be returning to Long Beach. He claimed that this was due to a navigational error caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured any landmarks and low-light conditions that caused him to misread his compass. Corrigan, however, was a skilled aircraft mechanic (he was one of the builders of Charles Lindbergh's The Spirit of St. Louis) and he had made several modifications to his own plane rendering it suitable for transatlantic flight. Between 1935 and 1937 he applied several times for permission to make a nonstop flight from New York to Ireland, and it is likely that his "navigational error" was a protest against government "red tape"; however, he never publicly acknowledged having flown to Ireland intentionally.

Early life

Clyde Corrigan (as he was originally named){{Inote|IMDb|IMDb}} was the older son of a construction engineer and a teacher. He must have been an attractive child; he won first prize in a local baby contest aged 15 months. The family moved frequently due to his father's work until his parents divorced and shared custody of their sons. He and his brother Henry finally settled with his mother in Los Angeles and upon leaving school took work in construction.

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On a Sunday afternoon in October 1925, he saw a pilot take passengers for rides in a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane at a local airfield. He returned the next Sunday and paid the $2.50 for his own ride. The following Sunday, he took his first flying lesson, returning weekly for the next few months. During this time he also learned what he could from the local aircraft mechanics. Corrigan made his first solo flight on March 25 1926.

Related Topics:
Curtiss JN-4 - March 25

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