Remembering “Wrong Way” Corrigan – The Flying Irishman

 

Here’s a fabulous tale of fulfilling your dreams and not taking no for an answer (or, perhaps, a lesson in why mistakes aren’t all bad!). A great tale to share with children and a fabulous conversation starter.

 

On this day, July 17th, 1938, Irish-American Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan flew from New York & landed at Baldonnell Aerodrome, Dublin.

 

 

Having been repeatedly denied permission for a Transatlantic flight in the aircraft he – a skilled aircraft mechanic who had worked on Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis – had modified himself, it is thought Corrigan deliberately flew to Ireland rather than return to Long Beach, California as planned. Throughout his life, he never admitted to this & continued to claim it was a navigational error.

 

The words of journalist H.R. Knickerbocker, who met Corrigan in Ireland after his arrival, are worth a read:

You may say that Corrigan’s flight could not be compared to Lindbergh’s in its sensational appeal as the first solo flight across the ocean. Yes, but in another way the obscure little Irishman’s flight was the more audacious of the two. Lindbergh had a plane specially constructed, the finest money could buy. He had lavish financial backing, friends to help him at every turn. Corrigan had nothing but his own ambition, courage, and ability. His plane, a nine-year-old Curtis’s Robin Curtiss, was the most wretched-looking jalopy. As I looked over it at the Dublin airdrome I really marveled that anyone should have been rash enough even to go in the air with it, much less try to fly the Atlantic. He built it, or rebuilt it, practically as a boy would build a scooter out of a soapbox and a pair of old roller skates. It looked it. The nose of the engine hood was a mass of patches soldered by Corrigan himself into a crazy-quilt design. The door behind which Corrigan crouched for twenty-eight hours was fastened together with a piece of baling wire. The reserve gasoline tanks put together by Corrigan, left him so little room that he had to sit hunched forward with his knees cramped, and not enough window space to see the ground when landing.

 

According to the pilot, he got lost due to bad weather and was unable to read his compass. Despite this excuse, Corrigan was immediately stripped of his pilot’s licence. He and his plane returned to the US via steamer. Word of his exploits reached America before him, and he was greeted by a crowd of about 1 million people for a ticker tape parade upon his return. 

 

 

By the time he arrived home, Corrigan’s suspension had expired. He continued to work as a pilot, starred in a movie about his exploits and endorsed several “wrong way” products, including a watch that ran backwards.

Watch this video to learn more about Corrigan’s life and his exploits.

 

Here’s to a spirit of adventure! In the words of Oscar Wilde,

Live! Live that wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.

 

A great conversation starter is to ask if there are times others have not taken no for an answer.