Wrong Way Corrigan
WRONG WAY CORRIGAN • Accidental Aviator
On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan filed a flight plan for California and took off from a Brooklyn airfield in a tiny single-engine plane. 29 hours later he arrived in Ireland, claiming his compasses had failed. Although Corrigan never quite admitted it, his 'mistake' was surely a ruse to circumvent aviation authorities who had turned down his request to make a trans-Atlantic flight. Corrigan's stunt caught the public fancy and he was given a hero's welcome on his return to New York.