Drawing from encyclopedia photo
Douglas Corrigan was an American flyer with a penchant for ignoring authority and performing daredevil stunts in his plane.
In 1938, at the age of 31, when he was supposed to be flying from Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach in California, he kind of veered off-course from the State of Oranges and Sunshine and ended up flying all the way across the Atlantic to the Land of Potatoes and Rain - that is, Dublin, Ireland - instead. He said it was all on account of a navigational error.
"He claimed to have noticed his "error" after flying for about 26 hours. This is not entirely consistent with his claim that after 10 hours, he felt his feet go cold; the cockpit floor was awash with gasoline leaking from the unrepaired tank. He used a screwdriver to punch a hole through the cockpit floor so that the fuel would drain away on the opposite side to the hot exhaust pipe, reducing the risk of a midair explosion. Had he been truly unaware that he was over ocean, it seems likely that he would have descended at this point; instead, he claimed to have increased the engine speed by almost 20% in the hope of decreasing his flight time."
He made it to Ireland safely, received a 600-words reprimand from the aviation authorities by telegram, had his pilot's license revoked for a fortnight and then went home, along with his plane, onboard a ship.
He received a hero's welcome back home, wrote an autobiography, got a starring role in an autobigraphical film by RKO Radio Pictures, made plenty of money, got married, had kids, helped the war effort, tried politics, worked in commercial aviation until his retirement, bought a large orange grove, prospered, suffered some personal setbacks and lived more or less out of the public eye.
"In 1988, he joined in the golden anniversary celebration of his famous flight, allowing enthusiasts to retrieve the famous Robin from his garage. It was reassembled and the engine was run successfully. Corrigan found this so exciting that the organizers placed guards at the plane's wings while Corrigan was at the show and considered tethering the tail to a police car."
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