This Month in History...

July 19, 2010

On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan took off in his 1929 Curtiss Robin monoplane.  His alleged destination:  Los Angeles, CA.   His final destination: Dublin, Ireland. 

Many of you may have heard the term "Wrong Way" Corrigan.  Usually, it means someone who is running the wrong way during a sports game.  The term comes from Douglas Corrigan’s not-so-famous trip to Los Angeles, California.  Corrigan took off in his Curtiss Robin monoplane from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY July 17, 1938.  He flew for 28 hours 13 minutes and landed at Bondonnel Airport in Dublin, Ireland.   He said that the fog was so thick, he could only fly with his compass, and it was so dark, he could not see it very well.  When questioned by authorities, he replied that he "had been following the wrong end of the magnetic needle."  Corrigan came home to a hero’s welcome and was given the nickname "Wrong Way" Corrigan. 

If you want to read more about unusual people in American History, check out E. Randall Floyd’s The Good, the Bad, and the Mad: Weird People in American History .