He took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York City at 5:15 a.m. July 19, 1938 headed for his Los Angeles home in California. It seems he made a slight miscalculation and when he alit from his nine-year-old aircraft he was in Ireland. Because of the age of his machine he had been banned from attempting a trans-continental flight.
Douglas Corrigan stated that he had somehow looked at his compass backwards and apparently flew in the wrong direction. He said he had been above cloud cover for 18 hours before dropping down to 1500 feet to get a sight bearing. He then found himself above water and determined he must be somewhere off the California coast. When he first saw land he decided it did not look like California, and after some thought determined he may have flown opposite from his intended direction and therefore he might be over Ireland. He searched for an airport and finally landed at Baldonnel.
For his so-called error he was named “Wrong Way Corrigan.”
July 19, 1938 shall forever be known as the date “Wrong Way Corrigan” flew the Atlantic, and as the day I was born.
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