| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 17.07.10 17:04l 47 Lines 2173 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12224_N0KFQ
Read: VE7HFY GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 17
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DB0ERF<DB0FBB<DB0IUZ<DB0GOS<DB0EEO<DB0RES<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<
CX2SA<WA7V<N9ZZK<WD9EKA<K9BBS<N9LYA<N0KFQ
Sent: 100717/1436Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:12224 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:12224_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Jul 17, 1938:
"Wrong Way" Corrigan crosses the Atlantic
Douglas Corrigan, the last of the early glory-seeking fliers,
takes off from Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn, New York, on a
flight that would finally win him a place in aviation history.
Eleven years earlier, American Charles A. Lindbergh had become
an international celebrity with his solo nonstop flight across
the Atlantic. Corrigan was among the mechanics who had worked on
Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis aircraft, but that mere footnote
in the history of flight was not enough for the Texas-born
aviator. In 1938, he bought a 1929 Curtiss Robin aircraft off a
trash heap, rebuilt it, and modified it for long-distance
flight. In July 1938, Corrigan piloted the single-engine plane
nonstop from California to New York. Although the
transcontinental flight was far from unprecedented, Corrigan
received national attention simply because the press was amazed
that his rattletrap aircraft had survived the journey.
Almost immediately after arriving in New York, he filed plans
for a transatlantic flight, but aviation authorities deemed it a
suicide flight, and he was promptly denied. Instead, they would
allow Corrigan to fly back to the West Coast, and on July 17 he
took off from Floyd Bennett field, ostentatiously pointed west.
However, a few minutes later, he made a 180-degree turn and
vanished into a cloudbank to the puzzlement of a few onlookers.
Twenty-eight hours later, Corrigan landed his plane in Dublin,
Ireland, stepped out of his plane, and exclaimed, "Just got in
from New York. Where am I?" He claimed that he lost his
direction in the clouds and that his compass had malfunctioned.
The authorities didn't buy the story and suspended his license,
but Corrigan stuck to it to the amusement of the public on both
sides of the Atlantic. By the time "Wrong Way" Corrigan and his
crated plane returned to New York by ship, his license
suspension had been lifted, he was a national celebrity, and a
mob of autograph seekers met him on the gangway.
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
Using "Outpost Lite" Ver 2.2.1 c85
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
