###The Flight of Wrong Way Corrigan
New York to Ireland, 1938 — Denied permission to cross the ocean, a pilot filed a flight plan for California—then flew 28 hours in the opposite direction.
Douglas Corrigan was an expert mechanic who helped build Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis. But when he asked to fly his own highly modified 1929 airplane across the Atlantic, officials firmly said no. The aging aircraft was simply deemed too dangerous for an ocean crossing.
On July 17, 1938, Corrigan agreed to fly safely from New York back home to California. He took off, vanished into the clouds, and deliberately headed east. For 28 hours, he flew entirely without a radio or modern navigation while raw gasoline steadily dripped onto his feet.
He finally touched down in Dublin, Ireland, stepping out of the cockpit to claim he had made a terrible mistake. Corrigan blamed thick clouds and a broken compass for making him fly the "wrong way." Historians know it was deliberate, but the world loved his cheeky excuse.
The Flight of Wrong Way Corrigan — New York to Ireland, 1938