Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan

The story

1. A real aviator
   Corrigan was a genuine, skilled pilot and mechanic. In San Diego in 1927 he worked at Ryan Airlines, on the team that built Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Crossing the Atlantic was the dream he never let go of.
2. He said out loud that he wanted to cross it
   Through the 1930s he talked about flying the Atlantic and applied for permission to attempt it. The authorities refused: his old, heavily modified plane was judged unfit for an ocean crossing.
3. Then, “by accident”
   In July 1938 he got permission for a transcontinental flight from New York to California instead. He took off from Floyd Bennett Field, and after nearly 28 hours landed in Baldonnel, Ireland. He claimed cloud and a faulty compass had sent him the wrong way, and that he had thought he was over America until he noticed the ocean.
4. He stuck to it, for 57 years
   Officials were sceptical (his licence was briefly suspended), but he never admitted to a plan. New York gave him a hero's parade, he starred as himself in a film, and “Wrong Way Corrigan” became a household name. He kept the straight face until he died in 1995. Most people assume he knew exactly where he was going.