He went back to California, got the license and installed two more gas tanks for good measure. The next year, 1937, he reapplied for permission to make the flight, but Amelia Earhart had disappeared over the Pacific just a few months earlier, and nobody in Washington wanted to give the go-ahead for another solo ocean flight at that juncture. Worse yet, the government even refused to renew the license for Corrigan’s plane, which meant that he would not be able to fly anywhere. ‘It looked like I was stopped now for sure,’ he later wrote.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Aviation History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

But the pilot was not completely out of options. Although he had been denied permission to fly, he still had his plane. ‘They can’t hang you for flying a plane without a license,’ he figured. ‘Columbus took a chance, so why not me?’ He flew toward New York, planning to head for Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. He thought perhaps he could land by night, after the officials had gone home. Then he could fill his gas tanks and fly across the ocean–damn the torpedoes!

In preparation for his great adventure, Corrigan gave his plane a name. ‘I had always considered my plane as a little ray of sunshine,’ he said,’so now I put the name Sunshine on the cowling.’

The flight to New York did not go well, however. Bad weather forced Corrigan to land in Arizona the first day. More bad weather forced him to land in New Mexico the next day. The pattern continued throughout the trip. It took him two days just to get across Texas. Corrigan was forced to land in open fields, near various towns that nobody flies to on purpose, including Arkadelphia, Ark.; Ezel, Ky.; and Buckhannon, W.Va. It took him nine days to make it from California to New York.

By then it was the end of October and getting cold. Corrigan decided not to risk an ocean flight. Offending bureaucrats was one thing, but facing the cold skies of the North Atlantic could be quite a bit more dangerous. And the trip Corrigan planned would be dangerous enough in good weather.

He decided instead to try flying nonstop back to California. Corrigan landed at Floyd Bennett Field one afternoon, filled his gas tanks and took off again. No one stopped him, and no one said anything about the plane being unlicensed. He soon had reason to be thankful he had not tried an Atlantic crossing. Even over Mississippi, it was so cold that ice began forming on the carburetor. That caused the engine to slow down, and Corrigan had to keep moving the throttle back and forth in order to break the ice loose and keep it from forming again.

The winds were against him, too, which meant he did not have enough gas to make it nonstop to Los Angeles. He did reach California, though, landing at Adams Airport, in the San Fernando Valley. That’s where the feds caught up with him. An inspector saw the plane and told the airport officials not to let Corrigan fly it. Sunshine stayed in the Adams hangar for the next six months.

Corrigan, however, had no intention of staying on the ground that long. He visited most of the airfields around Los Angeles and managed to get in some flight time in other aircraft. But since he also wanted to fly his own plane again, he overhauled the engine and had the plane inspected.

The federal inspector who came to examine Sunshine after that said it was good enough for an experimental license. Corrigan received permission to make a nonstop flight to New York, and then–if he made it–a nonstop flight back to Los Angeles.

To prepare for the trip, Corrigan ran some tests on gasoline consumption at various speeds, eventually deciding that 85 mph was the best speed for his Curtiss Robin. Then he watched the weather.

Corrigan took off from Long Beach on July 7, 1938. He hit turbulence while crossing the desert and flew over a dust storm in New Mexico. Next came rain squalls with enormous lightning bolts. Since he did not want to use up extra gasoline flying around the storm, he flew straight into it. Fortunately, the gamble paid off. He reached clear air an hour later.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to