Come Again Pat. Corrigan

Cream background with green text above and below a green head and shoulders photograph of a man in a suit at the center of the button.

Douglas Corrigan was a notorious aviator made famous for his “mistaken” flight from Brooklyn to Dublin Ireland in 1938 for which he was later dubbed “Wrong-Way Corrigan.”  Corrigan had filed a flight plan from New York to California, and claimed when he landed in Ireland sometime later that he had gotten lost in the fog.  It is believed that Corrigan became increasingly frustrated with aviation authorities who continually denied requests for such a flight because they deemed his 1929 Curtiss-Robin monoplane unworthy of the trip. They were not too far off the mark.  During the flight, the fuel began to leak at such an alarming rate, that Corrigan had to use a screwdriver to punch a hole in the cockpit floor so the fuel would drain. 

As a result of the wrong-way flight, Corrigan’s pilot license was suspended, but only briefly.  Tales of his exploits became front page news and upon his return to America, Corrigan was treated to a ticker tape parade in New York more extravagant than the one given for Lindbergh after his 1927 trans-Atlantic flight.  Lindbergh was a source of inspiration for Corrigan, and in fact Corrigan helped build the Spirit of St. Louis and pulled the chucks away from the wheels for Lindbergh’s famous flight.

Pat placed on the face of this button likely refers to a patent on the design or image.