Douglas Corrigan's Curtiss Robin

[tulsaboy]

So...with all of the attention that classic aviation gets in the modern era, and with the adoration that we show our heros, I am curious about Douglas Corrigan. For someone who was in the middle of so much early aviation history, and who made some pretty fantastic history himself, he seems to be a bit forgotten. I know that (at least from anecdotal sources) Mr. Corrigan enjoyed living a private life in his later years. But Earhart's Vega is in the Smithsonian, as is the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, and other treasured aviation relics. Other such significant aircraft are in Dayton. From what I understand, Corrigan's Curtiss Robin still exists- maybe still owned by his family? So a couple of questions- does anyone here know where the airplane actually is, and who owns it; and has anyone here actually laid eyes on it in the last 25 years? I can't find any particularly good photos of it except the often-reproduced ones from the 1930's.

Corrigan's story, all of the kidding aside, is an incredible story of achievement. For someone to be able to guide a single-engine, early airplane across the north Atlantic without anything more than a compass is incredible. I wish I had been fortunate enough to meet him in person. I'm sure he would have been fun dinner conversation.

To me, it seems a shame that there is not a Corrigan exhibit somewhere that highlights his accomplishments and his role in history- both with the Lindbergh flight and with his own flight. The centerpiece, of course, should be his Robin- reassembled but not restored, in all its glory. I'm sure I'm not the first person with this idea. Anyone know why such an endeavor has not yet been accomplished?

kevin

[JohnB]

From what I recall, Corrigan statically displayed it at (at least) one California event before his death.
The Fiddler's Green paper airplane model website has a photo from one of those (or perhaps THE only) appearances.
It also mentions he was at a show with the plane when he was 81, which would have been 1988.
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/air ... Robin.html


As far as I know, it's still owned by the family. Like you, I haven't heard anything more or different.

Last edited by JohnB on Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

I'm only aware that it was shown that one time at Hawthorn. It was in amazing condition. Wish I had taken some pictures, but film was expensive back then!

[tulsaboy]

I found a couple of photos online somewhere last night of the Robin at Hawthorn in 1988, the 50th anniversary of his flight. Photos of him as well at the event. I'll see if I can't find them and post them (or at least links to them) later this evening.

edit: correction, those shots from the Fiddler's Green website were the only ones I could find last night. Those were the shots. What a neat looking airplane, in its (largely) original condition.

kevin

[bdk]

There were photos in Pacific Flyer at the time. You might want to search for that.

[tulsaboy]

Thanks, BDK. I'll do that.

kevin

[APG85]

As far as I know, his family still has it and it is disassembled and stored in a garage. I keep hoping they will donate it to a museum before something happens to it. It's a neat plane and completely original...

[JohnB]

I keep hoping they will donate it to a museum before something happens to it. It's a neat plane and completely original...

Or else sell it to the right person who will keep it flying without any significant mods.
By "right person" I mean someone who will share it by taking it to events and not just locking it up where no one ever sees it as a "Hey, I'm rich" trophy.
(We all know of people like that.... ).

[bdk]

I'm not sure it would be safe to fly on 80 year old cotton fabric. It would need to be restored to fly. The spars are wood, but the ribs are aluminum and the frame welded steel tube. I think the empennage is all steel too. I sold mine in the early 1990s (N74H), so it's hard to remember anymore.

[tulsaboy]

It's my understanding that it taxiied with Corrigan at the controls in 1988; other than that, I'm not sure that it's even been run since the 1940's, let alone flown. I can't imagine that it would be safe to fire up and fly 70 years or so after its last flight. Something that has been kept in inside storage, like the Winnie Mae or the Spirit of St. Louis, you might be able to do that with. But I would doubt that you'd be able to do that with his Robin- not that you'd want to, in the first place! There is something special about the fact that Corrigan is the last guy to have moved that airplane around under its own power.

kevin

[McCollum11]

In a recent search for the whereabouts of Corrigan's plane I found this. Well worth watching, what a character he was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98tz1GiJVY

[tulsaboy]

That is a most fantastic video! If you like Corrigan's story, you should check this out...footage from 1988 of Corrigan in his Robin, with the engine running. Incredible.

Thanks for sharing!!!

kevin

[JohnB]

I'm not sure it would be safe to fly on 80 year old cotton fabric. It would need to be restored to fly. The spars are wood, but the ribs are aluminum and the frame welded steel tube. I think the empennage is all steel too. I sold mine in the early 1990s (N74H), so it's hard to remember anymore.

I wasn't sugesting not restoring it, but restoring it to stock, with minimal inprovemnets.
Considering its age when Corrigan flew the Atlantic, I doubt if it's the factory applied fabric and had other mods, so I'm not concerned about ruining a benchmark to see how Curtiss made them.

[robkamm]

great video thanks for posting, his plane needs to come out of storage. everything has a price. anyone ever make a real offer to buy it? anyone care to guess value? is it a million $ plane with that story?

[barnbstormer]

Thanks for that link to the 1988 footage. What a GREAT character! Oddly dispells the old saying that "there are no old and bold pilots." In that footage you can see that the plane is COVERED in patches, from 50 years prior.

Lindbergh flew across in a purpose built NEW airplane with New 220hp 9 cyl Whirlwind.


Corrigan had an endless number of mechanical problems before, during and after the flight, in the nine year old plane with the five cylinder, 165 hp Wright J-6-5..(assembled by him, from two used engines)he was constantly patching, with seemingly endless mechanical & fuel problems, including fuel leaks, even as he was leaving! It is reported that "The Flying Irishman," the 1939 bio movie they made with Corrigan as Star, paid him the equivalent earnings of some 30 years of his flying carreer, rumored between $75,000 and $100,000 at the time. Equivalent to well over 1.25 million in today's dollars.
Far more fortunate than that financial windfall is the good fortune that he survived at ALL, in THAT plane..