“Your description of the activities of the club is most interesting and is just what is needed in other communities also."

Douglas “Wrong Way" Corrigan, 1907-1995.  American aviator.  Autographed Letter Signed, Douglas Corrigan, one page, octavo, [no place], August 5, 1939.

Corrigan writes to the president of one of the several Corrigan Aero Clubs.  He approves and encourages its activities but says that, because of other commitments, he will be unable to attend the club's second annual meeting.  In full:  “Your description of the activities of the club is most interesting and is just what is needed in other communities also.  Due to an appointment to be at the Calif Fair soon as I can get there and not being able to leave here for another two weeks it appears I'll be in Calif in Sept and so unable to attend the clubs 2nd show—"

Corrigan was a capable pilot in the halcyon days of flying.  But he achieved fame—and the nickname “Wrong Way"—for flying the wrong direction.  On July 9, 1938, he left Brooklyn, New York, ostensibly for Long Beach, California, but landed instead at the Baldonnel Aerodrome in County Dublin, Ireland, after a 28-hour, 13-minute transatlantic flight.  Corrigan had been denied permission to make a nonstop flight from New York to Ireland for three years because his airplane was deemed unsafe for it.  He was an experienced airplane mechanic, though, and had made several modifications to his plane in order to prepare it for a transatlantic flight.  Thus, while he blamed a navigational error for his trip to Ireland, many saw his stunt as intentional.

This is a nice example of Corrigan's holograph.  He has written and signed the letter in bold, black fountain pen.  The letter has one vertical mailing fold, which barely touches the “C" in “Corrigan,” and two horizontal folds.  There is bit of brushing where Corrigan's hand touched the handwritten date in the upper left corner, and there are a couple of light stains and light soiling.  The letter is in fine condition. 

Unframed.