On July 17th of 1938, stunt pilot Douglas Corrigan of Galveston, Texas took off on an unplanned flight from his home in California to New York, where he requested permission to continue across the Atlantic Ocean. He was denied due to the fact that his plane was too old, and he decided to return to California. On his way, Corrigan's navigation got messed up and, upon realising this, he decided to continue on to Ireland anyway. He made it safely and his story became widely famous, even landing him book and movie deals. On the anniversary of Corrigan's flight, we take the time to learn the history of the transatlantic flight, airplanes, and watch Corrigan's movie The Flying Irishman.

National Wrong Way Corrigan Day is observed on July 17th annually.

The first recorded celebration of this day was in 1987 by Long Island who honoured the 49th anniversary of the flight. Corrigan was 80 years old at the time. In Corrigan's hometown of Galveston, Texas, the day is celebrated on January 22nd, which is his birthday.