On The Lindbergh Trail

Northern Advocate, 22 July 1938, Page 4

On The Lindbergh Trail

COMING on top of the spectacular feat of Howard Hughes and his party in flying round the world in 3 days 19 hours, in the last word in modern multi-engined planes the feat of Douglas Corrigan in flying across the Atlantic in an ancient and unsuitable type of machine is something in the nature of anticlimax, but it has its own particular points of interest. There must be something of the “wild Irishman” in this Mr. Corrigan, for except for its sheer novelty, in an age when most long-distant flights are only attempted with the most ultra-modern equipment and after the most meticulous preparation, his flight has nothing to commend it save the spirit of sheer devil-may-care. The day has passed when it could be said that such a flight served any useful purpose. Nevertheless, a bold man’s recklessness, foolhardy though it be, is a fine thing to contemplate, * It is odd, however, to reflect that the same flight which, for Charles Lindbergh spelt fame and fortune, and also, as it turned out, a very great deal of anguish as a result of that very wealth and fame, can mean nothing whatever to Douglas Corrigan beyond a certain measure of short-lived prominence in the papers, and perhaps an offer of a job from someone who needs a pilot without nerve. For Corrigan there will be no applause ringing round the world, no wild popular acclamation in the canyons of Manhattan, no sudden riches showered into his lap. Unless he kills himself in*some other adventurous flight lie will probably retire quickly into that obscurity from which he has so suddenly emerged. But obscurity, after all, is not without its compensations. It is ironic to think that Lindbergh’s flight brought him, above everything else, public prominence—which is now the very thing he most desires to avoid.