Nancy Corrigan, Aviator and Model.
Nancy Corrigan, a remarkable Mayo woman, was born in Owenduff in Achill Island in
1912. She became one of the most successful aviation pioneers in the US, training
World War Two Pilots. She was also a very successful model, a career she used to
fund her love of flying and to achieve her ambition to become a pilot.
No one knows where her ambition came from but it is family speculation that the
landing of Alcock and Browne in Connemara might have triggered it, or, she may
have been inspired by Amelia Earhart’s success in flying solo across the Atlantic in
1932.
This is her extraordinary story of fortitude and courage.
The story begins in 1912 in windswept Achill. Nancy was the youngest of four sisters
born to John and Maggie Corrigan. It was a hard life, work was scarce and most
Achill men migrated to Scotland for the summer months where they picked potatoes
and saved every penny for the family back home. In the meantime the women kept
the farm going as best they could, tending to whatever cattle they had – in order to
live and survive. Nancy attended primary school and was a diligent and courteous
pupil. After school she helped with the farm work and amongst other jobs collected
shellfish from the shore for their food. However their father was lucky to get steady
work on the Westport to Achill railway line, which passed their door. This is now the
Greenway. However, soon afterwards he died in a tragic rail accident, leaving his
wife Maggie Ward and their children destitute.
Maggie was a strong woman. She had decisions to make about their futures. Her
sister Delia had emigrated to Cleveland and was doing well there. Maggie sent her
eldest daughter over to her to find work there. After some time she had saved
enough money and sent home the fare for all of them to go to the States. The girls
had a good primary education but when they got to America they studied to improve
their life whilst working in menial positions in the wealthy households of the
neighbourhood. Nancy was 17 years of age and at first worked as a house maid but
soon progressed to become a children’s nanny. The old story - educate, empower
and enable.
In 1932, the same year that Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo
across the Atlantic, Nancy began to take flying lessons in her off-duty hours
completely unbeknownst to her family or her employers. She made rapid progress
and with fewer than five hours training, made her first solo flight. “The brunette
colleen” had broken the world record by flying solo in 4.45 hours and made front
page news in Cleveland’s ‘Plain Deal’ newspaper. “I wasn’t a bit afraid. It felt like a
million dollars.” she told reporters. She was age twenty years.
Flying may have been a glamorous pursuit then but it was hard and expensive work.
Private flying lessons cost around $700 dollars, a huge sum in those days for a
young nurse-maid earning around $10 a week.
So Nancy moved to New York and joined the Robert Power modelling school, the
first of its kind, representing many models who later went on to develop successful
movie careers in Hollywood. To be a “Power’s Girl” was a much sought after
position and the beautiful Nancy Corrigan also specialised in hand modelling, which
earned enough for her to continue her aviation career and acquire the necessary
piloting certificates.
When war broke out in 1939 Nancy obtained a position with Spartan College in Tulsa
as an instructor training US and civilian pilots. This was quite an achievement at a
time when aviation was considered a men’s club and women had a hard time getting
recognition. One commentator recalled “They faced discrimination, sabotage when
racing and there was a distaste generally for them.” She also joined the Women
Flyers of America.
In 1948 (age 36) and with a record of 5,000 flying hours Nancy hoped to win the
prestigious Kendal Air Show, She ploughed all her savings into purchasing an AT6
trainer twin engineering aircraft for the event. She was helped financially by the
many successful Corrigans living in Cleveland. Lawyers, doctors and officials all
clubbed together to help with the purchase and so she painted “Corrigans” on the
fuselage of the plane. “The race was a test of skill, aircraft management and bravery
– and very dangerous”, according to a man who had been instructed by Nancy and
who at the age of 85 was still flying. Of course she won the famous Cleveland Air
Race! He described her thus “She was a natural instructor and patient and one of
only two women at the time who managed to break into the commercial corporate
field” he says.
Nancy went on to fly 600,000 miles in a commercial flight career that ended with her
retirement and retreat to Florida in the 1960s. “She used all her gifts, her charm,
savvy and contacts to get what she wanted says her cousin Bernadette Masterson.
A little museum devoted to Nancy and a coffee shop are being built along the
Greenway by John Corrigan, a cousin, near the spot where the family once lived,
and which is due to open next summer. It will forever commemorate a Mayo woman
for whom the sky was the limit and who died at 69 from a heart attack sitting on her
porch in Florida.
From an article on Nancy Corrigan, by Deirdre McQuillan in the Irish Times on 5th
January2015. A recent documentary about her life was broadcast by TG4 as
researched by her cousin, Bernadette Masterson. Bernadette, who is also a native
of Owenduff and an Irish speaker, traced the history of her famous relative (to whom
she bears a remarkable resemblance) and who was a cousin of her mother’s.
(Sheila Kilkelly, Soroptimist. February 2015.)