Phonograph found in Wrong Way Corrigan's Garage

[MikeB]

Well, this is so cool that I had to share. This phonograph came out of famous aviator Wrong Way Corrigan's garage. It may have belonged to him, and it is a mess. I also brought home Corrigan's Daddy longlegs spiders and Corrigan's silverfish before I took the phonograph outside and gave it a quick cleaning. It is eaten by termites on one side,and the motor has been replaced, appropriately enough, with a "Heineman Flyer."

Here are some photos. Enjoy!

[VanEpsFan1914]

Great provenance, and great machine too! Looks like it has the little attachment to put a tiny aluminum horn on the reproducer (What was that called again? ) Best of luck restoring--keep us posted!

[startgroove]

As Van pointed out, the little horn is missing from the Add-A-Tone reproducer. Here what it looks like. It will work just fine without the horn, but the added dimension adds just a little more.

[Orchorsol]

What a fabulous thing to find and own! I'd be very torn between just servicing and cleaning it up (despite the damage), and restoring it.

[EdiBrunsVic]

Yes, it is an interesting find.

[MikeB]

Wrong Way's estate is being sold off as I speak here in California. This phonograph is sitting in his backyard. I'm going to pass on it - it's too much for me to handle. If anyone has an interest in it and is in Southern California, send me a message and I can tell you where to get it. I doubt that it will sell.

[Marty Bufalini]

Just curious: Does it play backwards??

[Curt A]

The portable is enough of a project to tackle... the one in the backyard is toast...

[Wolfe]

Yeah it looks like this guy had a flood or something. His stuff looks like crap.

[Curt A]

Front page of the New York Post newspaper with a backwards headline and the news that flyer Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan had returned to the United States from the flight which took him to Ireland in 1938.

Douglas Corrigan (January 22, 1907 – December 9, 1995) was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. He was nicknamed "Wrong Way" in 1938. After a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York City, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, though his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach. He claimed his unauthorized flight was due to a navigational error, caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured landmarks and low-light conditions, causing him to misread his compass. However, he was a skilled aircraft mechanic (he was one of the builders of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis) and had made several modifications to his own plane, preparing it for his transatlantic flight. He had been denied permission to make a nonstop flight from New York to Denmark, and his "navigational error" was seen as deliberate. Nevertheless, he never publicly admitted to having flown to Ireland intentionally.