Annie R. ‘Nancy’ Corrigan was born in Owenduff, Achill, Co Mayo in 1912. She was the fourth of five daughters, but her father’s tragic death while working on the Westport to Achill rail line left her mother, Maggie in a dire financial situation. Nancy and her sisters were forced to emigrate to the US, and in 1929, at 17 years old, Nancy sailed from Cork to New Jersey before settling in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked as a nanny for a wealthy family in Shaker Heights.
In 1932 Cleveland, Nancy aspired to fly across the Atlantic and compete in the National Air Races, an unusual ambition for a woman at the time.
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Earning only around $10 per week as a nursemaid, Nancy couldn’t afford the $700 cost of a pilot’s license. She turned to hand modelling for John Robert Powers, one of the largest agencies in the US, to finance her aviation hobby.
With a tight budget, Nancy had to maximize her training time. Despite this, she accomplished her first solo flight at 19 and qualified as a pilot after just 4.5 hours of flying due to financial constraints. Her story made headlines in Cleveland newspapers, and with the money she earned from modelling, she eventually bought her own plane, a Stinson.
During World War II, Nancy’s piloting and training abilities were in high demand. She trained fighter pilots and air cadets at Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
For a period of six years, Nancy served as the head of the Aeronautics Department at Stephens College in Arkansa and as a founding member of the Women Flyers of America (WFA). During this time, she supervised a flight program for 600 women, ensuring that each and every one of them graduated, without a single failed test.
In 1948, Nancy participated in the Kendall Trophy event at the National Air Race in Cleveland, where she flew an AT-6 military trainer and achieved a third-place finish.
During the 1950s, Nancy became one of only two women in the US to hold a multi-engine commercial pilot’s license.
Over the following decades, she logged an impressive 600,000 miles on commercial jets before retiring in the 1960s. Nancy Corrigan then settled in Sarasota, Florida, and died there in 1983.
Nancy Corrigan’s life was celebrated with a special exhibition entitled “The Model Pilot,” at the International Women’s Air and Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport.
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Information sources:
5 Minute History
Cleveland Library
Cleveland Public Library’s Digital Gallery
Cleveland.com
Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) – Molly Merryman
GMarshTV
Historic Achill – Billy Austin
International Women’s Air & Space Museum
MagellanTV
Mayo News
ZenosWarbirds
Petticoat Pilots – Michael Traynor
US Air Force
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