Annie R. "Nancy" Corrigan (21 June 1912 – 1983) was an early aviator in the US who trained as a pilot in Cleveland, Ohio while working as a nursemaid and fashion model in 1932. She went on to be a successful instructor and commercial pilot when it was very unusual for women to be involved in such matters.

Early life

Corrigan was born in Owenduff in Achill, in the west of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. She was the youngest of four daughters and her father was a railway worker on the Westport to Achill line. He was killed in a tragic accident and left his wife, Maggie Corrigan, near destitute forcing each of his daughters to emigrate to the United States. Nancy emigrated in 1929 at the age of 17 and sailed from Cork to New Jersey and went from there to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. She found work as a nanny with a wealthy family in

Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cockta ...

Career

During her time in Cleveland she decided to take up flying. It was 1932 and flying was very uncommon for women and in addition it was very expensive. She was earning about $10 a week and the cost of a pilot's licence was about $700 so she had to take up modelling to subsidize her hobby. She left her job as a nursemaid after three years and obtained employment with the

John Robert Powers John Robert Powers (September 14, 1892 – July 21, 1977) was an American actor and founder of a New York City modeling agency. In 1923, Powers founded a modeling school. The John Robert Powers Agency represented models who aspired to success in ...

modelling agency in New York. The Powers modelling agency was one of the largest in the US, and the women on its books were known as ‘Powers Girls’. She worked for the Powers modelling agency for about 10 years, principally as a

hand model A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "hand ...

ler. Corrigan qualified as a pilot after only 4.45 hours of flying which was almost unthinkably rapid but such was her budget that she had to, since she couldn't afford many more hours of training. Her story created such an impact that it was reported on in the Cleveland Newspapers.

Pilot trainer

When the US joined

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

her skills were sought after and she took on the role of trainer to fighter pilots and air cadets in Spartan College,

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. She also taught at Stephen's College in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

. After the conclusion of the war she became only the second woman to earn a commercial pilot's licence in the US. Over the decades that followed she logged 600,000 miles on commercial jets. During her six years as head of St Stephen's College in Columbia, Missouri, she supervised 600 women on their flight programme and graduate without a single failed test. She became one of only two women with a multi-engine, commercial-rating pilot's licence in the 1950s. She retired to Florida and died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in 1983 aged 70 or 71. Corrigan's life was celebrated with a TV documentary (''Nancy Corrigan: Spéirbhean Acla'', "Sky-Woman of Achill") first televised on the Irish language channel

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

on January 6, 2015. There is also a museum to her on the Westport Greenway in Ireland and the story of Nancy's life also appears in the Tonragee NS Centenary book, which is available in shops in Achill and Mulranny. Corrigan is the subject of a special exhibition entitled "The Model Pilot," at the International Women's Air and Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport. Brian Albrecht, The Plain Dealer. Retrieved August 29, 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corrigan, Nancy 1912 births 1983 deaths Stephens College faculty American female models American women commercial aviators Commercial aviators People from Achill Island Irish emigrants to the United States 20th-century American women academics