1929 Curtiss-Robertson Robin C-1
Originally powered by the famous 90hp Curtiss OX-5 engine, later models of the Robin were outfitted with the much more powerful 180hp Curtiss Challenger radial engine. A utilitarian aircraft capable of accommodating a single pilot in front and two passengers in back (provided that the two in the back were svelte), the aircraft proved to be a stable platform. So stable in fact, that Robins were used to set a number of flight endurance records including a flight of 653 hours and 34 minutes by brothers Fred and Algene McKey in 1935. The most celebrated flight of a 1929 Robin was made in 1938 by Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan. Having been denied authorization to fly across the Atlantic by federal officials, Corrigan filed a flight plan to fly from New York to California but then took off heading east.
Arriving in Ireland 28 hours later, Corrigan claimed a navigational error brought about by heavy cloud cover and a malfunctioning compass caused him to fly in the wrong direction for 26 hours before he realized his mistake. For “flying in the face” of the aviation authorities, upon his return to the US, Corrigan was given a ticker-tape parade attended by over a million people. The aircraft on display was retrieved from an apple orchard near the southeastern shore of Flathead Lake in the early 1970s by Bob Colby and his father George. The aircraft was in derelict condition having not been flown since the late 1940s. Nevertheless, the Colbys rebuilt the aircraft and flew it regularly until 2015.
