Richarda Morrow-Tait (22 November 1923 – 17 December 1982
) was an English pilot, the first woman to pilot an aircraft around the world, accomplishing the feat after a number of mishaps in a year and a day.
Morrow-Tait began taking flying lessons in January 1946. On 18 August 1948, the then 24-year-old left behind her aeronautical engineer husband Norman
and their 18-month-old daughter Anna, and took off from
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
, England, in a single-engine
Percival Proctor
The Percival Proctor is a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor is a single-engined, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model.
Design and development
The Proctor ...
IV ''G-AJMU'', with 25-year-old Cambridge University graduate student Michael Townsend as navigator.
Monday's Child
"Monday's Child" is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future from their day of birth and to help young children remember the seven days of the week. As with ma ...
").
They traveled east. There were rough landings in Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
(causing minor damage)[ and ]Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
.[ They also had to wait nearly seven weeks in ]Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, India, to replace the engine.[ In Japan, extra fuel tanks were installed in the fuselage for the long flight across the Pacific Ocean. Even so, they reached ]Shemya Air Force Base
Eareckson Air Station , formerly Shemya Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force military airport located on the island of Shemya, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands.
The airport was closed as an active Air Force Station on 1 July 1994. Howev ...
in the Aleutians
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...
perilously low on fuel.[ On 21 November 1948, they took off from ]Anchorage
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
, Alaska. However, the engine developed trouble and they were forced to land on the snow-covered