Richarda Morrow-Tait, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetRicharda Morrow-Tait
British aviatrix
Date of Birth: 22-Nov-1923
Date of Death: 17-Dec-1982
Profession: explorer
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius 
About Richarda Morrow-Tait
- 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, England, in a single-engine Percival Proctor IV G-AJMU, with 25-year-old Cambridge University graduate student Michael Townsend as navigator.
- She named the aircraft "Thursday's Child" (who "has far to go" in the nursery rhyme "Monday's Child"). They traveled east.
- There were rough landings in Marseille (causing minor damage) and Cyprus.
- They also had to wait nearly seven weeks in Calcutta, 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 in the Aleutians perilously low on fuel.
- On 21 November 1948, they took off from Anchorage, Alaska.
- However, the engine developed trouble and they were forced to land on the snow-covered Alaska Highway near Tok, Alaska.
- The situation looked bleak.
- They were nearly out of funds, and the aircraft was unrepairable. Townsend returned to England to resume his studies, while Morrow-Tait set about trying to raise money to continue her journey.
- Impressed by her resolve, some Americans started a fundraising drive and collected enough to buy her a 1942 Vultee Valiant (NX54084), which she christened "Next Thursday's Child".
- Reunited with Townsend, she again departed from Anchorage in August 1949.
- There were stops (and customs problems) in Minneapolis and Goose Bay, Labrador.
- They then flew via Greenland and Iceland to Prestwick, Scotland.
- On 19 August they reached Croydon.She gave birth to a son, Giles Townsend, eight months later.
- On 2 February 1951, Norman Morrow-Tait was granted a divorce on the grounds of his wife's adultery with Michael Townsend.Richarda Morrow-Tait died on 17 December 1982 of a blood disease.
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