This is the story of the first successful round-the-world flight by a woman pilot, Richarda Morrow-Tait. It took place over 50 years ago, at a time when aeroplanes and navigation equipment were unsophisticated, when petrol was rationed and rigid currency exchange controls made international travel difficult. The flight never reached the record books because it took a year to complete and the pilot used two different aeroplanes and two different navigators. In fact, it became a series of adventures, each one of which, but for the sheer determination of the pilot, could have ended in either ignominy or disaster.
There were two minor crashes and a 6-week enforced stay in India for repairs and for the installation of extra fuel tankage; also an illegal escape from India, an unplanned stop in Indo-China and a crossing of the North Pacific in winter -- instead of late summer as planned.
The Proctor finally suffered engine failure in Alaska due to carburettor icing and the crew survived a forced landing in deep snow and sub-zero temperatures. Efforts to get the aeroplane salvaged; to survive almost penniless in the Canadian and Alaskan winter; hitchhiking along the Alcan Highway; singing in night clubs; all make compelling reading.
Dikki resolved "to fly or not go home" and eventually purchased an ex-USAF Vultee BT-13 Valiant training aircraft for $500, but from then onwards the main obstacles to the flight were Canadian bureaucracy and an ever-more serious shortage of money. Eventually an illegal dawn escape to Greenland was made and the rest of the Atlantic crossing was uneventful. The Valiant, now named Next Thursday's Child, landed back at Croydon a year and a day after the original Thursday's Child had started out, on August 19th 1949.
Richarda died in 1982, but her original unfinished manuscript, written in 1950 but not published, has been dusted off and completed by her navigator (and, later, husband) on the flight, Michael Townsend. Norman H. Ellison has added some further background information, but sadly died just as the book was going to print.