Draft:Cliff Tait

Clifford Vincent Tait (born 29 October 1929) is a New Zealand pilot and author. In 1969, at the age of 40, he flew around the world in a small single-engine two-seat aeroplane, the AESL Airtourer 115, believed to have been the smallest aircraft to attempt such a flight at the time.

Early life and family
Tait was born in Wellington on 29 October 1929. He was educated at Stratford Technical High School and left school at the age of 15 to work for A. & G. Price, servicing marine engines. He was accepted into the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a student radio mechanic, but was medically discharged before completing the course, due to a spinal defect which resulted in his wearing a spinal brace. Tait then worked as a technician at Musik Radio, as a carpenter in the building industry, then as a tram conductor and motorman before working as a bus driver. He subsequently worked in the electrical trade and formed an electrical contracting business. He ventured into a milk bar business but it proved unsuccessful.

Tait married Joyce Fielding on 2 August 1952, and they had four children.

In 1965, Tait was offered a job as sales manager with Dimock Machines, selling cash registers.

Early flying experience
Tait learnt to fly in an AESL Airtourer and attained his private pilot licence in August 1966, at the age of 37. In preparation for the world flight, Tait completed his instrument rating, becoming the first New Zealand private pilot to hold this qualification.

Aerial circumnavigation
Tait’s idea to fly around the world was to promote New Zealand manufacture by flying the locally produced AESL Airtourer aircraft. His employers, R. C. Dimock Ltd, offered to lend $1,000 for Tait to buy an aircraft for the flight, and AESL Airtourer 115 ZK-CZU (Serial number 521) “Miss Jacy” was purchased.

With only 240 hours of flight experience, Tait departed Hamilton, New Zealand, on 12 May 1969, to fly around the world. The flight was via Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, Honiara, Rabaul, Kavieng, Truk, Guam, Iwo Jima and Tokyo. Tait then planned to fly via Petropavlovsk and the Aleutian Islands to Anchorage and Vancouver, but the clearance to fly into Russia was denied. This meant that Tait had to ship the aircraft from Tokyo to Seattle. The aircraft then travelled by train to Vancouver.

The world flight then resumed from Vancouver to Lethbridge, Winnipeg, Moncton, Goose Bay, Narsarssuaq, Sondre Stromfjord, Angmagssalik Kulusuk, Reykjavik, Prestwick. London, Marseille, Rome, Athens, Cyprus, Damascus, Badanah, Bahrain, Karachi, Lahore, New Delhi, Varanasi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Mau Hau, Jakarta, Bali, Darwin, Mount Isa, Longreach, Brisbane and Norfolk Island. Tait landed at Hamilton on 1 August 1969, after completing the 30,500-mile journey in 284 flight hours.

“Miss Jacy” is now on display in the Aviation Hall of the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland, New Zealand.

Ferry pilot
Tait completed his commercial pilot licence, and by 1973, he was Chief Pilot for N.Z. Aerospace Ind. Test flying and delivering the company’s aircraft. By the time he resigned in 1978, Tait had completed more than 90 international flights, half of which had been over the world’s oceans, solo, in a single engine aircraft.

Speed record
In 1982, Cliff Tait set the fastest time from England to New Zealand, flying a Beechcraft Bonanza.

Accident
On Saturday 19 November 1983, Tait was involved in an aircraft accident at Tokoroa Aerodrome. The aircraft was destroyed by fire and Tait escaped with injuries.

Honours and awards
In the 1979 Birthday Honours, Tait was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to aviation.

Books
Tait wrote two books about his adventures, Flight of the Kiwi: Around the world solo in a tiny single engine plane (1970) and Water Under My Wings: Modern day aviators savour a little of those glorious and heroic years of aviation’s infancy (1980) about his ferry flying and later adventures.