From flying a 1930s aircraft across continents and rubbing shoulders with royalty, to a near-death crash in a desert, her adventures read like something from another era.
But Tracey Curtis-Taylor – known as the “bird in a biplane” – is a thoroughly modern adventurer.
The former waitress and model has flown from South Africa to England, from England to Australia, and crossed America.
She did it all in an open cockpit Boeing Stearman biplane – originally used as a training aircraft during the Second World War.
“This airplane is the love of my life,” she says. “He is breathtakingly beautiful and has taken me on the adventures of my life.
“I was married many years ago, and no longer am. I have no children and, apart from a whippet I adored, aviation has been my life.”
Tracey, 60, fell in love with flying and vintage aircraft when her journalist father took her to air shows as a child in the 1960s.
In 2012, she started restoring her biplane and the following year, she flew 10,000 miles from Cape Town to Goodwood in West Sussex.
The journey, with a support crew of seven, recreated the 1928 solo trip of legendary Irish flier Lady Mary Heath.
Tracey explains: “Lady Heath’s story was truly jaw-dropping as the first person to fly solo back to England from Africa. While I had support along the way, following her journey over Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan was incredible.”
Two years later, Tracey retraced the journey of another aviation heroine – Amy Johnson – who was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930.
Joined by a technical crew of three, Tracey took off from Farnborough, Hants, and – three months, 23 countries and 14,500 miles later – landed in Sydney on January 8, 2016.
“For one particular leg, I had Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark with me,” she recalls.
“We picked him up in Gwadar, Pakistan, before flying into what I’d describe as a royal welcome when we got to Karachi. A huge crowd, including the commander of the Pakistan Air Force, the British Ambassador and lots of dignitaries were there to greet us.”
From Australia, Tracey’s aircraft, Spirit of Artemis, was shipped to Seattle, from where she attempted to cross the US. But 2,000 miles in, the engine failed and Tracey, along with crewmate Ewald Gritsch, crashed in the Arizona desert.
“As we took off, there was a partial loss of power,” she recalls. “The airplane was going down.
“You’ve got seconds to respond but I don’t remember feeling scared.
“I was shocked – annoyed, really – that it was happening but I didn’t feel overwhelmed. I spotted power lines ahead so turned the plane gently to the left and flew it into the ground.
“One of the undercarriage legs ripped off, sending the plane into cartwheel, and somehow, we ended up going the right way up.
“I stepped out of the cockpit, uninjured other than a small cut on my ankle and a sprained thumb. Ewald was fine too.”
The plane was repaired and back in the air the following year when Tracey flew from Santa Monica to New York in two weeks.
But there was controversy when an award from the Light Aircraft Association was rescinded following claims she’d made “false assertions” about flying solo during her African trip.
Tracey insists this wasn’t the case, adding: “The trip was being filmed for a documentary. There was no way I could have done it alone. I have never made false claims about any of my flights.”
Born in Stamford, Lincs, Tracey spent nine years of her early childhood in the wilds of Canada with her three siblings.
She took her first flight aged 16 in 1978 with her twin sister Debbie and fell in love with the feeling of freedom that came with being in the air.
“The idea that I, a teenage girl who lived above a pizza restaurant in the north of England, could have a career in aviation was not something I considered realistic,” she says.
Later, she moved to New Zealand, where Debbie lived, and funded flight training through modelling and waitressing, gaining private and commercial licences before qualifying as a flying instructor.
“The danger has never put me off,” she says. “I’ve seen several accidents, which have been harrowing – and obviously been in one myself – but still the risk doesn’t deter me.
“It’s tough but that extraordinary, noisy and visceral experience of being in an open cockpit is exhilarating and the sensation of such speeds at low level is beautiful.
“I love it – and I’m ready for more adventures.”
* Bird by Tracey Curtis-Taylor, published by Mirror Books, will be available to buy from Thursday
