Donald Taylor (aviator)

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Donald P. Taylor is an American aviator, notable for being in the late summer and early fall of 1976 the first person in history to successfully fly a homebuilt aircraft around the world. From an early age, he'd resolved "I will build an airplane, and I will fly it round-the-world." His plane, Victoria '76 (named for the only one of Ferdinand Magellan's ships to complete her mission), a Lycoming-powered Thorp T-18 (N455DT) was fitted with improved communications and navigational equipment as well as a new fuel system after his initial 1973 round-the-world attempt had to be aborted due to bad weather between Japan and the Aleutian Islands. Taylor, who lived at the time in California, returned to his starting point of Oshkosh, Wisconsin a hero two months to the day after the 1976-08-01 start of his eastbound journey. The planning of this circumnavigation was especially complicated considering that both the Peoples Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were closed to U.S. general aviators at the time.

Taylor also flew Victoria '76 to the North Pole and hung onto her for several more years, using her as almost routine transportation from his isolated ranch in the California desert. In the early 1980s he had offered the T-18 to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. for display, but he was unable to obtain a firm agreement from them to display her to the public as he wished. Victoria '76 is now on display at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture museum in Oshkosh.

Taylor has maintained an active involvement and interest in aviation. He was on a mission-control team supporting the round-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager in December of 1986.

Taylor retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel from the United States Air Force in 1962, having seen action during World War II in South and Southeast Asia, and also during the Korean War.