Short Sunderland 3 G-AGJN Hudson, seen here off Madeira, was written off after a collision at Funchal on January 21, 1953.

Aquila boats undergoing maintenance at Hamble. Solent 4 G-ANYI Awatere, complete with spinners, stands in front of Sunderland 3 G-AGER Hadfield.

The ill-fated Short Solent 3 G-ANKU, Sydney, ex NJ207, seen off Queen’s Island, Belfast, in December 1951.

Singer Grade Fields was among those aboard Short Solent G-ANAJ City of Funchal when it took off from Southampton bound for Capri on its proving flight on May 21, 1954.

Solent 3 G-AKNU seen taking off from Funchal. Photography courtesy of J. Arthur Dixon.

Short Solent 4 G-ANAJ City of Funchal, about to alight on Southampton Water. In September 1956 this aircraft was damaged beyond repair when it broke free from its moorings at Santa Margherita.

One of the aircraft Aquila did not acquire from BOAC was Short Solent G-AHIY, Southsea, seen flying from Rochester on April 9, 1948, and photographed by Charles E, Brown.

Short Solent 4 G-AOBL, Aotearoa, was sold to Portugal after the closure of Aquila in September 1958.

An Aquila Solent 4 arrives at Southampton Water with British civilians evacuated from Suez, August 1956. The Solent 4 was powered by four 2,040 h.p. Bristol Hercules 733 engines.

This was the tragic scene on the Isle of Wight on the morning of November 16, 1957, Forty-three people died when Short Solent G-AKNU Sydney hit high ground at Shalcombe the evening before and was burned out.