Aquila Airways
and
The Great Flying Boats of Madeira
Aquila applied to start a year-round scheduled service to Madeira from Southampton. Initially they were allowed to operate a route proving flight and this departed at 09:10 on 24th March 1949, carrying 17 passengers, 8 crew and 110lb of mail.
RMA flying-boat Hampshire, G-AGEU, flown by Captain Pearson, was the first civil airliner to ever arrive in Madeira. There was no airport on the island and the Madeirans had only seen a few small military flying- boats during war; all tourists had arrived there by ship up to this time.
There were no refuelling facilities on the island at this time either, so a refuelling stop was made en-route on the River Targus, Lisbon. They took on enough fuel for the return journey, and could also reach diversionary landing waters as far away as Gibraltar if needed.
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Funchal Bay - Then and now
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Funchal Bay - Then (Mid 1950s)
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Funchal Bay - Then and now
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Hampshire arrived on Funchal Bay at 14:02 on the 25th March, after flying around the island looking at alternate landing waters in case they may be needed in the future. The local daily newspaper Diaro de Noticias, devoted the entire front page to their arrival.
The esplanades and jetties were packed with locals eager to see the largest and most graceful aircraft ever to visit their island. When the crew, wearing their uniforms, went to dine at Funchal’s Savoy Hotel restaurant they were applauded by their fellow diners when they entered. It’s safe to say they were the most popular people on Madeira at the time.
After showing many local dignitaries, including the acting Governor, military commanders, Port Captain and the British Consul, around Hampshire over two days, they took off at 13:15 on the 27th March and headed for Southampton, via Lisbon, arriving back safely on 28th March.
Scheduled weekly services from Southampton-Madeira started on 14th May 1949, and quickly became very popular.
They were soon operating at capacity with 5 flights a week, and the Hythe services were augmented with Solent flying boats soon after.
In their first year of services to Madeira, Aquila carried 3,000 passengers; and one of them was Winston Churchill. He was returning from holiday in January 1950.
The Madeira service was extended to Las Palmas and new services to the Italian Riviera were added; but Madeira was Aquila’s key route throughout their whole operation with passenger total having risen to just over 16,000 annually.
Sadly, after a serious accident on the Isle of Wight involving RMA Sydney in November 1957, the energy was knocked out of Aquila; they never recovered and their operations started to wind down soon after.
On the evening of Tuesday 30th September 1958 the last Aquila Airways flight ever, fittingly a service from Madeira, returned quietly to Southampton. Aquila flying-boat RMA Awateri, G-ANYI, tied up at Berth 50 having completed Aquila Airways, and Britain's, last large flying-boat service.
Madeira was without an air link for six long years after the ending of Aquila’s services and they had to rely on a sea ferry route. But work started on a new land airport in 1961 and BUA were granted the Gatwick-Lisbon-Madeira route in November 1961. The opening of Santa Catarina airport on 8th July 1964 meant that direct flights could now be resumed from Britain and a winter schedule was soon tabled by BUA.
And now for the surprising survivor of the long gone days of the Aquila Flying Boats in Madeira
Photos by Alberto Sequeira
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Aquila's Flying Boat Tender
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Aquila's Flying Boat Tender
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Aquila's Flying Boat Tender
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Aquila's Flying Boat Tender
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Now preserved, the actual Tender (named Aquila) and used by them to take passengers to and fro and to report on the sea state