Shorts Solent Mk 3 G-AKNU of Aquila airways 15th November 1957 Isle of Wight

Another site from my work trip to the Isle of Wight

On a chilly evening 15^th November 1957 Shorts Solent Mk 3 G-AKNU of Aquila airways with its 8 crew sat waiting on the Solent at Southampton Docks for its 50 passengers, the plane was to fly to Lisbon then on to Madeira and Los Palmas.

 

After final checks the crew manoeuvred G-AKNU down the Solent and onto its take off run advancing the throttles the pilot Captain W.Eltis, held the flying boat on its course and off the water climbing normally for about 3 minutes.  At 22.46 a call was received by the southern traffic control in London, all seemed ok but a few short minutes later the flight was in serious trouble, a radio message sent by the plane to Aquila’s office in Southampton said “Number 4 engine feathered coming back in a hurry“. Turning over the Isle of Wight the crew headed back towards the Solent for an precautionary  landing with one engine out but this wasn’t to last, over the small hamlet of Brook engine number 3 shut down. Unable to maintain height the plane’s wing dropped, clipping the ridge of Shalcombe Down near Chessel, crippled the flying boat impacted a quarry face and burst into flames. Locals and soldiers of the Royal Army Service Corps nearby ran to the site, in the wreckage only 15 souls were found still alive, sadly 2 later passed away and none of the crew survived.

 

Visiting the wooded hillside a short walk from the lane I could see the memorial that now lies on the site just on the edge of the path. I luckily ventured no further as the woodland is private [I found out when I saw the sign in a tree walking back to the path]. Another memorial is in the small picturesque church of St Marys by Brook village but it was locked at the time of my visit.  Standing back at the lane the quarry face can be seen, easily marking the spot of G-AKNU’s loss.