MANY people who lived in Pembrokeshire during and after the Second World War would remember seeing Sunderland flying boats in Pembroke Dock. Here we look back at part of their history in Pembroke Dock.
The magnificent crafts were created by the Short Brothers for the RAF and used as patrol bombers during the Second World War. They were also used by the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, South African Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, French Navy, Norwegian Air Force and Portuguese Navy.
The flying boats were equipped with various offensive and defensive armaments, including machine gun turrets, bombs, aerial mines, and depth charges. The Sunderland was powered by four Bristol Pegasus XVIII radial engines and was outfitted with various detection equipment to aid combat operations, including the Leigh searchlight, the ASV Mark II and ASV Mark III radar units, and an astrodome.
At the start of the Second World War, 39 of the Sunderland’s were in operation for the RAF, with a base at Pembroke Dock where they were stationed for almost 20 years.
Pembroke Dock’s station became the largest flying boat station in the world during wartime and in 1943, there was almost 100 flying boats stationed there.
One Sunderland, the T9044 sank off Milford Haven on November 21, 1940 where it was moored but damaged by the severe weather. The wreckage was discovered by divers decades later and two of the Pegasus engines are displayed in the Flying Boat Centre in Pembroke Dock.
The plane had been in operation for just two months but had flown 14 operational missions from Pembroke Dock and Oban.
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Despite being thought to have been some of the safest flying boats, in 1954, the Sunderland’s safety record was marred with four accidents involving Pembroke Dock-based craft.
In January 1954, a 230 Squadron’s Sunderland made a rapid landing in Angle Bay with a blazing engine. The crew were able to save themselves by jumping into the water.
Two months later in March, seven were killed from the 201 Squadron when their plane crashed during a training flight near Newton Noyes. Two of those killed were 19-year-old on board for the air experience.
In September of that year, a PP122 was one of three Sunderlands to fly to Guernsey when it hit an uncharted rock, taxied into the harbour and sank. Fortunately, none of the 23 crew and passengers on board were hurt. The plane was recovered but never flown again.
On October 23, the 230 Squadron’s crew were hurriedly called for a 2am take-off on the PP155 Sunderland for a flight to the Faroe Islands to pick up a trawlerman who had become seriously ill and fly him to a Scottish hospital. It crashed when landing in rough seas. Nine of the 12 crew were rescued, with one dying after being rescued.
Following the war, a number of Sunderlands were still in Pembroke, including the ML824, which is thought to be one of the most powerful flying boats.
In the 1960s, the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust preserved the ‘boat’ and it became the first tourist attraction in the town, being displayed behing the Royal Dockyard Chapel. It took its last flight onto the Haven in March 1961.
In 1971, the ML824 was removed from Pembroke Dock to the RAF Museum in London, despite a large campaign to keep the ML824 in the town.
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