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Memories of maritime operations at the UK’s only Flying Boat Centre

A Catalina similar to the ones Brian Lort flew during World War II.

Wartime pilot Brian Lort, who has family connections with Pembrokeshire, has been sharing his memories of maritime operations at the UK’s only Flying Boat Centre, at Pembroke Dock. 

Eighty-nine-year-old Brian, who lives near Oswestry, visited the newly established centre where models and photographs of his favourite wartime aircraft, the Catalina, are on display. “It was a very special experience to visit the centre and to meet some of the enthusiastic volunteers who run it,” said Brian, who was accompanied by his daughter, Jennifer Limond, and a cousin, Michael Lort, who lives at Gumfreston.  

Brian did two operational tours on Catalina squadrons - in west Africa in 1943 and in the Shetland Isles in the last year of World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

Pembroke Dock in wartime became the largest flying boat station in the world, mainly operating the equally famous Sunderland flying boat. Brian did a flying course at Pembroke Dock in 1944 and, while in the RAF Reserve in the early 1950s, spent two weeks with a Pembroke Dock-based Sunderland squadron. 

“By chance this squadron was supporting a scientific expedition to Greenland and I was fortunate to fly in a Sunderland to Greenland. It was a memorable flight to end my association with the wonderful flying boats.” 

The Flying Boat Centre tells the story of one particular Sunderland which sank in the local waterway 70 years ago. There are plans by the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, which runs the Centre, to recover and display the Sunderland - one of only four left in the world. www.pdst.co.uk

 

Wartime flying boat pilot Brian Lort, DFC, pictured during his visit to Pembroke Dock.

From: John Evans, Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, 01646 623427