Miles Martinet, the Sunderland Trusts latest Target
The workshop team at Pembroke Dock’s Flying Boat Centre is tackling another project - and this time it is not connected with Sunderlands.
They are carrying our repairs and conservation work on the cockpit section of a very rare type - a Miles Martinet target-towing aircraft which was, in wartime, a familiar sight in Pembrokeshire skies.
Martinets were based at Carew Cheriton and Talbenny, among other airfields, carrying out a mundane but very important role. Among their aerial ‘customers’ were Sunderland and Catalina flying boats from Pembroke Dock.
The cockpit has been loaned by lifelong aviation enthusiast Andrew Clark of Johnston.
Said Andrew: “I have had the cockpit for many years and it has been stored in a shed all this time. It is good that it is now being worked on by real enthusiasts and being seen by those who have a special interest in aviation.”
Mike Hurley - workshop supervisor of the volunteer team which runs the Centre for the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust - added: “It has prompted many questions from visitors. We don’t know its history but it may have been from an aircraft which once flew in this area.”
* The Flying Boat Centre project has received funding through the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). This is administered locally by Pembrokeshire County Council.
Caption:
Andrew Clark shows parts of the Martinet cockpit to Flying Boat Centre volunteer Pat James (right).
PICTURE: Martin Cavaney Photography.
