Trust launches Sunderland recovery fund

 

Raising a wartime Sunderland flying boat from its seabed resting place of 70 years is firmly in the sights of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust.

 

 

 

Gale force winds arrived on cue as the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust marked a significant aviation anniversary on Friday 12th November - the sinking of Sunderland flying boat T9044.

 

Exactly 70 years earlier T9044 sank at its mooring off the town as 80 mph winds lashed the west Wales coast, and a storm of similar ferocity hit the coast overnight as the anniversary dawned.

 

“It was a remarkable coincidence that the weather was so similar and dramatic,” said Sunderland Trust Chairman William McNamara, when launching a fund to recover T9044 from the Milford Haven Waterway.

 

“Our central aim has always been to recover T9044 - the only Mark I Sunderland in the world - and display it here as a living memorial in a centre which tells the story of the crucial Battle of the Atlantic campaign and how flying boats evolved at places like Pembroke Dock,” added Mr McNamara.

 

“The actual 70th anniversary of its sinking provides us with the launch platform for a major fundraising campaign for the recovery, conservation and display of our Sunderland survivor.”

 

Chief guests were three ‘Sunderlanders’ - wartime pilot Ron Currell of Pembroke; John Weller of Keeston, who served for five years at RAF Pembroke Dock in the 1950s, and stalwart Sunderland Trust volunteer Ron Boreham, a former aircrew signaller on 230 Squadron. They were joined by the Mayor of Pembroke Dock, Councillor Maureen Colgan, and by members of the volunteer team at the Pembroke Dock Flying Boat Centre and other supporters.

 

A special T9044 Fund has been set up and donations can be made through a new website which is being launched shortly (www.pdst.co.uk) or direct to the Sunderland Trust office at Sunderland House, The Royal Dockyard, Pembroke Dock, SA72 6TD.