Brooklands Museum in Surrey donates generator to Sunderland Trust

 

A complete example of the Sunderland flying boat’s ‘fifth engine’ is now on display at Pembroke Dock’s Flying Boat Centre Workshop, thanks to a generous donation by a major UK aviation museum.

 

Brooklands Museum in Surrey donated a generator to fit the Sunderland auxiliary power unit - the APU. This is the engine which, located in one of the aircraft’s wings, provided power when on the water.

 

The generator was brought to Pembroke Dock by Bob Hodgkinson, of the Brooklands Museum team, and his wife Jenny. Soon afterwards it was fitted by Mike Hurley and volunteer colleagues at the Workshop.

 

Said Mike: “Our APU, which came from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford some time ago, lacked a generator. Thanks to Brooklands we have made up the complete engine and it is an impressive item. Now we can tell visitors about the Sunderland’s fifth engine and show them the real thing.”

 

Bob Hodgkinson’s father, Vic, was a wartime Sunderland pilot who was stationed at Pembroke Dock with No 10 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. Many items from Wing Commander Vic Hodgkinson’s collection are now in the Sunderland Trust’s Archive.

 

At Brooklands Bob works in the team which looks after the Museum’s Concorde - like the Sunderland an iconic aircraft. In his working career Bob was an engineer maintaining the Concorde fleet for British Airways.

 

In addition to the generator Brooklands Museum also donated two Sunderland prints. One went on immediate display at the Sunderland Trust’s new Fleets to Flying Boats Centre in the Royal Dockyard - one of many items on view on the ground floor.

 

Caption:

Fixing the generator on the engine is Mike Hurley with, left to right: Bob Hodgkinson, Roy Williams, Martin Blow, Graham Clarkson, Jenny Hodgkinson and John Evans.

PICTURE: Martin Cavaney Photography.