Pembroke Dock has a wartime link with the acclaimed
Terence Rattigan play ‘Flare Path’ which recently opened
at London’s Theatre Royal, Haymarket, starring Sienna
Miller.
Terence Rattigan, who had achieved considerable success
in the 1930s as a dramatist, joined the RAF in 1940 and
was posted to Coastal Command as a wireless operator air
gunner. He became gunnery officer with No 422 Squadron,
Royal Canadian Air Force, also helping to choose the
squadron’s motto - This Arm Shall Do It - on its badge.
Rattigan's RAF service opened up an entirely new area
for his writing and in 1941 between flying duties he
wrote ‘Flare Path’, which achieved enormous success when
staged in 1942.
In late 1944 No 422 Squadron, equipped with Sunderland
flying boats, transferred to Pembroke Dock, deploying
over the Western Approaches protecting convoys and
hunting U-boats. It continued to operate until the
Second World War ended in Europe.
Sir Terence Rattigan CBE (1911-1977) was one of
Britain's most popular 20th century dramatists, known
for such works as The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning
Version (1948) and Separate Tables (1954), among many
others. He was also a screenwriter, mainly of his own
plays.