Peter’s Spitfire
fills gap in PD history
Tucked in among all the
Sunderland flying boats at RAF Pembroke Dock during
the height of the Second World War was a very rare
bird - a Spitfire floatplane.
A unique photograph shows the
Spitfire floatplane - one of only a handful built -
by one of the two hangars which still dominate the
Pembroke Dock waterfront today.
The special connection between
Pembroke Dock and the famous Spitfire has been
remembered thanks to modelmaker Peter Mitchell. He
has created a large scale model of the actual
Spitfire seen at ‘PD’ in 1943, serial number EP751.
Peter, a volunteer at the
Pembroke Dock Flying Boat Centre and a member of the
Penfro Model Group, unveiled his masterpiece model
at the Centre recently. It will go on display at the
centre, alongside other models he has made in recent
years.
Said Peter: “This has been a
long term project and has taken hundreds of hours to
complete. It all started when the Sunderland Trust’s
John Evans showed me the photograph of the
floatplane. I made a 1:72 scale model immediately
but set myself a challenge to create a large model
and bought a 1:24 scale kit. The model has a
wingspan of around 28
inches.”
The Spitfire is one of a number
of model projects Peter has worked on recently.
During the year he made a diorama of Swordfish
floatplanes alongside one of the old Royal Dockyard
slipways and this, too, will be displayed by the
Sunderland Trust in the future.
“The Swordfish floatplane was
another very rare type,” added Peter, “and was seen
at RAF Pembroke Dock in 1940 and 1941 when operated
by a Royal Navy unit. I have made three models of
the floatplane version, all in 1:24 scale. Recently
photographs have come to hand of Swordfish at PD and
I have based my models on these. The Swordfish and
Spitfire floatplanes are further untold chapters in
Pembroke Dock’s remarkable aviation history.”
Captions:
Peter Mitchell with his
exquisite Spitfire floatplane model
PICTURE:
Martin Cavaney Photography.
The actual Spitfire
floatplane, EP751, seen in 1943
PICTURE:
Sunderland Trust Archive
