There was always a strong international flavour to flying-boats and from Pembroke Dock itself men
of many nations flew and maintained these versatile aircraft. This was home base to Australians, Canadians,
New Zealanders, Dutch, French and, in 1943, the first United States Navy squadron to operate in Europe in World War II - with another famous type of flying-boat, the Catalina.

For over 25 years RAF flying-boats flew from Pembroke Dock, the sheltered Milford Haven Waterway being ideal
for such operations.

The station and the community are forever linked with the Short Sunderland, the most famous of all the British flying-boats. Sunderlands entered RAF service at Pembroke Dock in 1938 and the last UK-based squadrons disbanded there in 1957, just two years before the aircraft was finally retired by the RAF. It was the RAF’s finest flying-boat, and sadly its last.

In wartime RAF Pembroke Dock became

the world’s largest operational flying-boat station. In 1943, at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, 99 flying-boats - mostly Sunderlands - were located in and around Pembroke Dock. No-where else in the world had so many flying-boats at any
one time.