MEMORIES of the unique part that Sunderland flying boats played in the Berlin Airlift soon after World War II have been rekindled at Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre, thanks to artefacts donated by a former RAF airman.

The Centre, in the Royal Dockyard Chapel, has been given two large display panels which show the lifesaving aerial supply routes into besieged Berlin.

These were found in Berlin in the early 1970s by Owen Vaughan; then stationed at RAF Gatow.

He kept them for 40 years before donating them to the Heritage Centre.

In the late 1940s the Soviet Union and its allies blockaded Berlin and the only way to keep the city supplied was by air. In the early days of the Berlin Airlift Sunderlands played a major part carrying bulky cargos, particularly salt, into a lake, the Waan See, near the city from their base at Finkenwerder on the Baltic. It was only when ice formed on the alighting areas that the Sunderlands were withdrawn from the operation.

Many airmen stationed at RAF Pembroke Dock took part in the airlift and Owen’s generous gift recalls a very important peacetime role for the Sunderlands. This is one of the Sunderland stories featured in the Heritage Centre’s education programme.

Owen, who lives in Pembroke, recently visited the Heritage Centre and presented the panels to Sunderland Trust Volunteers Malcolm Miles and Steve Fletcher.