THE chance sighting of an appeal in a magazine for information on Sunderland flying boats has led to a wartime airman's collection being donated to Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre.

Lesley Mason travelled from Norwich to hand over the extensive collection, including medals, flying logbook, photo albums and a painting of a Sunderland. They belonged to Richard Meale, stepfather to her late partner, Clive.

Richard was a wireless operator/air gunner on Catalina and Sunderland flying boats. The medal group includes a rare Distinguished Flying Medal, awarded in 1944.

The connection with Lesley came about when heritage centre trustee Andy Watkin spotted her appeal for information on Richard's squadron in Best of Britain magazine and made contact.

"Andy responded with information about the heritage centre and its links to Sunderland flying boats," said Lesley. "The idea of donating the collection began to take shape."

Covid lockdowns delayed Lesley's cross-country visit and she began to wonder if she was doing the right thing.

"The reactions of Andy and his centre colleagues when we opened the box squashed any doubts," she said. "I'm so pleased that this collection has found a home, where it will enable a little more of the Sunderland story to be told."

Andy added: "This is a very significant collection with a detailed flying logbook and photo albums all neatly captioned – very helpful for researching Richard's flying career. We intend making a special display on Richard Meale's wartime story."

An added bonus for Lesley was the discovery in the logbook that Richard Meale had been stationed at RAF Carew Cheriton in 1944. Later in the day she visited the restored control tower at Carew taking along photocopies of the logbook entries relating to flying at Carew in Anson aircraft.

"That, too, was very special," added Lesley. "So often we are told that someone would have done something in a particular place at a particular time – to know for certain that they did is something else again. I'm hoping that more connections come from that.

"Richard was such a gentle man who never really spoke about his flying days although the painting of Sunderland Queenie – his 'boat – was always on the wall. It means a lot to me (and would have done to Clive, his stepson) that the legacy is preserved."