Pembroke Dock

The town of Pembroke Dock in south-west Wales was originally established as a Royal Navy shipyard in 1814. In 1930 the Royal Air Force (RAF) established a flying boat base there utilising many of the facilities of the old dockyard that had been closed in 1926. During the Second World War ten separate Coastal Command squadrons, including both 10 and 461 Squadrons, RAAF, operated from Pembroke Dock for varying periods. At the peak of operations there, Pembroke Dock was the largest flying boat base in the world and was home to almost 100 aircraft and 1,000 personnel. Aircraft operating from Pembroke Dock were predominantly employed on patrols over the south-western Atlantic approaches to Great Britain. Both the town and dock facilities were subjected to numerous German bombing raids, particularly during 1940, and over 200 houses were destroyed. The RAF closed the flying boat base in 1959.