Wig Bay Flying Boat apron/hangar area ?

wig bay

This brings back memories,I come from Stranraer and my father was a partner with McKenzie and Sons who had a maintaince contact on the site in the early 50’s . Wig bay consisted of three main areas ..the sea front which had at least 2 large hangers and a number of smaller open ended ones , this was situated off the road to Kirkcolm where the old slipway can just be seen A larger parking area nearer Kirkcolm is still easily visible today and I remember dozens of Sunderlands being parked there , I can still recall a massive plane with its nose area missing bigger than a double decker bus .
The actually camp was situated at the rear of the hangers approx 400 yards away and I vaguely remember passing by a farm to access it , the camp consisted of accommodation quarters , generators and admin builders both nissan and brick construction .
There are folk memories about American servicemen who presumably arrived to assist in training RAF personnel on the newly arrived Catalinas around 1942/3 and Churchill used the base once for a transatlantic visit to the the States .
The site lay dormant from the late 50’s to the late 60’s and I remember playing in the large empty hangers which still had the odd bit of RAF hand tools /dockets scattered around . I recall a scrap mechant[ probably Kings] using the site and the area around the slipway became a caravan site in the late 60’s
There are very useful local history books from the Stranraer history club , in particular ‘the RAF in Galloway ‘ by A T Murchie [ GC BOOK PUBLISHERS LTD 1992] which provides more detailed information

Sunderland search

Mon 17 November 1952, 1125am: Meteor NF11 WD723 crashed into sea off Sunderland. Searchers (unsuccessful) included a ‘flying boat’ (Sunderland Echo 17.11.52). I recall seeing a Sunderland (MkV?) flying low up (s-n) the coast about that time, and wonder if anyone (perhaps Whamilton1929?) recalls the incident or better still, can identify the flying boat and/or Squadron? Ops Record Books for the main (or only?) British-based Sunderland squadrons (201/230Sqns and 235OCU) show nothing relevant on that day and in any case southern English/Welsh bases would be a long way off at 200mph, so Wig Bay, Stranraer, only an hour away (and by then run by Shorts, hence no ORB?) would seem the likely base for it. Any ideas gratefully received!

Hi Baz.
Unfortunately I don’t have any photographs but perhaps I can add another small detail of my time at Wig Bay. If my memory serves me correctly there were two skeleton aircrew for carrying out air tests etc. the pilots names were FL/LT (Joe) Goldthorpe I believe he was Canadian and the the other was FL/LT Allen,I’m afraid I can’t remember who the other crew members were. I particularly remember FL/Lt Goldthorpe as he was the pilot I managed to have my trips with.
Another thing I remember that there was a spell of very warm weather during one of the summers and we went swimming in the Lock using the floats and wings of the moored Sunderlands as diving platforms.(Good old days)
regards Reg.

Hi Reg,nice to have another Wig Bay man on the forum 🙂
Do you have any photos of the sites ??

rgds baz

I’m sure that is only a dinghy trailer and does not have any aviation connection!

Hi Folk, I don’t know how old the photo is but just as a matter of interest when I was at Wig Bay the “Cheify” I/C airframes (I think his name was Flt.Sgt. Gilpin) was a keen Dinghy sailor and with the help of various “Erks” was building his own
craft.Strictly in their own time of course !
regards Reg

The work entailed stripping down previously issued aircraft spark plugs, cleaning, resetting and testing either for re issue or just for “Run Ups” .If my memory is right there were three makes Champion, Lodge and KLG. The job I was given was to sand blast the plugs, strip the paint off the Champion plugs using emery cloth then repainting them black if they were to be re-used.( Bull ++++ or what).

The job hasn’t changed. We send out RR Merlin & radial plugs for the exact same treatment….

Welcome to the forum, Reg. I suspect that there are a number of people here who will be very interested in your experiences and memories and will relish the chance to probe you for more of them!

Wig Bay Flying Boat Apron/hangars

Hi Folk,
I have only just discovered this forum being fairly new to computers. The reason that I am replying is because I was stationed at Wig Bay from the spring of 1949 until July 1950. I was posted there during my National Service as a “Technical Orderly” having unfortunately failed a “Wops” course at Compton Basset. I was assisting in the spark plug refurbishment bay, which was staffed by a Corporal Rogers and two L.A.C.s. The work entailed stripping down previously issued aircraft spark plugs, cleaning, resetting and testing either for re issue or just for “Run Ups” .If my memory is right there were three makes Champion, Lodge and KLG. The job I was given was to sand blast the plugs, strip the paint off the Champion plugs using emery cloth then repainting them black if they were to be re-used.( Bull ++++ or what).I was fortunate to get several trips in the “Sunderland” on a couple of occasions over to Shorts at Belfast, on one occasion down to Calshot when a Sunderland was to lead a fly past at the Farnborough air show, I think it was 1950.
One thing I remember particularly about Wig Bay was “Scar Point” point,where there dozens of beached Sunderlands and I think a couple of Catalinas all awaiting the scrap man. We had to do night duty guard and fire picket up there.
Well folk that’s my short history of my duty for King and Country.
Regards Reg ( Roverman)

I’m not aware accidents were abnormally high compared to elsewhere. There is a Sunderland Crash log and flicking through it seems to show more accidents listed for Pembroke Dock and Castle Archdale – but PD in particular was a big base.

Of course there was the gale in January 1944 when 13 Sunderlands were damaged at Wig Bay – but you did say post war,

Whilst researching something completely different, I kept coming up with references to Sunderland accidents at Wig Bay in the late 1940s and 1950s. Was there an abnormally high incidence of such accidents there and, if so, why was that?

Haven’t looked in for a bit and nearly missed this.

Thanks for the update and insight into Wig Bay. Very helpful to have first hand knowledge like that.

That date in 1957 ties in with a few Sunderlands going out to keep 205/209 squadron going in Singapore. The UK Sunderland squadrons had already disbanded but the one remaining unit in the Far East kept going with the Sunderland until May 1959.

Great stuff. Thank you

Allan

Thanks for the location + info etc W…do you have any photos of the site??

rgds baz

Yes Whamilton welcome to the forum,please do post any anecdotes/photos about Wig Bay – they would be most welcome 🙂

Please note that I am not home much at the moment and will be offline for longish periods,so if I do not reply to you quickly it is not lack of interest !!

rgds baz

Yes Whamilton welcome to the forum,please do post any anecdotes/photos about Wig Bay – they would be most welcome 🙂

Please note that I am not home much at the moment and will be offline for longish periods,so if I do not reply to you quickly it is not lack of interest !!

rgds baz

Mr Hamilton,

Welcome indeed. I for one would love to hear some of your memories of Wig Bay days and what was involved in looking after the Sunderlands there – I’m sure others here would too.

I’ve learnt a lot by listening to people who built and operated those flying boats – and am always happy to hear more.

Thank you for joining us.

Allan

Mr Hamilton,

Welcome indeed. I for one would love to hear some of your memories of Wig Bay days and what was involved in looking after the Sunderlands there – I’m sure others here would too.

I’ve learnt a lot by listening to people who built and operated those flying boats – and am always happy to hear more.

Thank you for joining us.

Allan

Seen these?

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html

They look a little familiar Tony…oh yeah – they are on post No 9 a couple of years ago ;):)

Seen these?

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html

They look a little familiar Tony…oh yeah – they are on post No 9 a couple of years ago ;):)

Seen these?

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html

Seen these?

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html