The remarkable story of a Welsh flying boat base which became the largest in the world will begin to be told later this year.

Work is well underway to convert an historic building in Pembroke Dockyard into the Flying Boat Centre, which will be the only one in the United Kingdom.

The Centre will focus on RAF Pembroke Dock and its flying boats, especially the famous Sunderland. It will include a workshop where parts of a Mark I Sunderland will be worked on and displayed. This Sunderland sank in a gale in 1940 and still lies in the waterway just off the town.

There are plans by the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust to recover the Sunderland - one of only four left in the world. An engine and propeller from the aircraft have already been raised.

Funding for the Centre is coming from the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 which is financed by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). This is administered locally by Pembrokeshire County Council.

The Sunderland Trust is being hosted by Milford Haven Port Authority. The former locomotive building now being converted is part of the authority's estate in Pembroke Dock. Milford Haven Port Authority has co-ordinated works on the building and assisted in securing the grant through match funding, with further support from other organisations, including Pembrokeshire County Council.

Project manager John Evans said: "This is a very exciting project which will reflect a very important period in local and national history, including the Second World War and the crucial Battle of the Atlantic campaign. There is great interest in the whole flying boat story and Pembroke Dock's key flying role, in peace and war.

"We are recruiting a team of volunteers to help us run the new centre and plan to be open later this summer."

For further information, contact the project office on 01646 623425 or check out the website http://www.pdst.co.uk">www.pdst.co.uk

Points in history:

• Pembroke Dock was a RAF station from 1930 to 1959, operating a succession of biplane flying boats before the first Sunderland arrived in 1938. The last Sunderland flew away in 1957 and the base closed two years later.

• In wartime, Pembroke Dock became the largest flying boat station in the world with 99 aircraft - mostly Sunderlands - recorded there in 1943.

• Americans, Australians, Canadians, Dutch, French and New Zealand airmen, and from other Commonwealth countries and from across the UK, called Pembroke Dock 'home base' in wartime.

• To the 'Webfooters' - those who operated and supported flying boats - Pembroke Dock will always be known simply as 'PD'.

• A Pegasus radial engine is among major items already recovered from the sunken Sunderland, serial number T9044.