My first flight was in a Sunderland from Pembroke Dock in 1953. We were on a two week CCF summer camp and flew almost every day, sometimes for a very long time!
The memories have faded, but noise and seawater dringing off the props during take-off, which seemed to take forever, stick in my mind. The Sunderland was very draughty, particularly near the front turret. Sitting in the rear turret I felt very isolated as we droned over the whitecaps a thousand feet below. Preparing the aircraft for take-off and securing it post flight seemed a very long winded procedure and rather hazardous when the wind got up.
The fry-ups were brilliant though.