MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU: The Millennium Falcon was built in Pembrokeshire — and the locals thought it was a flying saucer

Today is Star Wars Day – and a galaxy far, far away turns out to have some very real roots in Wales.

Fans across the world are marking 4 May with the traditional greeting: “May the Fourth be with you.” But while most people associate Star Wars with Hollywood and the deserts of Tunisia, one of the franchise’s most iconic moments has a direct and remarkable connection to Pembrokeshire.

The Millennium Falcon – Han Solo’s legendary spaceship, described in the films as the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy – was secretly built in Pembroke Dock.

In spring 1979, the Western Hangar at Pembroke Dock was busier than it had been in decades. A crew of 30 to 40 joiners, welders and platers were working flat out behind closed steel doors, with strict instructions: no photographs, no unauthorised visits, no loose talk. The project had its own code name – The Magic Roundabout – and security was taken extremely seriously.

Inevitably, the story broke. The local newspaper ran the headline: “Security is blown on flying saucer secret.” As more details emerged, it became clear that workers had in fact been building a spaceship – and not just any spaceship.

The contract had gone to Marcon Fabrications, a heavy engineering firm that primarily serviced the UK’s petrochemical and oil industries. What clinched the deal for director George Lucas was a skilled local workforce and the availability of the town’s enormous aircraft hangars – the same Western Hangar that had housed Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War.

The finished Millennium Falcon measured over 80 feet in length, 65 feet in width and weighed 23 tonnes. It took three months to build, after which it was carefully disassembled and transported in parts up the M4 motorway to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire – where it made its on-screen debut in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.

Gareth Mills, trustee of the Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust, says the story has never lost its power for local people. “It was the worst kept secret in Pembroke Dock – everybody in the town knew they were building a UFO in the hangar and that period of time and that story is an important part of the town’s living memory,” he said.

Mark Williams, the local Star Wars enthusiast behind the Heritage Centre’s Millennium Falcon exhibition, puts it well. “The idea of a town in West Wales making a significant contribution to this incredible story by being the place where one of the most iconic starships in science fiction history was built creates a mixture of disbelief, awe and pride,” he said.

The Wales connection goes deeper still. Lynwen Brennan – Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars – is a Pembrokeshire native. “I love that such an iconic, beloved ship was built in the town where my Mum was born and in the county where I grew up,” she has said.

The story is now celebrated at the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre, which hosts a permanent exhibition featuring photographs never seen in public before, unique film of the construction, and a detailed model showing the stages of the build.

The original full-size Falcon was dismantled and disposed of after filming – and at 80 feet long, it would never have fitted inside the Heritage Centre anyway – but the exhibition tells the complete story of its remarkable creation. For more on the Wales connection, Visit Wales has a full account.

And if you want to mark Star Wars Day in style, the Heritage Centre is hosting Falcon 2026 on Monday 25 May – with lightsaber training, Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and a barbecue.

May the Fourth be with you. Always. 🌟

Visit the exhibition

Millennium Falcon exhibition — Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre
The full story of how Pembroke Dock built one of the most iconic spaceships in cinema history, with photographs, film footage and a construction model.

Falcon 2026 — Monday 25 May
Lightsaber training, Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and a barbecue. Details at pdht.org/whats-on

The story of Star Wars, Wales and the Millennium Falcon
Visit Wales’s account of Pembrokeshire’s remarkable connection to the Star Wars universe.

Merry #TuneTuesday. This week it's #MyFavouriteXmasSong.

And it had be this one .. I mean, it comes with Seventeen and Chewie!

SEVENTEEN - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Wonderful World Of Disney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOg89-HH0fE

#Seventeen #StarWars #Disney #MilleniumFalcon #KPopChristmasSongs2025

Have you ever been standing in the checkout line and spotted a $5 mini #milleniumFalcon #Lego on the shelf between the nail clippers and the eyeglass repair kit and thought "Why not?.

Then gotten it home and halfway though the 5 minute construction process realized, "I have this exact one upstairs on a shelf!"

Have you??

Me neither.

#StarWars

Les magasins #Auchan (en #France ) proposent jusqu'à la fin Septembre des #cartes #StarWars à collectionner ainsi qu'une application et des proders à acheter.

Et des boîtes à collectionner pour ranger les cartes.

#Falcon #MilleniumFalcon #collecting #cards #tinbox #C3PO

https://www.mintinbox.net/2025/08/19/auchan-des-cartes-et-des-produits-exclusifs-a-collectionner/