Hello everyone! I am hoping to find any information about Gordon Beckett who I knew as a young man. Gordon I believe was a leading mechanic on MTBs or MGBs during WWII and was based during the early part of the war at a base on the Suffolk coast. I would be keen to find any information about where Gordon was based during the war, particularly the early part, and what craft he served on. The reason for my enquiry is I am carrying out research for a book about the UK's coastal defences during WWII and particularly the role that MTBs and MGBs played and the experiences that someone like Gordon would have had (I have a copy of Dog Boats At War and British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45).
I knew Gordon when he ran a garage at the same time that I was training to be a shipwright at Chatham Dockyard. Sadly Gordon passed away in 1988 but he told me about some of his experiences. Gordon was a highly skilled 'old school' mechanic and he told me how he was able to obtain an extra knot or two from his boat by filing a leading edge on the propellers. I know he also took part in the Normandy landings because his boat was given all new equipment beforehand which he had not had enough time to 'fettle' before the invasion.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.