Coastal Forces Veterans

I have just joined your website. My Dad served from 1943 as a Telegraphist and I would like to know if anyone has information about MTB 682 operating from Mantis July 44 to Auguust 44 and then from Hornet from Aug 44 to 24 Sept 44. Any information would be gratefully received.

Hello 'rammy'
Welcome aboard.
Currently what we have on MGB 682 is-
A Fairmile D Motor Gun Boat, constructed by Wallasea Bay Yacht Yard of Rochford, UK on 00.05.1943. To RAF 1945 LRRC 029.
We have her at Portsmouth ('Hornet) from May 1944. During 14-16th July 1944, attached to the 55th Flotilla, she was in company with MGB 629 off the coast of Normandy and credited with the sinking of an "R" boat.
I am sure that there may be more info coming - keep popping back rammy

MTB_682 Wallasea Bay Yacht Station Ltd, Wallasea Bay, Nr Rochford 5/43

For an action in the Nore area 19/10/43
MID TLt William Benyon RNVR

For Operation Neptune - for gallantry and devotion to duty during the initial landings in Normandy
DSC TLt William Benyon RNVR

Further awards for Operation Neptune (Gazette Date - 14/11/44)
MID LSea Leslie Walter Turner C/SSX24674
MID AB Neil Bernard Kidney C/JX407423

Known Crew
TLt William Benyon RNVR Commanding Officer 10/43 – 6/44 He previously commanded MTB 43 DSC 1944 MID 1942 MID 1943
LSea Leslie Walter Turner C/SSX24674
AB Ernest Edward Hawkins P/JX 392760 (Killed in action 16/7/44)
AB Neil Bernard Kidney C/JX407423

Wartime Activities
5/43 31st MTB Flotilla Based at Great Yarmouth
10/43 55th MTB Flotilla Based at Great Yarmouth
19/10/43 MTB 606, MTB 617, MTB 621, MTB 652 and MTB 682 are in an action in the Nore area
6/44 Operation Neptune
Invasion of Normandy (With the the Eastern Task Force)
55th MTB Flotilla Based at Portsmouth
MTB 617, MTB 621, MTB 624, MTB 628, MTB 629, MTB 630, MTB 632, MTB 650, MTB 652, MTB 668, MTB 682 and MTB 773
6-7/6/44 MTB 624, MTB 682 with four boats from the 29th Flotilla engage six to eight R Boats of the 4th Flotilla departing Le Havre. One R Boat explodes and two others are severely damaged. R49 is amongst those damaged.
14-6/7/44 MTB 629 and MTB 682 engage two German units. One R Boat is claimed as possibly sunk.
1945 To Royal Air Force
Long Range Rescue Craft (LRRC) 029

I have another known member of the crew of MTB682: my Dad, Philip Arthur Hutson. MTB 682 is written clearly on his service record. He was MTB682's Oerlikon gunner from 12/6/43 to 2/10/44. This I found out in 2002, when I started to research his war service. I've picked it up again (now that I've retired) 20 years later. Don't know if anyone is going to read this, it now being 11 years since the last posting on this page! Oh well. He died in 1967 when I was three years old, and according to my mother he didn't talk about his war service. This of course is not untypical. I think I'm doing this research as a means of getting to know him.

Hello Elaine

Thank you for your contribution to this post. It is indeed a long time since it was last written to, but the information is always there to be discovered by someone else in the fullness of time. Your Dad’s boat was part of the 55th MTB Flotilla whose Senior Officer was Don Bradford. He wrote a very good account of the flotilla’s work, Day In, Night Out, which was originally serialised in the former Coastal Forces Veterans Association newsletters, so if you would like a copy sent to you to read, please let me know.

Regards Admin

Hi. Just a quick note on MTB 682, really for this thread and for Elaine Hutson in particular. (Like her, I am investigating my long-departed father's wartime record - in his case: Bomber Command, Combined Operations and Air-Sea Rescue). The vessel was converted to an Air Sea Rescue boat for the RAF and was renamed Long Range Rescue Craft (LRRC) 029.

My dad Reg Wallis served on the boat until the end of the war. I have a photograph of the crew of 21, including my dad, on the rear deck. It was taken in Gibraltar in August 1945. With the end of the war in Europe, the crew were travelling to the Far East for the impending invasion of Japan. It had been planned to send 5 flotillas of 8 boats each to Asia, but only two made it to Malta and Gibraltar respectively. With the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan, and the ensuing surrender, the war would end a few days after the photograph was taken I think.

I have discovered that LRRC 029 (MTB 682) was subsequently converted into a houseboat. Sadly, I read on another forum that the LRRC 029 / MTB 682, which was the last known surviving Fairmile D 'Dog Boat', was broken up at her berth in Shoreham in the summer of 2003, having deteriorated too badly to repair.

I hope this is of interest.

Hello Jem

Thank you for the really great photo of your Dad and the crew of LRRC 29 which helps add an additional chapter to the history of MTB 682 as a boat. I don't have a photo of the boat in its Coastal Forces phase but hopefully one may turn up in future. It is interesting to learn of the RAF's plans to transport these craft for use in the Far East campaign since the pensioning off of many of the Dog Boats to be given to the RAF was instigated in part by a decision the Admiralty made not to use these boats as frontline craft in the war against Japan as they were considered too high maintenance, so it would be interesting to learn of the RAF's plans for their maintenance and operation, if there are documents on the subject still preserved.

Regards
Admin