Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms New number plates

I decided to ditch my unlovely registration number (RX59DOJ) in favour of something more personal - K333NJY

The letters are my initials and the 333 refers to the number of my Father's wartime Motor Gunboat - MGB333 - so this has a nice resonance. Those of you who have travelled this road will know how easy it is to swap numbers, the only real difficulty is making a decision about what to choose and what to pay. Here they are looking rather good:





This is MGB333, my Father is on the bridge, I believe it was a Fairmile and largely constructed from marine plywood over a steel frame - happy to be corrected on this by those who really know.
It was fitted with three Packard supercharged petrol engines that pushed out 4000hp, they were pretty swift at 30+ knots and were an effective match for German E boats



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_gunboat

My Father was a Lieutenant in the RNVR and spent the war in coastal forces based out of Portsmouth, Gosport and Yarmouth. Like many of his generation, he did not like to talk about his activities but we know a little of his exploits. At one point he was assigned to ferry agents to France and back used in the same way as the Lysanders. For this work, the Navy removed his weaponry to lighten the load and make the boat faster, he thought this was "unsporting" and described being mostly "terrified" during this period. He was very complimentary about the Packard engines and recognised their useful ability to put some distance between him and the enemy's big ships.

My Brother-in-Law managed to acquire my Father's naval records which show him being recommended a couple of times for promotion, this was not followed through and I wonder if it had something to do with his routine of running up a pair of panties each time he entered harbour on return from a patrol, the crew's motto was complimentary in this respect; 'Onward and ever Upward'. And it was through these wartime records I discovered, in my 60's, that he had a middle name - Roger - it appears to have been a secret as I had never heard it before and know that he did not use it at all, even on bank accounts etc. The clock on my darkroom wall was in the mess on this boat, he liberated it at the end of hostilities, although this may have been something of a tradition among discharged Naval personnel.

A nice history Kevin. The plate looks good to

Always nice to have some personalisation and a back story Kevin. I hope one day Dottie will grow into her new number

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmile_Marine

At one time there were four plus one Fairmiles running out of Torquay. One vanished in the sixties, one was rotting at Galmpton up to recently, and the other two were sold about five years ago. The small one got holed and I lost touch with where it went.

The two sold, one is at a naval museum, possibly Portsmouth, or Plymouth. The other is now privately owned and as far as I know at Plymouth.

None had hulls like the pic above.

I spent many happy hours crossing the bay and going up the Dart in these Fairmiles.

She was in the Dart last year in grey as picure top left.

A bit more.

She is in Pompie now as a permanent place in Naval history.

They were like a No9 buses when we moved here 42 years ago, always up and down from Dartmouth to Totnes and across to Torbay but no longer.

She did well to make it across from Pompei and return last year.

Nice one Kevin, you might fancy a trip here to have a look at one at Portsmouth RN yard.

Lovely family history there you must be proud of him.

They utilised a lot of these for pilot rescues during WW2 from both sides in particular during the Battle of Britain.

Richard: I do believe I spent many a time taking the trip from Brixham to Torquay in my childhood on that good lady without knowing the history, have learnt something many thanks.

Bruce, you are welcome a lot of it was new to me especially her final home which is a fitting tribute to both her and those that served aboard her.

I can only remember going upstream to Totnes and return aboard her with the family tbh, she has lovely lines and certainly worn better than I have.

Yes he was based in Gosport rather than Plymouth, a bit of brain fade, I've changed the original post

that's a precarious position for Dottie to find herself in.