A “calm, patient and good-humoured” man who worked on the last of the Spitfires before serving as coastguard in Norfolk passed away recently.

Great Yarmouth Mercury: David Gurton, former Senior Sector Officer at HM Coastguard in Gorleston, passed away recently. He was in his late 80s.David Gurton, former Senior Sector Officer at HM Coastguard in Gorleston, passed away recently. He was in his late 80s. (Image: Archant)

David Gurton was in his late 80s when he died in January in Scotland, where he had moved with his wife after retiring from HM Coastguard Gorleston.

He served as Sector Officer (SXO) in Waveney for twenty years, where he was responsible for training volunteers, or auxiliary coastguards.

His career began in the 1950s with RAF ground crew, where he worked on planes including one of the last squadrons of Spitfires.

He joined HM Coastguard in the early 1970s.

Kevin Woodcock, now deputy station manager at HM Coastguard Gorleston, trained under Mr Gurton.

“I found him to be very calm, very helpful. He was the kind of person, if you had a problem, you would go to him. He was a good solid example,” Mr Woodcock said.