SHE'S only 48 feet long with mahogany planking and her wartime armoury was two Bren guns. A powerful Royal Navy destroyer she was not . . .

But on June 5, 1944, the launch Hyperion was among the Allied invasion fleet heading for the beaches of Normandy.

She was the smallest craft to take part in that crucial turning point in the Second World War - the D-Day landings.

That was 60 years ago and Hyperion - having survived the perils of D-Day on June 6 - is still active and afloat.

She's had an adventurous career which included carrying King George VI on a tour of Normandy's Mulberry Harbour, and transporting vanquished German officers off the Channel Islands. Now a future as a private houseboat faces the once-intrepid Hyperion.

But she's recalling past glories this month as she takes part in an exhibition at the British Military Powerboat Trust at Marchwood.

The trust, still reeling from the shock news that it must move from its home at Cracknore Hard, is determined to show the Dunkirk spirit.

It will be open to the public every day from June 5 to June 26 to mark D-Day's 60th anniversary and to make its work known to a wider public.

The trust, which relies on the labour skills of a score of volunteers, has amassed a unique collection of vessels - all with a record of military service.

Hyperion will be in good company - Dunkirk Little Ships Rania and Lucy Lavers are kept at the trust premises, as does torpedo boat 331 - the last to be built to a First World War design - and little Queen Gull, which amazingly survived a role as a radio-controlled target boat.

The trust has put the barriers of war aside to make room for a couple of boats built to fight the Allies.

A German E-boat - which helped slaughter 774 American servicemen when military exercises went wrong at Slapton Sands just before D-Day - is on show.

So is a German military tug, its gleaming stainless steel hull belying its 78 years.

But the oddest exhibit at BMPT has a solid D-Day pedigree. It's the last remaining floating concrete pontoon made to be part of the famed Mulberry Harbour off Normandy.

Richard Hellyer, the trust's operations manager, said: "Every item here has a story to tell. Every vessel needs a sum of money to save and restore it.

"We would need £1.5m to bring HSL 142 to her former glory, for example.

"The uncertainty about our future home hasn't helped, but we have lots of irons in the fire and we are sure one will work out.

"We hope this open exhibition, in which we are working with the Daily Echo to provide information and displays about every aspect of local involvement in D-Day, will bring people in and raise awareness of our existence. We are making it free and we hope people will donate.

"We are also planning a Boat Day, probably on June 12, when people can book trips on the seaplane tender 206. It will be exciting, not just a chug round the harbour."

For more information on the BMPT and to book a boat trip on June 12 - at £15 a head - call 023 8042 8443 .