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The "Geitje" was not a military vehicle and not subject to the "Task System" of maintenance. British army tools were sometimes a little large and clumsy, but they were suitable for the operations for which they were intended. This photo shows late and early war Norton 16H tools...There is no alternative for the cranked gearbox spanner.

A double post...deleted.

From now on, I'll refer to them as "N.B.S.A.s" - "No Bikes Sent Anywhere" ! 😁

This is quite funny, as "Rewdco" has taken his own thread "off-topic" 🙂 Indian Army troops formed a substantial part of the Aden Garrison and they were in and out of Somaliland in 1941, to use an expression favoured by my old dad, "like a fart in a colander" This is a Wiki (yeah, I know...) extract relating to 7th Regt. of Madras Native Infantry. They moved to Egypt in July 1941, but presumably there were other units which followed. If this was a B.E.F. query, I'd have the information at my finger tips but the British Indian Army is not straightforward to research...It's not impossible that there were Indian Army Ordnance Corps depots at Aden which were supplying their forces in Egypt, but I wouldn't know where to start looking for diaries. There are Ministry of Supply ledgers dating from 1941, detailing payments to Norton to crate machines for export...this method of lining up in the load beds of trucks is consistent with movements of a unit rather than the shi^ment of new machines. This is a later photo, but it shows how motorcycles were knocked down and crated for shipping. Space was at a premium.

Thanks for posting that movement card, Jan...I've not seen it before...It pretty much suggests that the India Office Nortons on board had been embarked at Aden en route to Egypt with units of the Indian Army who were transferring there from the Aden Garrison during 1941.

Not Blériot in that last photo, but Georges Guynemer who was killed in the Great War. https://www.aerosteles.net/stelefr-dunkerque-guynemer The monument was demolished by the Germans as part of the Atlantic Wall works. The bronze bust of Guynemer survived and has been relocated.

Door mirrors weren't universally popular when they first appeared, and they were quite often only on the driver's door on the base model.

I may be busy for a while.

I've read the articles in the Belgian press and it seems that he bought them at more or less scrap / spare parts prices but will only sell them back if he has the contract to recommission them. There doesn't seem to be much talk of "upgrading", simply making roadworthy.

I've only just spotted this. S Lan R have been listed under Prince of Wales's Volunteers - They were originally formed as "Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment). The Prince of Wales' Volunteers 3644001 - 3701000 It's not possible to ascertain battalion or the division to which they were allocated.

No, honestly, although it would be great to see it..It was a reference to the note "Checked W.D. Book. Complete" on the back of the one of the contract cards. I'm assuming that these were the actual ledgers where vehicles were booked in by chassis and serial number...Presumably long-since destroyed. I certainly wasn't having a dig at anyone !

The change was probably insisted upon by the 'Time and Motion' people...It would have made it easier for them to calculate factory productivity etc. without having to worry about different days in months or whether Easter had passed. I'm inclined to suspect that it was a Ministry of Supply thing, rather than RAOC Chilwell and it's pretty likely there would have been large calendars / reminders on the walls to make sure the correct days were referred to. Quite possibly automatic stamps too for the ledger columns. Sadly we'll probably never see the "WD Book" referred to.

It seems that across all makes of motorcycles (I haven't studied anything else), the system changeover date was around or just after 18th October 1941. In the example below, we jump from 18/10/41 (which was a Saturday) to 'Day reference' 280. 1941 was not a leap year. As Noel has pointed out, this should have been Day 291 but it became Day 279 or earlier so by mid-October, on this system of day codes introduced towards the end of a year, a difference of more than ten days had already been built in. There are some other clues here. Total receipts were checked on Saturday 14/3/1942 (the 73rd day of 1942), after day 67 had been booked in and prior to day 68, so by mid-March, there was already a 'dislocation' of five days, assuming that 14/3 was Day 68 and the check was carried out prior to booking in that day's arrivals. From another contract, I can see that Friday 10/4/1942 was day 93...it should have been Day 100 so between 14/3/42 and 10/4/42, two extra days had been lost. Good Friday and Easter Monday 1942 fell on 3rd and 6th April....but the 16 day discrepancy can't be entirely the result of public holidays. Were there some stock-taking days added perhaps ?

It's a puzzle, Mr. REwdco ! The highest number that I've seen on any motorcycle card is 349...16 short of a full year. England and Wales had nine public holidays per year at that time. Nine public holidays and a seven-day shutdown would have been correct for pre-war industry...but would Chilwell not have worked 365 /365 during wartime ? In answer to the original question, the 'B' vehicle RAOC Chilwell 'Receipt Cards' are mostly at Bovington too, with the exception of most of the motorcycle deliveries. They don't just have armour. Records are very skimpy for any early-war RASC rather than RAOC contracts.

"Tickling" is flooding by holding the float down, so there will be a brief fuel surplus. If there is fuel leaking when standing, then either the float needle is not seating or the fuel level is too high. Are you using choke to start ?

That was pretty much the flying community's response to the Shoreham air crash...

Which pattern and which levers ? There are at least three types of A/R and choke controls and the size altered from 1" to 7/8".

Will you be expanding on the information ? Despite years of scouring archives, there are still gaps in the Norton and BSA production sequences and no surviving factory records for the later-war period.

This may well be the actual Fallen Madonna with Panther forks !

You have the Norton side links...is the girder a Webb (from which Norton forks were derived) ? It may not be English, of course...There is no way that I would ride a motorcycle with the untested Indian forks. The manufacturer doesn't even put his name to them. Having dropped a 16H onto its nose a couple of times and had the girders bouncing up and down as well as off the bump-stops, I'd want high-tensile on the front. Norton forks were race-proven.

Would it be possible to see some more photos of your front forks ? The 1937 Model 18 would normally have a front brake on the left. Your forks, if Norton are either from 1939 or possibly from a sports model. There should be a number on the front cross-tube. I'm not sure that all of your rear frame is original. Certainly the gussets aren't.

..and the cylinder 75899 from the engine of the same number went to Psalty on 10/5/ 1937 The frame number should be on the left hand front fuel tank mount. Something like this one.

Front number plate blades continued to be fitted to WD motorcycles, as per pre-war practice up until they were deleted along with the rear plate after the introduction of the WD tail lamp. Some point during the first half of 1941. The number plate above however is not the characteristic Enfield shape and theoretically in the UK, whilst not illegal if displaying a number plate, if none or a WD serial is applied, they become purely decorative and can therefore be considered a dangerous adornment. A lot less dangerous than being hit by a ton and a half of electric SUV, of course. The sequence of WD serial (census) number location seems to have been that they moved from number plates to fuel tanks during 1940 and were then placed higher once arm of service markings were standardised on fuel tanks. Any portrayal will need to take account of whether it is to be ex-depot or in service and if the latter, at what date

An advert and a photo of the actual item from an FB Spark Plug group. Neater than most of their competitors who simply had a small tap with 90° elbow on the main body.