Rob wd16h

The Picture of a restored Lycett saddle in the "Lycett  for Nortons" part shows an incorrect configuration of the saddle elastics. Based on an original saddle mounted on a WD16H in March 1939, there should be short elastics at the side and long elastics in the middle as can be seen on attached picture. This set-up is also visible in the BSA and Triumph saddles.
Comparing the measurements based on this saddle and the lengths in the VAOS of the period it is shown that the elastics did not have identical elongation values (pre-stretch), being approx  15% for the short ones, 19% for the middle ones and 9% for the longest ones in the original configuration. These values are only valid for the contemporary (1936 to 1941) elastic chords. The elastic chord presently coming from Czech Republic appears to have a much higher modulus meaning they need much more force to obtain the same elongation and are thus to be longer than the original ones to have a lower pre-stretch to get a comparative similar in situ support function.  Unstretched lengths of the Czech chords need to be resp.  344, 443 and 494 mm to start with. How much pre-tension one wants can be determined by oneself.  Will add some more info on the www.wdnorton.nl website in the future.

The mystery in this all is that the WD16H Nortons in the cargo are built according to the India Office specifications as can bee seen by the upturned rear end of the silencer. Were they new machines or used machines coming from India as suggested by Rik.
We have no information other than an India Office contract number of October 1939 but it seems unlikely they were newly made in June 1941.
The way they were carried  i.e. "uncrated" on the back of lorries does not seem the "normal" way to transport new motorcycles. There was no evidence of crating in the time that Cousteau visited it I seem to remember.

None of the Websites describing the Thistlegorm do mention any possibility of an intermediate stop in Aden but it is clearly in the card shown by Jan.

I feel Rik's suggestion does have a fairly large chance of being correct. 

2 hours ago, SimonBrown said:

And thank you for sharing the movement card - not seen that before.

The Nortons are found at the aft end of hold No2 on the lower deck. They are in perhaps the least accessible area of the ship  and access is very tight. 

I suppose its possible Hold No2 could have been loaded in Aden, but the physical challenge of manhandling 27~30 motorbikes into the least accessible area of the ship is, I think, exceptionally unlikely?

Do we know if there were other vehicles loaded in Aden?

The MC's were in the back of trucks so they will have been loaded with the trucks as one unit. Similar like transport of MC's at the Dunkirk retreat.

Another version of a Universal saddle for Matchless G3L MC's