rewdco

Same complaints here in Belgium. HMVF is now littered with publicity banners left, right, top, bottom and in-between posts as well. I'm using Safari, but just gave it a try on Chrome, and it's the same. 

The WD/C needs 3 pints of oil, the WD/CO needs 4 (due to the extended oil compartiment in the crankcases).

This picture (and similar pictures) appear in every Wehrmacht album. It is well known within the May 1940 fraternity.

On 6/14/2023 at 8:37 AM, Citroman said:

Here several captured renault tanks in 1940. The square i have seen before might be St .Quentin??

 

It's actually Hazebrouck town square...

Nice postcard, taken during the "siege of Antwerp" at the trainstation in Ghent. 

From Wikipedia:

The siege of Antwerp (Dutch: Beleg van Antwerpen, French: Siège d'Anvers, German: Belagerung von Antwerpen) was an engagement between the German and the Belgian, British and French armies around the fortified city of Antwerp during World War I. German troops besieged a garrison of Belgian fortress troops, the Belgian field army and the British Royal Naval Division in the Antwerp area, after the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. The city, which was ringed by forts known as the National Redoubt, was besieged to the south and east by German forces.

The Belgian forces in Antwerp conducted three sorties in late September and early October, which interrupted German plans to send troops to France, where reinforcements were needed to counter the French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). A German bombardment of the Belgian fortifications with heavy and super-heavy artillery began on 28 September. The Belgian garrison had no hope of victory without relief; despite the arrival of the Royal Naval Division beginning on 3 October, the Germans penetrated the outer ring of forts. When the German advance began to compress a corridor from the west of the city along the Dutch border to the coast, through which the Belgians at Antwerp had maintained contact with the rest of unoccupied Belgium, the Belgian Field Army commenced a withdrawal westwards towards the coast.

On 9 October, the remaining garrison surrendered, the Germans occupied the city and some British and Belgian troops escaped to the Netherlands to the north and were interned for the duration of the war. Belgian troops from Antwerp withdrew to the Yser river, close to the French border and dug in, to begin the defence of the last unoccupied part of Belgium and fought the Battle of the Yser against the German 4th Army in October and November 1914. The Belgian Army held the area until late in 1918, when it participated in the Allied liberation of Belgium.^[a]

Poelkapelle. The Germans scrapped the tank, but a couple of years ago a local history group made a replica: https://tankpoelcapelle.be/en/home

Oh yes, now that you're saying so! 😃

Just found this one on eBay:

23 hours ago, pyw304 said:

That's quite the frost crack...

 

Jarrod.

Not a frost crack, but according to the caption, the engine has been deadly wounded by a grenade ("motore ferito mortalmente da una granata wernica"). Don't know what "wernica" means however...

Just found this WW1 picture of a Fiat.

The number in the parts list is 25578. But according to the Hitchcocks website this number has been superseded by 40460.

Hello Mike,

Deleted message. Reason: posted twice.

Fantastic overview Simon, thanks for sharing!

Now just a thought... If all the Nortons are on the lower deck, and all the BSAs on the upper deck, wouldn't it be logical to assume that they were loaded at two different locations?

WD/C - WD/CO tool rolls were made in brown gaberdine cotton cloth, with a stone red hessian cloth lining. Rexine was only used for the edges. Here's an original one and a replica:

There was a (basic) "Tool Kit" and a "Supplementary Kit". See pictures below.

I've just discovered an "Instruction Book" for the India Office BSAs. According to this book, the frame and engine numbers that had been allotted for this contract were WM20.3101 - WM20.3557. But when we look in the factory ledgers, these numbers haven't been filled in. So mystery solved, apart from the prototype bike, there were no India Office BSAs.

6 hours ago, SimonBrown said:

That is new to me and thanks for sharing. Is there a copy of the specifications available anywhere?

This is a "works" photograph of the India Office Norton 16H. Please note the upswept silencer, pillion seat with set back rear carrier, large sump guard, front mudguard stay lifting handle, cylindrical air cleaner:

And these are "works" photographs of the India Office BSA. Please note the upswept silencer, pillion seat with set back rear carrier, tank mounted Talflow air cleaner:

There are lots of war time pictures with India Office Nortons. And of course, the Nortons on Thristlegorm are also India Office bikes (upswept silencer):

But I've never seen a war time photograph of an India Office BSA. The two "works" pictures above show the prototype bike, the question is if they have ever made a batch or a contract. I don't think so... Fact is that the BSAs on Thistlegorm are "normal" M20s, with a straight silencer:

@ administrator: please feel free to move the Thistlegorm content to a separate, dedicated thread... 😃

Fantastic overview Simon! I've seen lots of Thistlegorm pictures, but non of these show the complete vessel. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing!

By the way, I've just added two pictures in "The Brooks B182 saddle" post.

8 hours ago, Doug80 said:

Brilliant bit of research and very informative. Thanks for your efforts.

does anyone know of a supplier of new saddle covers in the uk please?

thanks

Doug

The Indian covers which are readily available are all made from soft, "warm" vinyl. Definitely a no-go for what we need. The original saddle covers were made from Rexine (which is called "Unobtanium" in Mendeljev's table). So if you want to become a millionaire and retire young, buy yourself an old Singer stitcher and start making good saddle covers! The material that was used for MGB hoods and tonneau covers is a very close match for Rexine, and please use real horsehair felt padding (3/8 thick). Don't use the easier to find coconut felt pad, as this will disintegrate quickly. 

To make a long story short: no, unfortunately good covers are very hard to come by.

I've just found a Terry universal saddle on eBay.com . The saddle frame is easy to recognise. But it comes with a set of specific brackets, and I wonder for which bike these may be...? Definitely not BSA, Enfield, Matchless, Ariel. Maybe Norton, Triumph, James, ...?

I've just gone through the rest of the keycards, but unfortunately I couldn't find 14CW0027. (I may have overlooked something, as looking at all these numbers drive you mad... 🤪 )

Probably frame 14GW0022 and engine 14CW0027 were already mated when the BAOR inventory was made, and it was the frame number that was recorded on the keycards.

Geoff,

If you want a high res scan of this keycard, please take contact with Welbike (for contact details: see one of the earlier posts). He's got the originals and can make you a really nice scan of the complete card.

Jan

I fully agree Richard! And 31BW could be "Base Workshop"...?

Also: behind the CW or BW prefix there is usually one number (the umpteenth rebuild?). In the example below: the 268th rebuild in 25 Command Workshop.

But there can also be two numbers, separated by a slash. Looks as if the second number could be the year, as it is always either 55 or 56. In the example below: the 207th rebuild in 25 Command Workshop in 1956...?

No idea what the (PR) stands for though...