Memorial Day Weekend: when we remember those who died so the free can be. Countrywide events include motorcycle gatherings and ride-outs. It’s mostly the Hog crowds and their shiny tasseled Harley Davidsons. Leather vested with middle age tattoos and members of some group or other. Here’s the flyer for a Souther event “Not recommended for children”.
Got Air?
“We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give.”
— Winston Churchill
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.
Joseph Heller May 1 1923-December 12 1999
Goon, poet, artillery signaller, Irish. That’s Spike Milligan who would be 98 today. His off kilter buffoonery was fresh air in a world of stale comedy.
Say Bazonka every day
That’s what my grandma used to say
It keeps at bay the Asian Flu’
And both your elbows free from glue.
So say Bazonka every day
(That’s what my grandma used to say)
Don’t say it if your socks are dry!
Or when the sun is in your eye!
Never say it in the dark
(The word you see emits a spark)
Only say it in the day
(That’s what my grandma used to say)
Young Tiny Tim took her advice
He said it once, he said it twice
he said it till the day he died
And even after that he tried
To say Bazonka! every day
Just like my grandma used to say.
Now folks around declare it’s true
That every night at half past two
If you’ll stand upon your head
And shout Bazonka! from your bed
You’ll hear the word as clear as day
Just like my grandma used to say!
He sits on a Wooler motorcycle. Some publicity shot from the Veteran & Vintage magazine in 1968.
As a New Year approaches sometimes you just need to hang on and have trust in the captain of your ship. A determined pilot is looking for a suitable landing and his pillion clings closely. This is a late 30’s G3 with the girder forks. Once the teledraulic forks arrived a year later the Matchless single cylinder 350cc became one of the most popular wartime bike.
Let’s keep on events and life of one hundred years ago. Horses needed fed and the noises of the whizz-bangs startled them. Pour petrol in the flat tank; set the oil lubrication, air in the balloon tires, leather drive belt tensioned and off you go.
It also became everyday transport for the lad about town post conflict.
“We’ll be home for Christmas” was the typical retort of the lads in Europe as hostilities commenced in 1914. Well a century later we know that wasn’t the case. Four years of ever increasing devastation. Trench warfare as the 20th Century machine age began. The soft tissues of life lost…
Triumph Motorcycles had their single cylinder Model H utilized to get much needed messages to the front lines from the rear echelons.
Other uses included adding a machine gun to a sidecar combination.
The 90km from the Ypres Salient to Calais probably took an hour. The Front at Ypres was maintained for four years.
Somewhere in Belgium a motorcycle despatch rider delivers documents on his trusty Douglas.
Flat twin in pristine condition dated as 1914. It is a 500cc flat twin with about 3 1/2 ponies. Douglas provided 70,000 machines for the Great War many which probably ended up to their handlebars in mud.
Keeping on this Gremlin theme here’s another informational graphic. It taken a mere hairline crack in a ships hull to let in water allowing it to rust out and leak or fracture. “Keep the Navy Afloat”.
Same with motorcycle frames- all joints need to be solid and secure. Don’t let those little bugger’s in!
During world war 2 war machine production was ramped up to such a huge degree even today I can’t believe how they did it. To keep the home front workers productive a series of posters was prepared to hang in the factories promoting good work practices. Our little friend the gremlin was used to good effect ensuring safe practices on the factory floor.
High protection is essential when working with the heavy machinery producing guns, aircraft & ships.
Clean work environment is essential too. Classic British motorcycle owners should know this.
Watch your back mate don’t get laid up idle.
Fall temperatures are here, and with them a bit of color to add to the backdrop to a ride-out. Color was my language too with six breakdowns on the ride home. Engine cutting out. After fettling a couple of loose connections under the seat, twiddling air screws on the Amals and pulling the plugs to view their condition. It’s all pointing to an electrical issue somewhere… A gremlin has taken up residence in the workings and I need to flush ‘im out….
One Hundred years ago today Britain declared war against Germany starting over four years of one if the most bloody military campaigns the world would experience. The young, brave. and healthy sent to fight in horrific trench warfare. Advances made in feet and yards across northern France and Belgium. Bayonet charges and machine guns DO NOT mix!
Dispatch riders using Trusty Triumph Model H. 500cc’s and 4hp. Got important information and messages from the rear commanding echelons to the blunt, muddy, louse ridden Tommy on the Front Line.
The whistle blows..
“Over the Top!”
Back in the heyday years of mass magazine output a few publications were directed at men. These included titles such as Argosy, Stag and this one here: Saga. Writing featured wartime stories of daring-do or adventures traveling the wilder places of the globe. Basically war, wild animals, cigarettes, guns, damsels in distress, hard liquor and…. Triumph motorcycles.
Remembering the Day of Days seventy years ago brings countless accounts from numerous members of the expeditionary force venturing onto mainland Europe with Berlin as their destination.
The first ‘ashore’ were the paratroop regiments of the British Army and the Airborne of the Americans. Some jumped, others glided in. To keep momentum and troop movement up a small packable motorcycle was developed. Packed into the tube shaped parachute canister it was dropped along with the troops, field assembled, well unfolded, and push started to give speedier mobility across the French countryside than yomping with a fully laden pack on. These miniature 100cc Excelsior Welbikes were brought along for the the D-Day landings along the Normandy coast on June 6th1944. The 2stroke Villiers engine had a top speed of 30mph and range of 90 miles.
Even though they took mere seconds to assemble, the paras typically landed behind lines and had to get under cover quickly, or the differential fall rates of trooper and tube meant they were separated by some distance upon landing. They were generally used as an airfield runnabout and post war curiosity.
Welbike
On the eve of the 70th anniversary if the D-Day landings in Normandy here is an image from a war before that one. Some weary lads sit in the sun with their Douglas 2 3/4 WW1 motorcycles. Rubble and derelict buildings as backdrop, and I’m sure unforgettable memories on their minds. Were at the centennial of the Great War… A conflict to end all wars.. Alas not.
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