Another example of the aggressive shark tooth’d grimace seen on the warbirds of WW2. This would look smart on the Tiger Cub tank. Not too much more room for the bomb ridin’ gal though. Olive Drab and red backed pointy teeth gives a nasty bite! Gnash!
The twenty third of April is the feast of the Roman soldier George who was martyred on this day in the fourth century. Typically shown defeating a dragon atop a white steed with maiden beyond his veneration is celebrated in many countries for his virtue. The English flag is his banner: a red vertical cross on white. Itself forming the very foundation for the Union Flag (Jack).
Here is a Triumph Bonneville used as a modern ride leaning into one of the many corners of a latter day dragon: the Dragons Tail at Deals Gap in North Carolina, an 11 mile stretch of Route 129 with over 300 corners.
The Women’s Royal Navy Service was an auxiliary group to support the naval arm during WWII. They took over land based tasks so that all able bodied men could be aboard ship. “Become a Wren – Free up a man for the Fleet!”
One duty was as dispatch riders ensuring secure document communication could be maintained between the Admiralty, its harbored fleet and the Commanding Chiefs if Staff in London.
Here’s one such dicky bird on her Triumph at work with courier satchel. They carried out a crucial role especially during the Battle of Britain when keen motorcycling skills through the bombed streets of the capital were key to the success of the countries defense.
Buckingham Palace acts as a backdrop as this lass kicks over the very capable 3H single cylinder 350. Which were a bargain in 1938…
Here’s one of those enlisting posters…
Very smart they looked in their uniforms too: double breasted suit with tricorne hat.
“Hoist up the Union Jack lads!”
This iconic image from The Great Escape says it all: Hilts, Moto, Germans. Well someone in the Chicago area has s recreated Triumph TR6 TGE bike that is available for purchase.
Including HALT sign, all you’d need is a barbed wire fence and Swiss border. And somewhere to tote your baseball glove…. And wirecutters .
Back to the moto: it a very clean mechanical recreation in gunmetal grey to look like a German wartime beemer. Which is what Bud Skins did for the movie. A wee bit of artistic license to maintain coolness; I’m fine with that!
“There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, 750 miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it: The Sound Barrier. Then, they built a small plane, the X1, to try and break the sound barrier. And men came to the High Desert in California to ride it. They were called test pilots. And no one knew their names.”
from Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff
Today is Brigadier General Charles “Chuck” Yeager’s 91st birthday. Over a colored aviation career stretching from P51 Mustang fighter piloting through flying AND testing many of the worlds fastest aircraft through the majority of the jet age he had surely ‘seen it all’.
His warbird in the European theater was called Glamorous Glennis. After his sweetheart.
Kitted for supersonic flight in an F-100 Super Saber.
Here his sits in the nose of the bullet shaped Bell X1. Another Glamorous Glennis in which he pushed through that Demon Barrier and forged a new age of aviation onwards. Remember this is only forty five years after Wilbur and Orville took Flyer One across the dunes of Kittyhawk North Carolina.
There us so much about this image I like. The sepia tint of age, a smiling lance corporal dispatch rider in Mediterranean wear, and the rime-like dust of the road. Possibly Egypt, Libya or even Italy. Sitting proudly on his BSA M20, workhorse of lightweight and quick travel for the Allies.
Yesterday we went to the Holocaust Museum in Skokie to see an exhibition about Wartime austerity in Britain. The population had to tighten their belts, utilize less, close-in, and create a stalwart ‘fortress’ as the Axis shadow grew.
The use of posters was key to promote the needs and my favorite illustrator of the time Cyril Kenneth Bird aka Fougasse created pure form and message.
At the exhibition there was some wonderful COLOUR film from the war years some showing events during The Blitz, others about rationing, and one about the plans set afoot within the defending island state as German forces were breathing down their necks. There was a few scenes of the Home Guard ( Dads Army) going through their paces across a muddy common on motorbikes to become dispatch riders.
Could be a BSA M20. Spotlessly new and ready for service.
Wonderful film.
It was the keen eared Radar who spoke those words on one of my favorite TV shows. M*A*S*H whereby the insanity of war is given comedic status in a serious belly laughing manner. The staff of the 4077th bump through the highs and lows of a mostly forgotten Korean war.
Though it was mostly Jeeps and bubble canopied Bell choppers some promotion oriented company took it upon themselves to develop a Hawkeye Pierce motorcycling doctor.
It looks more like a cafe racer with broad fairing. He even wears his white surgical apron…whilst looking for this I happened upon a Triumph TR6 and Spitfire advertisement with none other than Alan Alda at the open topped wheel of the sunny yellow TR6.
That’s as good an endorsement that you could want for me!
“I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got thrown into this war I had a clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns. I’ll carry your books, I’ll carry a torch, I’ll carry a tune, I’ll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I’ll even ‘hari-kari’ if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun! –” Hawkeye
P.S.
BJ Hunnicut did have a yellow moto….
San Fransisco 5426 miles
This small cast metal toy motorcycle has a clunky charm to it that would surely fill any youngsters imagination with two wheeled deeds of daring-do. Indeed it has a striking resemblance to the noted stunt team of the Royal Signal Corps.
Here’s a First Day Cover type commemorative posting of a Royal Mail stamp with the classic Triumph and uniformed white helmet rider tearing across the mailing in fine style. This actual mailing was even more special using Forces mail to an Earls Court Cycle exhibition in 1980. Charming stuff…
When cars were named after heroes: the Triumph Spitfire was one such; a two-seater 1500cc powered roadster that heralded the best of British spirit. WWII ace Ginger Lacey cheekily grins from his flying cap, he saw tremendous action in the 1949 Battle of Britain over the southeast as well as flying over Japan during the close of hostilities. This car needs a white silk scarf a-flutterin’ behind the driver to evoke its namesakes legacy. Ginger is true ‘boys own’ stuff with 28 definite downed aircraft to his name he gained the DFM with Bar.
Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) – the last of the original pot war actor rebels who knew how to drink and regale like the best of ’em (and that includes Button, Harris, Reed and other imbibous gents of the theater) . he made his name as The Only True TE Lawrence in one of the most magnificent cinematic outings: Lawrence of Arabia.
As we all know Larry met his end one of the bucolic country lanes near his countryside escape at Clouds Hill near Wareham Dorset. The film opens with this scene the retreats to his middle eastern endeavors during the Great War.
The motorcycle was the Brought Superior SS100, ride of voice by TEL.
Here’s our Bristol Old Vic pal Peter cutting a dashing figure as always on one for some movie promotion.
Here’s Larry on (one of) his bikes…
Smashing film about a situation that we’re still seeing the heavy ripples from that time. O’Toole is outstanding in this most perfect of roles. A giant until the end.
A pair of motorcycle army couriers seek relief from the front during the horrendous hostilities of World War 1. Photo courtesy of The Imperial War Museum.
The Triumph model H single cylinder 550cc motorcycle was a true precursor to the Twentieth Century’s history of British ‘cycles. It was the first Triumph to have a single cam wheel with 2 cams instead of separate cam wheels for the inlet and exhaust valve. The entirely new cylinder casting had a larger valve head diameter and the valves were spaced further apart. Another great improvement over the 1914 style 3-speed hub is the Sturmey Archer countershaft gearbox: allowing for heavier and stronger gearing. Furthermore the primary chain drive was enclosed by an aluminium protective cover.
The Model H became a dependable and successful moto with some 30,000 supplied to the British and allied forces during the Great War.
Here’s a beautiful portrait of the engine by the esteemed motorcycle photographer Daniel Pierce.
In 1916 the war was well and truly in its bloodiest hour with the Battle of the Somme at its core. 57,000 casualties on the FIRST DAY. One can’t imagine… But one can’t forget either.
We’ve covered The White Helmets display team before: those finely balanced or overladen Triumph riders of the Royal Corps of Signals. Here a few more vintage images of early thrillery . . .
Remember these are motos from the thirties so are lacking in oomph by modern standards (or even 70’s Triumph power) as well as being heavier machines… So some of these exploits need a certain level of daredevil slant.
Flying over the cars to show off gravity defying deeds too.
The wheel swap is a classic though- here caught mid heave. Keep ‘er steady capt’n!
All good stuff but the lads and lasses of The ‘ Signals still keep up their duty at the sharp end of military worldwide action setting up and maintaining critical telecommunications. Usually first in.
Here a pair hare across a Mideast desert…
Orlando, is quite the moto aficionado… Here he is taking great enjoyment from a WWII BSA M20. The half litre 13 pony do I all ride of couriers, scouts and dispatchers alike.
Of course half the fun of these pieces if military equipment is the hands-on needed to keep em rubber side down and destination bound. Twiddle carbs, sort timing, adjust valves, petrol on, tickle, retard and KICK. He just needs a blackout hood on the headlight for period correctness.
10 Tiger Cubs all wrapped up for an overseas flight aboard a BEA Vickers Vanguard to some foreign land. The aircraft was one of the last mid size turboprop passenger planes before the jets really took over. It eventually became a purely freight carrier well into the nineties. The engines are the powerful Rolls Royce 4000hp Tyne model. Apparently pilots could cruise at 10,000 ft with three engines feathered and a remaining outboard at max power – a feat unmatched by an early contemporary Lockheed C130.
The Tyne is of course the river that flows through the heart of Geordieland! And Vickers Armstrong was a major Tyneside engineering company in both shipbuilding and military manufacturing; with a workforce of Geordie’s all!
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