Unknown 1943 Military Bikes Pictures
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Can anyone identify the bikes in these pictures – there’s not much to go on…!
The picture was sent in by Dave Hillman and shows a detachment of Military Police trainees at Ash Vale, in the vicinity of Aldershot, in late 1943 (Dave’s father is the rider on the far right).
Although I have found a CMP’s memoirs from WWII stating that while training at Aldershot they were presented with 40 brand new BSA 500′s to train on. I guess M20′s. These are not M20′s.
I think they are either Norton 16H’s or the solo version of the Big Four. They both look very similar. The Norton had an exterior front drum as opposed to the “between the spokes” version on the BSA, and a more recessed oil tank. The fact that they’ve got different headlamp sizes and positions for the speedo is just a matter of changes in production, or modification.
I’ve also found photos of the CMP from 1944 where they are mounted on 16H’s or Big Fours.
I hope this of some use, Best regards and congrats on a great site, Andy