hi,
does anyone have any idea where c- no. 5117xxx were posted in that great war??
any idea about unit no.????
thanks again
keep on buf buf bufbuffing.....
ori

ori it is very hard to find out where it was during ww2 there are cards with bike registration number (key cards) on them when they were disposed of and sometime there might be the last unit it was with when disposed of but a lot of these unit are post war ie territorial unit(part time soldiers)dont do any buffing it makes things shiney and we dont want shiney motorbikes

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

hi,
well, as far as i know, my bike was in full service during the second world war,
according to the key cards,
and was sold to civillian market in '56,
but the unit no. is still a mystery to me,
best regards
ori

Ori, it could have gone absolutely anywhere and even if it had not been through a rebuild, at which point any history was lost, there appears to have been no systematic preservation of individual vehicle histories.

I'd guess that machines from a large 1942/43 contract would have gone in numbers to the Mediterranean with some to the Far East but many would have stayed in the UK with the units building up for NW Europe. If it was demobbed in the UK then there is probably a fair chance that it spent its life there but you'll never know if it served with a glamorous unit or something like a Mobile Bath Unit...There are probably more M20s currently marked to 'Airborne' than there ever were in 1944.

hi,
well..i know all that, and it's too bad...i hoped someone has a very close c-no. to mine and could have told me the unit no.,
the history of my bike iterest me a lot,
and be sure that it was rebuilt after the war, and even got a new frame!! before it was sold to an israeli bike dealer in cyprus in 1956,
a new engine was fitted as well so it's a real bitsa,
some original parts survived the cyprus workshop and wasn't replaced,
anyway ... i will keep on digging
best regards
ori santo

ori wasnt the bike first issued to the israeli army a lots were issued after ww2 say in 1946

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

Ori, have you heard of Trigger's broom. He had it for years and it only had 3 new handles and four new heads!!! If your bike has had a new frame and a new engine, then it's not the original bike. In my opinion it's pointless to even try to search for it's history. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

A close serial number gives no better clue than where some machines went at a similar time...and then.

The system of distribution involved a Central Ordnance Depot, often Chilwell which supplied re-equipping units directly but not carefully with consecutive numbers or even a consistent 'First in - Last Out' system.

Machines sent overseas as replacements were supplied via Base Ordnance Depots where they are likely to have been mixed with reconditioned vehicles. Each of these moves was like shuffling a pack of cards and the results were pretty random.

If I look at period photos, I can sometimes see that many of a particular contract went to a certain location but equally, I've seen bikes from the same contract appear in Britain, France, Iceland, Egypt and Malta with every possible type of formation and unit.

Yes, it's one of the frustrations of this game that has to be accepted..generally there is no record of bike movements... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

hello to all,
first of all , there was no israeli army in 1946,
it began to be one in 1948,
all of the british army bikes that were here until that point,
were taken back when they left,(except for some that were stolen or got sold by special permit)
anyway,
i know that there is not much left from the original bike, i only wanted to put the correct unit sign under the c-no.,
but at the moment, i think it won't be present on my fuel tank....
thanks to all of you
ori