Thanks very much everyone. From the above it would seem that my booklet is 39/40. One thing though. Wiki dates the 276s introduction as 1940 but Rob states it was earlier. Does anyone have a firm date for the 276?

I do not know a firm date but I know they changed from a type 76 which had the four holes around the body to a 276 which had the hole in the intake area of the carburetter as the War office in England wanted to be able to filter all of the air entering the carburetter. I beleive that it was sometime in 1939.

Gents,

The 276/011-1 was first specified by AMAL in December 1936 and placed on military WD16H in 1937 according the original AMAL documentation.

The 76 was kept for civilian use upto 1940.

Wiki is incorrect/incomplete!

Cheers,

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

As I have contributed to Wiki I know it's often not accurate. I did think it may be a case of military preceding civilian, since it was the Military who wanted the changes; only to not make full use of them....
This adds weight to the 276 being developed with feedback from Norton re the "standard" 1065 needle jet [as does the numbering code].
To date my little black book, when did the RAF first order 16Hs?

email (option): jeremy@clogmaker.co.uk

The first contract that I can see was for 20 bikes delivered by June 1941. There was another contract for 531 solos, after which they mostly seem to have ordered combinations. Lots of M20 combinations were also ordered by the RAF. These military outfits were fitted with a Swallow model 8 sidecar. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I haven't double-checked it recently, but I believe that the factory records show the RAF taking two WD16Hs in August 1938, presumably assessment models and then a first delivery of 275 in March 1939. These were finished in the pre-war RAF blue-grey.

This one is complete with pre-war Local authority registration and NI-Fe battery.

The two machines built in 1938 were built according the 1938 spec.
It appears they later went for the standard 1937 spec.
They had black painted rolling chassis and headlamp rim and RAF blue sheet metal parts.
It did not have speedo. Norton applied an RAF transfer.

Cheers,

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl