Hi
Am hoping to find some info on my Wm20, if anybody can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
Frame no. WM20104638
Engine no. wm20 122618
Old army reg no. 99YC74
Regards Henrik
Quite a few things that I can say about your bike…
The BSA with frame number WM20.104638 (and matching “duplicated frame number” on the engine) comes from contract S/2603, which was a contract for 8.000 motorcycles. Frame numbers for this contract were WM20.96818 - 104817. Census numbers were C5207518 - C5215517. Your bike's census number would have been C5215338. Deliveries for this contract started mid March 1944, @ 2400 motorcycles per month. Your bike (or “your frame") must have been built around June - July 1944. Here’s a picture with a very close number, in use with the Polish forces. Picture may have been taken when the war was (just) over, as the bike doesn’t have a blackout mask anymore.
Your frame number also appears in the KeyCards, which means that the bike was also used in the post war British Army. When the post war ERM number system replaced the war time census numbers in 1949, it was issued with the registration number 99YC74.
The demob date may have been 16/2/70, but I can’t decipher the other notes on this data record. Here’s another YC registered WM20:
The KeyCards don’t show us the engine numbers. As explained, every WW2 BSA left the factory with “matching numbers”. But during major rebuilds (you may find a brass plate with rebuild information on the bike) frames and engines always got mixed up. That's why your bike currently has a non-matching engine number WM20.122618. The bike with frame number WM20.122618 (and matching “duplicated frame number” on the engine) comes from contract S/7218, which was a contract for 10.000 bikes. But because the war was over before the contract was completely delivered, production stopped after 5.869 bikes. The remainder of this contract was cancelled. The frame numbers that were issued for this contract were WM20.116818 - WM20.126817. The allotted census numbers were C5885918 - C5895917. Your bike (or “your engine” to be precise) would have had census number C5891718. It was one of the very last WM20s produced. First deliveries of this contract took place on 15/5/1945, deliveries were to be expected at 1.500 per month. This means that your bike (“your engine” ) must have left the factory around September 1945.
By the way, Lex can provide a high res scan of the appropriate KeyCard for a modest sum.
Thank you so much for the history on my bike :-) very happy with it.
Can you tell me what the number on the front mud guard is ?
Is there any way of finding out if the bike was attached to a unit or devision ?
My bike has the larger patern fueltank, would this have been put on for the post war service, or just by pure coincidence ?
Im new at this stuff :-)
Thanks again
Best regards Henrik
During a "major rebuild" they would fit whatever that was available, quite possible that your large tank was the result of this.
For 99.9% of the WD bikes it is impossible to find out in which unit it served. You would need the AB412 logbook to find out. But it is VERY rare to find a motorcycle with such a logbook... However, bikes from your contract were definitely used during the liberation of Holland, which could be interesting for you. Here's a nice picture, again with a Polish bike. But they were used by the other allied forces as well:
The number on the front mudguard is usually a unit number.
As Jan said, it is mostly impossible to know what unit a motorcycle served with. The general consensus is to pick a unit that is of interest to you or that a relative or acquaintance might have had a connection to, research that unit and mark your bike accordingly. " Artistic License" prevails!
Old (departed) Hans Muller said that he painted his bike in honour to the 49th infantry division, as he'd seen them as a very young boy at the liberation parade in Amsterdam 1945. Ron
Great foto and info
Now I have something to work with
Thank you guys, your awesome :-)
If you find out any more please do add it to the thread
Regards Henrik :-)