Hello Wayne,
Thanks for your interesting answer. Perhaps as well as obsolete bikes, you got lumbered with out of date handbooks as well and the British kept the later books for themselves. I was wondering why a 1939 book should have been in Australia as it was for a small contract of 300 odd machines and I know that at least one of them turned up here in Belgium having been left behind in 1940
Big 4 outfits saw action during the Arras counter-attack and based on the numbers involved with a motor battalion, I would assume that most of the production up to that date was with the BEF.
I suspect that Classic Motorcycle was never quite the same after the departure of Bob Currie. He was "there" and had the trade contacts to verify things. The figure of 3300 "of this type" could mean with a passenger carrying body. The parts book for Contract C7576 (1141 machines) says it was for box-bodied chairs although this is probably not correct because some of the census numbers from this contract appear in period photos on passenger outfits.
I've done a quick tot-up on my lists and come out at 4623. Bearing in mind that frame numbers went from S1000 to S5521 + a limited amount of pre-war production, this would seem to be about right.
How were the outfits used for towing ? have you found evidence of towing equipment ? I know the RAF used 16H outfits as transport around airfields.
I am in quite close contact with Rob van den Brink who runs the WD Norton website (We are geographically neighbours by Australian standards - just three hours drive or so). In fact, Rob and I seem to be spurring each other on in the search for information. I think we both have the feeling that within a few years, it will be even harder to research. The website is at
http://home.tiscali.nl/wd16h/ if anyone is interested.
I would be keen to know the references on your paperwork. Does Rob have your machine details ?
Servicepub, The book we have been referring to is "British Forces Motorcycles 1925-45" by C.J. Orchard & S.J. Madden ISBN 0-7509-0777-0 published in 1995 by Alan Sutton. It is now out of print (a revised edition is promised for next year) A specialist bookshop here in Belgium had a number of copies last time I was there. Let me know if you are stuck. By the way, I am looking forward to your forthcoming motorcycle book. The Canadian Forces seem to have used Nortons after the British mostly swapped to BSAs and Matchlesses. I hope there are lots of pictures !
Rich