Since my last post I’ve worked through 1938 and, at the time of writing, am half way through 1939. Stories from the Blue ‘Un include a surgeon practising operations in a gasmask, just to get used to it; touring holidays in Spain as the fascists had won the civil war; British squaddies entering trials in uniform on their WD bikes (and doing pretty well) and underground carparks being built to serve as air raid shelters. A major petition against the rising tax burden on motor cycles reminded the government that “in the last war the ranks of motor cyclists provided thousands of pilots for the RFC and RAF; thousands of men for the Motor Machine Gun Corps and later the Tank Corps. There was the call for men with technical knowledge then; there is a very similar call to-day, yet whereas on the Continent nations have done everything in their power to foster motor cycling, realising its value as training and in developing physical fitness, and have even eliminated taxes on motor cycles in their entirety, we in this country find ourselves faced with the prospect of a still greater burden. We are anxious to play our part. Tens of thousands of us are giving proof of this for we are already in the armed forces…” Meanwhile motor cycle sport was flourishing and the pages of The Motor Cycle were packed with ideas for touring holidays. Hay was being made while the sun shone.
Motorcycle Timeline 