My jaw dropped as I watched these little beauties rattle gracefully down the grass track and onto the concrete apron of the old WW2 airforce base on Lake Macquarie, just north of Sydney. If only my father were alive to see this!! Scrabbling through my folders I unearth the photo taken in 1942 after he joined the army at Middle Head in Sydney to train as a 'DonR' - a despactch rider. But now, for the life of me, I cannot think of the type of motorbike Dad had. My head says a type of BSA, but the indistinct logo cannot be distorted into anything remotely like 'BSA'.
The title of this post comes from 'The Thought-Fox' by Ted Hughes:
Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head. |
9 comments:
Hi Julie, my husband says your dad is sitting on a Matchless which was made by the same manufacturer as AJS. Hope this helps. Have a great day. Greetings, Jo
Your Dad looks very cool! What a wonderful picture Julie.
I love that old photo. I think my dad had a Vincent.
Hi Julie. Your Dad must have had some adventures on that bike. It must have been a real hoot to see all those bikes. Cheers J.
He looks so cool. LOve those closeups to.
Oh you bring back memories of my Mum. She was in signals during the war and often spoke of DonRs. All part of the war lingo that pervaded our childhood.
My Dad had an old Norton that he restored. I used to ride it sometimes.
Such a lovely way to reunite past and present.
It's not a hot, stinky Panther, is it?
Looking at some of the images online, it could well be. I have it written down somewhere and will look it up in my copious free time.
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