1942 CANADIAN ARMY FILM UNIT “ MOTORCYCLE TRAINING “ WWII INSTRUCTIONAL FILM NORTON 16H 16314

This 1942 training film from the Canadian Army Film Unit and narrated by Gerry Wilmot shows the training of dispatch riders at a training school in England. The film opens with a scene of an officer showing soldiers a motorcycle engine in a room at a training school in England. Men are assigned a Norton 16H motorcycle out in the yard and must maintain the bike during the entirety of the course The Norton 16H is a designation given to British motorcycles made between 1911 through to 1954 with various modifications and refers to a single cylinder Norton 490cc side valve engine with a bore and stroke of 79 x 100 mm. The H denotes the Home model as distinct from the Colonial export was the main military motorcycle supplier prior to WW2 and one of the main suppliers of motorcycles to the British Army in World War II with a total of nearly 100,000 produced. British Army Nortons were also supplied to the Commonwealth forces such as Australian, New Zealand, India and the Canadian Army.