what did H-D produce for WWII? 45's and what else? what is XA or XLA? was there a big twin made for the military? how about in canada?
WWII bike question
what did H-D produce for WWII? 45's and what else? what is XA or XLA? was there a big twin made for the military? how about in canada?
After the attack on Pearl Harbor 12/7/41 HD went almost exclusively to military production with the WLA ( Army) WLN ( Navy) and the WLC ( Canada) I do not believe any Big Twins ( this would be the Knucklehead) were made for the military. HD also produced bikes for the Russian army). Permission from the US government was needed to purchase civilian bikes. Production #'s for the OHV Knuck were: 1942 1,743 units, 1943 203 units, 1944 535 units. They also produced the XA which was a shaft drive model meant for desert use although none were ever used in combat.
To elaborate a little more, the XA was an opposed (BMW) style flathead twin. Around 2000 produced? I'm pretty sure I saw a pic of a knucklehead trike for military use but there seems to be no evidence that they were actually produced. I think Indian also toyed with a trike based on the chief, also not produced.
At least a few of the Knucklehead trikes were produced during the war era. The Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valey, NC has one.
isn't a UL a big twin? i know someone with a 45UL, but i guess that must be post-war.
where do you find the production numbers for all of the years that the comapny has been producing bikes?
The OHV models, Knuckle, Pan, Shovel heads are considered Big Twins. The production numbers came through research for a book I am writing.
just a quick note- all U,UL,UH,ULH,UA model motorcycles are also considered big twins they're 74"-80". the army had a UA military flathead (1940), & also there were some military knuckles also. as far as the XA's they made about a 1000 plus a lot of spares to build quite a few more
There were military knuckleheads. The ELC ( "C" meaning Canadian ) and the ELA, ("A" for American). Bruce Palmer and Peter Reeves could tell you all you would ever want to know about those bikes.
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