Above:Wayne
Johnsonenjoystime
inthesaddle of
the5 00 cc Indian.
So what happened,was the bikerecoate datsome
point? Maybepatchedupdurin gthe war? Maybeitwas
shot at by German soldiers and the motorwaswrecked?
So did itservewith the82nd Airborne?Thereare photos
of HarleyWLAsint he useof82ndAirborne during the
SecondWorld War, so perhapsafew Indians also found
theirwayintothe division,touse as messenger dispatch
bikes, convoyriding, troopmail delivery. Orwasitall
paintedonfor itsrole in ‘A Brid ge TooFar,’ if it evenhad
one?So manypossibilities andquestions,but sadly
so few answers and certainties.What is certain is that
thousands ofIndian 741-Bsservedwith armedforces
of many nations duringthe SecondWorld War, and its
robustand reliablenaturemeantitw as alsoversatile,and
used from deserts to thePacific.
AccordingtoLars-GunnarIvarssonin hi sexcelle nt
book‘TheIndianMotorcycleinWar andPeace’: “What
eachmachinewasinvolved in on the battlegr ound can
onlybe guessed,but youcan be sure, togetherthey’ ve
witnessed alot.Maybe MonteCassinobombed into a
heapofruins,arubble strewnvillage lane in France or
Italy, orbeing shot at by German artilleryfire and trench
mortars.Occasionally, dispatch riders or militarypolice
became casu alties,hit byfire fromaGermanmachine
gunorcaughtinaJapanese ambush inBurma’sjungles.
Thereare countless untold stories,sometimes explaining
adentint he tank,atwisted handlebar orabentframe.
Many 741motorcyclesshowtracesofwar,including
my own.Theframe wasbentand ithasafield-repair
between theupperand lowerframe tubes (where the
tank is);athickmetal platepossibly taken from an
armoured carhas beenweldedbetween the tubes.”
Back in civilianlife,Wayne says he didn’thave to do
much to th eV-twinwhenhe(sorry, whenDonna...)
acquired it.“It wasrunningokaybut Iserviceditanyway,
and Ihad toreplacethebrassfloatint he Linkert carb
with an NOScorkfloatIhad onmy spares shelf, my last
one.Thebrass onewas puncturedIthink,and tooheavy
so didn’tfunctionwell. Both thefueltapswereseized,
so Ireplacedthemwith NOSspares. Ialso changedthe
fuel pipe, distributorcap, points ,all from my collection
of NOSsparesI’vehad formany years. Ifitted anew 6V
battery too. Iused 50 weight (Castrol GP) for the engine
and a30inthe primarychaincase –there’snooilfilter on
this bike, so regularchanges arerequired.Iadjustedthe
chain,cleanedthe saddlebags andseatabit andfed them
with leather feed.”
Thereare manyparts onthe741-Bwhich arespecific
tomilit aryIndians,one of which is the airbox with long
rubbermanifold to theLinker tcarb.Thesystem iswell
sealedwith afilter inside and an oil bath to takeout as
much dust anddebrisaspossible and allowedthe Indian
58 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
