pproximately onehour and 32 minutesintothe
epic 1977warfilm ‘A Brid ge TooFar’(as taple
Saturda yafternoonfilm forSecondWorld War-
obsessedkids ofmy generation) aUSWillys Jeep speeds into
view andpullsupoutsidealarge and eleg anthouse.Acaption
on thescreensets thescene as being‘U.S. 82nd H.Qsouth of
Nijmegen’,and just beforethe Jeep stops,and seenfleetingly
afterwards, is alarge greenmotorcyclewith brownsaddlebags
and wide bars, parkeduponits sidestand andwaitingfor its
nextorders.
It is historicalfact that 7250 battle-toughened
paratroopers of the 82ndAirborneDivision parachutedinto
Holland onSeptember17, 1944 ,aspartoft he infamous
and ill-fatedMarketGarden operation to takeGermanheld
brid gesoverthe Rhine,led by exampleby Major General
James MGavin whojumped with his men.By late afternoon,
GeneralJames wasdriving around inaWillysJeepand
settingupaHQ, from whichto makehis rounds of the
divisions of the 82nd.Jeeps,artillerypieces,and other vital
supplieswere landedinone of 1000HorsaorWaco gliders,
or C-47 transpor tplanes.And, accordingtothe producers of
‘A BridgeTooFar,’ motorcyclestoo.
And could itbe that this side-valve 1942 Indian 741-BI’ve
just been ridinginthe greenand placid la nes of Oxfordshire
couldhave been theone parkedoutside theHQ in thefilm
back in 1977, oreven inreal life in 1944?
TheIndian’scurrent guardian isWayneJohnson, andyou
mayrecognisehim asI’ve coveredseveralof hisIndians for
TCMbeforenow,fromthe small butelegantBrave, to his
styl ish SportScout and mightyChief.Isay guardian asWayne
admits that it washis sisterDonnawho is actually theowner
of the 741-B.
Sadly, Wayneand Donna’sfatherEricpassedawaylast
autumn –hewas th eoriginator of the passion forIndians that
runs deep in theJohnson family.It wasWayne however, who,
by pure chance,got to hearabouta741-B forsale.
“I’d gone to an antiques fair locally andhadridden thereon
my 1948Chief,and hadparkeditupoutside.Whileinside,a
chap calledCharlie came inlooking for the Chief’s owner,and
spotte dmewith my jacketand helmet.Wechattedabout my
bikeand thenhe mentionedhealsohad anIndian741-B he
waslookingtosell.Iknowabout 741s–Ihave one in bits in a
bedroom, and I’ve ownedthreein the past.Anyway, Idecided
to go and havealookati t. Turnedout Charlieowns the H
Café at Dorchester-on-Thames which isverybikefriendlyand
aplace Iknowwell.Thebikewas great, very original looking,
seemingly untouched, andhadthe correct parts on it,which
is importantas theyare hard tofind. It hadanew coiland
silencer,but apartfromthat it wasstock,soI,sorry Donna,
decidedtobuy it .”
TheIndia n741-B wasamachinedesignedpurely for
militaryuse,built inIndian’sV-twinflatheadtradi tion.Two
air-cooledcylinders mountedinl ine at 42 degrees, a2.5-inch
bore, 3/stroke givin ga30.07 cubic inch displa cement, and
athree-speedtransmission.Sprunggirder forks, arigid frame
and largesprungleather seat were typicalIndian.By 1940,
Germany’ sBlitzkrieg that ha dswept acrossEuropefeatured
BMW, Zundapp,DKW and NSUmotorcycles at thespearhead
of advances, and the Britishwereutilisin gmotorcycles in
thedeser ttog reat effect, so the US militar ywerealready
anticipating theuseofmotor cycles beforePearl Harbor forced
the USA’sentry into thewar.Infact,productionofthe 741-B
beganinDecember1941att he Springfield, Massachusetts
plan tevenbefore testingwas completed. Under theLend-Lease
scheme that beganinMarch 1941, theUSA started tosupply
THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019 55
Indian |741-B