New WWII motorcycles in crates?

There is trueth to the rumour. When I was in Petawawa in the late 60s and up to 71, there were motorcycles in crates in stores. I believe they were BSAs. And yes, I did see them. They were being sold to surplus and a freind of mine was trying to find out how to get them. There was no way for a bunch of young guys to manage. They had to be sold off to qualified buyers. They were probably all gone very early.
The military do hang onto vast stores of outdated material for war reserve. It is usually held untill sufficient stock of newer equipment takes it's place. The sad thing is that a lot of it is destroyed rather than sold out.
 
I know of three triumph motorcycles new in the crates owner is rich and thinks there worth HUGE$$$ he also had complete willys mb tops and bows and assorted parts all new again he wanted 3 times what they were worth
 
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I bought a D.R. motorcycle, new in the crate, back in the early 60s from Hercules on Yonge Street in Toronto. I think Honest Ed's also had some. I have an old SIR catalog that advertises Weasels for $800.

I saw a couple of crates with disassembled Jeeps in them in Toronto---can't remember where. Big wooden crate, body diagonally in it, motor and tranny underneath, and other parts in top quadrant.

A friend of mine bought a new ( 3/4 ton truck ) that had the slot in the windshield for the 106mm Recoilless Rifle. One of the used car dealers in Brantford had several surplus aircraft, including a Spitfire. I worked for him, washing cars, for a month and a half so that I could buy 65 gallons of Avgas so I could fly it for almost an hour.
 
When they closed down the training base at Penhold, they sold off a bunch of Ansons to local farmers, who sawed the wings off and towed them home., for salvage of whatever they could use. Still a few remnants in the bush to be found. Think Princess Auto started out selling surplus vehicles and parts.

Grizz
 
If you go to the display room at Crown surplus, there is one of the Triumph TRWs in plain view. If you look to the right of it about 3 feet, there is a crate marked Triumph. The backside of the crate is open, and in it you can see the TRW still packaged up. One of the owners told me the crates had been opened just enough to sand off the CFR number off the gas tank. I just saw the bike in the crate a couple weeks ago, right after leaving the Calgary gun show.

I have one of the TRWs myself. Someone was nice enough to take it apart and not put it all together again. But it was likely one out of the crate as well. The odometer shows under 1000 miles, and the tires are still like new.
 
I saw one at Rockliffe Airbase back in 1969-70. They had surplus in lots you could bid on, lined along the runway near the air museum on a weekend. There was a Triumph in the crate, they had pulled a couple of boards off the side so you could see the gas tank and engine. It was painted olive drab.

They also had a Sherman training turret on a cradle so it could traverse, with big "windows" cut in the sides of the armour, so they could instruct gun crews.
 
There was a stash of surplus P-51 Mustangs sold out of storage at the former RCAF Station Carberry, MB in 1962. I think that these were about the last of the RCAF Mustangs. I have a K14 gunsight with a 403 Sqn tag dated 1957 and some other Mustang instruments and controls. A bit of on line sleuthing tells me that 403 Sqn was the Air Reserve Sqn in Calgary which flew Mustangs until around 1957 or so.
 
I came across some talk about Spitfire still in crates buried in Burma on a RC airplane forum awhile ago. Here's an article about it and theres a few more articles about the story. Its definitely interesting http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/new-burma-dig-hidden-spitfires-6776986 Ive seen photos of tanks, jeeps, motorbikes and planes etc on the sea floor being dumped at the end of the war. Even old bombers in farmers fields I believe the warplane heritage museum has one that was found in Manitoba, I even read a story where a guy was living in an old bomber.
 
There are no Spitfires buried in Burma. That one petered out.
In the 50s and 60s, every town in Canada seemed to have at least one tank and a few planes from WW2. As a kid in Woodstock Ont. we used to play in a couple of old Harvards that the owner of a drive in had out back. Much later, he dumped one into the local flooded quarry for divers to play on. Eventually, with the advent of the peace loving hippy generation, all signs of war were wiped clean from the cities and people forgot there was ever a war. People forgot a lot of things. When I told civilians I was in the army, they thought I was an American. Canadians didn't even know we had an army. Hippies called us baby burners (wrong army).
God how I hated them.
 
A friend of mine got a 1942 harley from princess auto as surplus in the 1960's... don't think it was new, but it was cheap, and he still has it to this day!
 
A few years ago, we (people in Victoria,BC) opened up a crate with a military model Triumph, that had been in a crate for 50+ years... well protected with cosmoline (a ##### to clean), but they got it up and running.... needed some work on the wiring, but it even still had air in the tires...... I thought it was quite amazing...
 
Grizzly Adams said:
When they closed down the training base at Penhold, they sold off a bunch of Ansons to local farmers, who sawed the wings off and towed them home., for salvage of whatever they could use. Still a few remnants in the bush to be found. Think Princess Auto started out selling surplus vehicles and parts.

Grizz
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There may have been some regulation where the aircraft had to be disposed of with full fuel, so the farmers bought aircraft primarily for that, and wheels, etc. the few ansons that survived the chopping block went on as cargo aircraft in the north, eventually crashing, rotting away, or being burned for heat!
 
Actually, the regs were that critical instruments, bombsights, avionics, radios and guns were to be pulled and the main spar cut through.

If a farmer "knew somebody" it might be possible for one to leave with full tanks, but the Air Force would not know about it.... officially. It was done commonly, especially if the farmer had aircraft using his land. "One hand washes the other", says the Mafia.

Generally, farmers bought the poor things for chicken coops, nuts and bolts and other fasteners, cables, hardware, sheaves, plywood, aluminum sheet-metal and the Plexiglas windshields, ALL of which was in very short supply until industries switched back to civil production after 6 years of producing war materiel. If one "happened" to be full of off-ration avgas, so much the better!

And once, they FLEW.......
 
My father bought an Oxford twin engine trainer from Moose Jaw base after the war. No engines. It sat at the edge of our yard for years till dragged into a ravine. 20 years ago two AC engineers showed up and salvage a bunch of the metal fittings for a restoration in England. All wood was rotten. Not much useful on the plane except tires and rims for a trailer. All threads were some English type. Still a few bits show up around the yard. I kept a map box for a souvenir. There are still several metal carcases around but have been picked clean of anything useful.
 
The guy in Calgary that got John's stuff is gone now too. The treasure trove he left behind is also pretty well cleaned out over the last 5 - 6 years. One of the guys working at it to make sure Frank's widow got a fair deal took his "wages" only in Indian parts! The 40 Scout I picked up back in the early '80's didn't have any cylinders or pistons - they were in John's shop for repair/replacement and the three broke Elgin area teenagers that owned it didn't find out about John's passing until everything was sold off. The nubs on the tires they had put on it weren't even completely worn off. Kayceel
 
Looking for a brand new military bike - just buy a Ural, still in production. The rumors that make me drool are the ones about the stuff Parks Canada has in warehouses, some of the stuff I've heard about would positively make you cry. New Colt Navy revolvers, new Ross Rifles, etc.
 
During WW2, pilots trained in the Tiger Moth biplane. Sometime in the 60s, one of my uncles aquired one and it was stashed in the hayloft of our barn. I can clearly remember playing in the cockpit of it many, many times. 20 or so years ago, it was sold off but the Gypsy Major engine lives to this day, mounted to my uncle's snowplane!
 
I personally saw motorcycles (I believe Harleys) sitting in crates in a warehouse in CFB Valcartier back in 1977. Looked to be about 8 of them. One of the staff told me that they had been there for many years.
 
Love this milsurp folklore - it rises up every few years with slight changes. Always turns out to be hearsay with a dead end to any proof, but is entertaining.

Did you guys hear about the Corvette for sale for $100? Some guy died in it and they can't get the smell out.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
When they closed down the training base at Penhold, they sold off a bunch of Ansons to local farmers, who sawed the wings off and towed them home., for salvage of whatever they could use. Still a few remnants in the bush to be found. Think Princess Auto started out selling surplus vehicles and parts.

Grizz
Click to expand...

When I moved to Southern Alberta in 1974, there were at least SIX Ansons that I knew of sitting in farmer's fields. I worked with a guy in Fort Macleod that was the Commanding Officer of the air training base there in 1945 and after WWII. He told me about the sales of Ansons, where a farmer would show up to claim his war surplus purchase and leave a bottle of booze on a desk in the office. The Anson would have full tanks when it was flown in if it was safe, and only the airspeed and altimiter in the panel. After landing in the farmer's field, a truck with mechanics would arrive, the instruments and propellors would be removed, and then depart with the parts and the Pilot. Apparently the Farmers diluted the fuel to run their tractors.

Apparently De Haviland had a clause put in the Tiger Moth Contract that once the War was over, these aircraft could not be sold for Civilian use except for a few exceptions, but had to be destroyed. This would have hurt De Havilands post war sales of aircraft if the market was suddenly flooded with Tiger Moths. I can remember about 1970 or so that the Chipmunk trainers were sold off. This was mentioned to me by Barney Hartman, who was an RCAF Officer at Goderich, Ontario and later joined CIL and who was known for his shotgunning ability. He had lots of practice on the Skeet fields that were used to train air gunners to lead targets.

My Aunt worked at the Brantford, Ontario Training Base, and she told me of a large trench being dug, aircraft pushed into it, and lit on fire.

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