Not much happened to the BMW this week. Well, strictly speaking, that's a lie I suppose, as "Not much" implies that something happened, and in fact, nothing happened. It wasn't a lack of enthusiasm, so much as a return to our scheduled programming that left the BMW unmolested, and this week is going to be more of the same I think...

In the absence of any progress to report, I'll have to settle for mentioning that my workshop is in Bristol, England, and not very far from the site of the old Douglas Motorcycle factory. It struck me that there was a certain amount of irony in that, as I've read that in the aftermath of the First World War, BMW had to find some other product to make as the terms of the Treaty of Versailles forbade the manufacture of implements of war, and it was generally felt that aero engines fell into that category. Which is where the idea of making a motorcycle crops up.

I've read that BMW copied the Douglas motorcycle f the time, and why not, certainly they were used by dispatch riders in the War. Which would make lend a certain irony (or at least a vaguely metallic flavour) to my reworking a BMW adjacent to the site of the Douglas factory.

Sadly, the more I think about it, the less inclined I am to believe it's true. The Douglas of the First World War was a fore and aft boxer twin, and while the later Dragonfly does look very much like a BMW, that's several decades later.

I'm more inclined to believe that if there was any copying, it was the ABC that was being copied. Made by the Sopwith aeroplane company, and not dissimilar to the R23 BMW, except for the BMW having wearing is valves sideways.

I'm sure anyone who is interested enough will know how to Google for more information on the subject, but it was all a long time ago. I'm not going to do it, because I've been too busy celebrating the anniversary of my birth, another thing that happened a long time ago...