The 1942Harley DavidsonWLA bike and Harley Davidson XA motorcycle were two model Harley designed for the United States military during World War II .
Though rival Indian also supply motorcycles to the U.S. armed services during World War II , the bulk of those used in battle were Harley - Davidson WLAs .
Wearing the requisite Olive Drab rouge , these were 45 - cubic - inch V - Twin fit with peculiar equipment for wartime purpose . Items such as an ammo box , machine - gunscabbard , and rearward attack aircraft carrier are obvious ; less so are the particular " blackout luminousness " front and rear that projected only a small shaving of light in an effort to obviate sleuthing .
In all , roughly 80,000 WLAs were build , many being trade as surplus after the warfare . These were often stripped down and jibe with aftermarket parts , fueling the chop-chop spring up customizing movement .
Rare when new – and even more so today – was the Harley XA that was specify for desert exercise .
In a huge departure for Harley - Davidson , the locomotive was a horizontally fight back Twin Falls – similar to BMWs of the day . It drove the rearward wheel through a human foot shifttransmissionwith handclutch(production Harleys of the day were all hand shift / foot grasp ) and a jointed beam instead of a chain .
A girder - manner fork handled suspension system chores in front , while at the rear was a " plunger " temporary removal as used on contemporary Indians . However , only 1000 XAs were build , and none saw service abroad .
Go to the next page for more pictures of the 1942 Harley - Davidson WLA motorcycle and Harley - Davidson XA bike .
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1942 Harley-Davidson WLA and XA Pictures
Though both the 1942Harley - DavidsonXA and the Harley - Davidson WLA were designed for struggle , only the WLA saw action mechanism in World War II .
