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Harley-Davidson XA: The U.S. Army's All-American, Unused Answer to German BMWs in WWII

Harley-Davidson lives and breathes all things Americana. It's a defiant symbol of U.S. pride and self-preservation, prooving even with gargantuan problems to solve, the American spirit endures. So long as the road keeps on rollin'. During the Second World War, this was especially true.
Harley Davidson XA 7 photos
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Harley Davidson XAShaft Driven BMW (Non Army) In Same CollectionShaft Driven BMW (Non Army) In Same CollectionJeep (Preferred Over Harley XA)Jeep (Preferred Over Harley XA)Harley Davidson XA
By 1942, the U.S. was waging war on two fronts in Europe and the Pacific. At least that's what the average, mediocre high school U.S. history class teaches us. If your history teacher actually gave a rat's behind about teaching you how things really went down, you'd know things were a hell of a lot more complicated than that. Allow us to paint the picture for you. It was mid-November 1942, during the Allied invasion of French Algeria in Northern Africa.

Dubbed Operation Torch, this joint effort between the U.S., the U.K., French rebels, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia, united under the joint command of Dwight D. Eisenhauer, with his small but furious General George S. Patton and accompanying Allied command in tow. Up against a force consisting of the French-fascist puppet state in control of a French Algerian colony at the whim of the German war machine.

During Operation Torch, Allied forces increasingly grew envious of their Axis enemies for riding something you might not expect. No, it wasn't a Bf-109 fighter plane, a Panzer tank, or a U-Boat. Instead, it was their motorcycles. BMWs, to be precise. Be it Germans, French, native Algerians, and even the Moroccan Axis sympathizers in cahoots with the French State, French Algeria, and the Germans, you could find Axis soldiers across North Africa trekking around on machines made by the brand that'd go on to define the German motorcycle industry.

More specifically, American soldiers got a real kick out of overhead valve BMW R75s and flathead R71s. Both utilized boxer engines, i.e., engine blocks with cylinders horizontally opposed from each other, as opposed to in an inline or V-shaped configuration most often associated with cars and motorcycles alongside drive shaft propulsion instead of traditional chains and sprockets.

Shaft Driven BMW \(Non Army\) In Same Collection
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Now, of course, Harley-Davidson had already committed to providing their factories for American armed forces in the initial aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attacks, as did the rest of industrial America. Their primary contribution the war effort was called the WLA, based on their signature 45-degree V-twin engine with traditional chain and sprocket drive.

But this all changed once Allied GIs got a hold of enough high-tech, easily maintainable BMWs by capturing German POWs and base camps in the Allied invasions of Casablanca, Algiers, and Oran. As the campaign progressed, exponentially more and more stunning R71s and R75s kept outclassing American iron with their grace, their beauty, and their ingenious simplicity.

It had to be said, the Allied soldiers and officers, Americans especially, were downright jealous of the Axis and their German bikes. Something similar but ostensibly much more American was needed, clearly. Think of it as a P51 Mustang vs. the Bf-109 type of situation, if you will. The result was a limited production run of 1,000 units from Harley out of their Milwaukee, Wisconsin factory,

Codenamed the XA (Experimental Army), this bike used a very similar two-cylinder boxer engine as the BMW's with compression ratings of 5.7:1, the XA's 45-cubic inch (740-cc) motor was every bit as cutting edge. 23 horsepower was on offer at 4,600 RPM in the XA compared to 22 in the R71 BMW and the 26 in the R75, essentially squeezing right in between the two German titans in terms of power.

Shaft Driven BMW \(Non Army\) In Same Collection
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Though it must be said, the R75 was famously capable of powering a desert camouflage sidecar using the same driveshaft system as the rear wheels. A feat the American' and Harley-Davidson couldn't muster with the XA, although records indicate they did at least try. Propaganda pieces from the period indicate the air-cooled, flat-twin engine could consistently run with an oil temperature as low as 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38 Celsius.

All thanks to more surface area of the engine making contact with wind turbulent air as the bike skips along at a top speed around 65 mph (105 km/h). By 1943, late model XAs came porting Harley's first telescopic fork front suspension, replacing an older leading link fork design.

Though by the time the war in the Mediterranian and Africa was concluded and in the war in Europe it looked like victory was in sight, it became clear that the Jeep was the much-preferred means of transportation over just about everything else Allied forces could get their hands on.

As a result, no further orders after the initial thousand were ever made. Harley spent the rest of the war focusing on producing their bread and butter WLA. It spent the rest of its time after the war to the present cementing its status as the number one name in American motorbikes.

Harley Davidson XA
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
The XA example you see in the gallery, and responsible for bringing on all of the above, sits on loan from a private collector at the Glenn H Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York. A wonderful little gem we at autoevolution recently made a wonderful trip to. Check back soon for more on that.
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