A superb and rare photo of the rider Captain Tom Moore on his Scott Flying Squirrel.

The Scott Motorcycle Company was owned by Scott Motors (Saltaire) Limited, Shipley, West Yorkshire, England. The company was founded by Alfred Angas Scott (1875 - 1923), born in Manningham, Bradford. A prolific inventor, he took out over 50 patents between 1897 and 1920, mostly concerning two-stroke engines and road vehicles. After some experiments with one of his engines fitted to a push bike, Scott designed a complete motorcycle from scratch featuring a 450 cc two-stroke twin cylinder engine mounted in a triangulated frame and an ingenious two-speed chain transmission in which the alternative ratios were selected by clutches operated by a rocking foot pedal. Another innovation was a kick start, which he is credited with inventing. The first few machines to his design were produced by Jowett in 1908 and soon after he set up as a manufacturer in his own right. With their pioneering design Scott motorcycles were successful in many sporting events before World War I including fastest laps at the Isle of Man TT in 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914 with outright wins at the same event in 1912 and 1913, very valuable publicity in those days. These were specialist racing motorcycles though and Scott's road machines, which by 1912 had grown to 532cc were aimed primarily at the Edwardian gentleman looking for a mechanical alternative to the horse, here the smoothness of the engine and ease with which the two-speed gear could be manipulated won it many customers over the more conventional single cylinder four-stroke machines of the day. Scott's first sporting model offered to the public was the Squirrel of 1922 which had a slightly smaller 486cc engine to bring it within the 500cc competition limit, but, with aluminium pistons and careful preparation, it produced more power. In addition, many heavy accessories such as foot boards and leg shields which had been fitted to the touring models were dispensed with making for a very light and lively machine. It was successful recipe and the Super Squirrel, with a further revised engine of 498cc or 596cc, soon followed, forming the mainstay of production in the mid 1920's. Although they never regained their pre-war form, Scotts continued to compete successfully in sporting events scoring a 3-4 in the 1922 TT and a third in 1924. A three speed gearbox with conventional clutch was offered from 1923 and in this form the machine had some success as a trials mount. By the late 1920's the design was starting to fall behind; the last major change had been the introduction of the 'new' Flying Squirrel (the model name had been used before on a tuned version of the Super) in Autumn 1926 for the 1927 season, which standardized the three-speed gearbox in a new duplex frame with a redesigned engine, though still of the same basic layout and 498cc or 596cc displacement. Another third place in the 1928 TT was cause for celebration and the introduction of the TT Replica model which must have helped sales for a season or two. A very limited production luxury three-cylinder model of 747 cc, a 300cc air cooled austerity model - the Lightweight Squirrel, and even a 98cc autocycle - the Cyc-Auto, supplemented various minor variations on the Flying Squirrel theme, such as the Sprint Special and Clubman Special, to maintain customer interest through the 1930's but, when production restarted after World War II, it is perhaps as much a reflection on the British motorcycle industry in general as a tribute to the original design, that the Flying Squirrel had remained substantially unchanged since 1926. In 1950 the company went into liquidation and was acquired by Matt Holder's Aerco Jig and Tool Company in Birmingham. Aerco initially continued to build the same model - probably assembled from spares, but soon a new frame was designed featuring rear suspension. These 'Brum' Scotts remained available into the 1960's. An attempt was made to introduce a new 493 cc engine with flat top pistons and loop scavenging, but the resulting machine, called the Scott Swift, was not a success. Alfred Angas Scott left the company in 1915 and after World War 1 formed the Scott Autocar Company in nearby Bradford to make a civilian version of his proposed military 3 wheel motorcycle/car hybrid called the Sociable.

This is your rare chance to own this photo that reflects a very interesting and historic piece of motorcycle and Scott ’s history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10" (ca. 20 x 26 cm).