how'd they come up with commando?? (2014)

cool name but what's the story>

One of the designers had a keen eye and noticed that a Scotsman worked at the factory, he also notices the scot wore a kilt and went commando :!: :shock:

I'm no military historian, but as I know it, Commando's were a British army fighting unit started in WW2. Although the term hadn't yet been coined, they were 'elite troops' and thus fitter, faster, stronger than most. Able to hit harder than most, anywhere, anytime. The name Commando is still in use with the Royal Marine Commando's (and perhaps others?).

So yes, a very cool name for a motorcycle... Especially a British motorcycle.

Commando's had a short life expectancy and high attrition rate in combat, with many missions little more than thinly disguised suicide missions... So the Norton Commando Combat could be thought of as a VERY appropriate name :mrgreen: !!

I believe Commando came from a factory employee when the factory had run a competition to name the new model.
wonder what the prize was .
sam

Fast Eddie said:

I'm no military historian, but as I know it, Commando's were a British army fighting unit started in WW2.

Click to expand...

It goes way back before that, and it's origin isn't British.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando


http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... h/commando

Origin
late 18th century (denoting a militia, originally consisting of Boers in South Africa): from Portuguese (earlier form of comando), from commandar 'to command', from late Latin commandare (see command).

Click to expand...

L.A.B. said:

Fast Eddie said:

I'm no military historian, but as I know it, Commando's were a British army fighting unit started in WW2.

Click to expand...

It goes way back before that, and it's origin isn't British.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando


http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... h/commando

Origin
late 18th century (denoting a militia, originally consisting of Boers in South Africa): from Portuguese (earlier form of comando), from commandar 'to command', from late Latin commandare (see command).

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

A fair correction LAB.

Nevertheless, I'd still venture to suggest its more likely that some British blokes, in Britain, building British bikes, in the 1960s, were probably more inspired by the Cockleshell Heros than the Boer militia. Well, at least I'd bloody well hope they were !

My other favorite. BSA's Spitfire

htown16 said:

My other favorite. BSA's Spitfire

Click to expand...

My favourite Spitfire is produced by Shepherd & Neame 8)

Commando was so much better than Atlas and Mercury, but Dominator was pretty good too

There had already been a trials bike called the James Commando.

Origin
late 18th century (denoting a militia, originally consisting of Boers in South Africa): from Portuguese (earlier form of comando), from commandar 'to command', from late Latin commandare (see command).

Click to expand...

[/quote]


It comes not from very "late" latin.
In original latin was "impero" (famous "divide et impera").
Commandare (in italian "comandare") was "latino volgare/vulgar latin" of XII century.
It comes from "cum mandare".
Cio.
Piero

looks like the reasons or how 'commando' came about exactly are not generally known....

had a look at the definitions out there and in the fewest words commando is generally or loosely defined by ~ 'exclusive club' and would certainly apply to 70's commandos, what it was and still is about today, the isolastics stuff in particular

just one defenition..
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... h/commando

(a member of) a small group of soldiers that are specially trained to make attacks on enemy areas that are very dangerous or difficult to attack

Click to expand...

ended up finding out what going commando means today
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... o-commando

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_commando

Just happen to be at the Commando Memorial in Scotland this past May.

Lets not forget the good ole Commer Commando, of the 1950s was it ?
As used by the RAF here.



The folks in the upper deck all got steering wheels, and bomb release levers.... ?

And from America...........
Jeepster Commando:

The first use would be Boer term for a team, ie: a Commando of fighters, especially the smaller faster moving adapting sort than a larger force. Commando fighters most famous for up close encounters with light weapons.


http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/f ... ife_p1.htm




https://www.google.com/search?q=boer+co ... d=0CB0QsAQ

Dodge 100 "Commando"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_100_%22Commando%22

The Dodge 100 "Commando" trucks were 7.5–28 short tons (6.8–25.4 t) trucks built by Dodge in Britain, primarily in the 1970s and 1980s. A previous Dodge 100, known informally as the "parrot-nose" or "Kew Dodge", had been produced in the 1950s at a factory in Kew, London.[1]

Click to expand...

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1601722@N24/

http://www.cumbriaclassiccoaches.co.uk/commer.asp

The commando tactics used by the Boers in South Africa were considerably different from the conventional warfare methods at that time, and were very effective. You can take comfort from the fact that most guerrilla fighters in modern times were trained by the British to fight the Axis powers during WW2.

acotrel said:

The commando tactics used by the Boers in South Africa were considerably different from the conventional warfare methods at that time, and were very effective. You can take comfort from the fact that most guerrilla fighters in modern times were trained by the British to fight the Axis powers during WW2.

Click to expand...

Guerrilla warfare has been around as long as warfare. But you're correct that many trace the origins of modern guerrilla tactics to those used by the Brits in WW2.

But most of these groups based their tactics on those of TE Lawrence, in Arabia, in 1916-18 (and much of his writing sounds as pertinent today as I imagine it did then)!

illustrious fourbear

James were prolific bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers from 1897 to 1966. The company was taken over by Associated Motor Cycles in 1951 and ... In 1956 they produced the Captain 200 K7, Cotswold 200 K7C, and Commando 200 K7T, ...

Click to expand...

At the press re-release of the Norton Commando in late 69, maybe early 70, at Thruxton, the Royal Marine Commandos were invited. They managed to fall off 6 and write off 2 or 3 of those 6, brand new motorcycles! I still have the polyester "Norton/AJS" tie that we had to wear.......the boss has hidden it, somewhere.

If you want to read about an inspirational military unit, just google/wicki "Royal Marines". It is sometimes asked why they don't list their battle honours on the unit flag. Some will tell you that there are too many to fit. They do go back 350 years after all

I saw the AMC designed (800cc?) o.h.c. vertical twin intended to replace the Dominator. Listening to it running started off my industrially based hearing loss, the cam chain could be heard in the next County. The artwork, which was packed along with the bike had a name similar to, but not the same as "Dominator", (Devastator, no; Destroyer, no; Disaster....possibly)

My understanding of the modern use of the name "Commando", was that it was coined during WW2 by Winston Churchill. Possibly inspired by his experiences in the Army during the Boer War, where he would have encountered the Boer Commando concept.

I'm not going to get to sleep tonight, trying to remember what that AMC 800 was called................
cheers
wakeup