Albert Archibald Windmill (5 June 1915 – 5 March 2007) was a British

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider who rode for Hackney Wick Wolves in the 1930s and

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London from 1929 until 1991. The team were seven times champions of Britain. History Origins The speedway track opened ...

and Walthamstow Wolves after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Originally from

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, Windmill began his racing career in

grasstrack Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in t ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

in 1934.Storey, Basil (1947) "Arch the Point Stealer" in ''Speedway Favourites'', Sport-in-Print, p. 27 His first experience of speedway was at Birmingham in 1936, signing shortly afterwards for Hackney Wick. He stayed with the Wolves until the start of World War II in 1939, spending the war years in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. After being demobbed he opened Windmill Garage in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

, and returned to speedway with Wimbledon, where he scored 11 points in his first match and spent the season at reserve,

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...

3.80.Hart, A. S. (1946) ''Know Your Rider: Facts, Figures and Fotos – A Complete Record of the 1946 Season'', R. Verney Baker, Salford, p. 16-17Morgan, Tom (1949) ''Who's Who in Speedway 1949'', Sport-in-Print, London, p. 75 He moved on to Walthamstow Wolves at the start of the 1949 season. When the Wolves closed down at the end of 1951 he moved on to Southern League club

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

for his final season, retiring at the end of 1952. Windmill represented England in the 1939 Test series against the Dominions.Bamford, Robert (2003) ''Speedway: The Pre-War Years'', Tempus, , p. 223 In his later years, Windmill became president of the Veteran Speedway Riders' Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windmill, Arch British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Hackney Wick Wolves riders Wimbledon Dons riders Walthamstow Wolves riders Aldershot Shots riders 1915 births 2007 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century English sportsmen