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 Hackney Wick Wolves speedway opened in 1935 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London, and operated until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Many years later the Hackney Hawks and Hackney Kestrels rode at Hackney Wick Stadium. History Th ...

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.Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They ...

and

Walthamstow Wolves The Walthamstow Wolves were a speedway team which operated from 1934 and again from 1949 until their closure in 1951. History The club opened in 1934 competing in the National League, when Lea Bridge were forced to find a new venue. They finis ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Career

Originally from

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

, 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 the ...

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 United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. After being

demobbed Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

he opened Windmill Garage in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a n ...

, 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 taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

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 Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

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