Finally, the correct grips

[facair55]

It definitely had wood pedal blocks, and maybe the plastic grips. If you can find the grips, I would put them on.

 

[Mercian]

Hi @fat tire trader
Is yours Westfield or Huffman?

The black rubber grips turn up more often on early Huffmans.

Best regards,

Adrian

 

[fat tire trader]

Hi Adrian,
It is a Huffman.
Chris

 

[blackcat]

Hello;
@Mercian The early Westfield and Huffman had black bottle coke grips.
@fat tire trader Your grips are civilian black torpedo grips, I think they were changed after the war at some point.
@facair55 Your OD plastic grips and pedals fit your 44 Huffman bike perfectly.
Regards;
Serge

 

[Mercian]

Hi Chris @fat tire trader

As Serge @blackcat says, early on they would have been the coke bottle type grips in black, so it's possible this is what was on yours originally. Unfortunately it is near impossible to determine when these were used (except 'early on'), and when they changed to the green Tenite ones.

Best Rgards,

Adrian

 

[USAFRonBurgundy]

Question, when you originally got the bike, do you know what color it was? Currently I am trying to track down all G519 or similar bikes used by the Air Force post 1947 painted in Strata Blue for reference. Yours and one other posted on here are the only ones that have a card pinned to the bike, whereas the rest have info painted on or even a plate welded to the frame.

 

[facair55]

When I started restoring the bike in the late 1990's ( when CABE was a newsletter) I uncovered four layers of paint (yellow, orange, blue, and gray) and found the olive drab, or what was left of it.
Also, under those many layers of paint on a flat panel (this piece was added later by the engineering shops) were the numbers 4950 and the letters AMFDC.
The 4950th was a Test Wing at Wright-Patterson. The acronym AMFDC remains a mystery, but based on the 4950th Test Wing history, it may have stood for Aircraft Modification Fabrication and Development Center. The above acronym cannot be verified with the documentation presently available.
Most likely, the bicycle was used by shop personnel to deliver parts from the engineering shops that supported the aircraft test and modification functions in hangars One and Nine during the war years when these units were under the Material Command of the 4000 Army Air Force Engineering Shops (1944-1948). This is what I put on the bike’s flat identification panel.
The bike was probably first used at Wright Field (Building Five) to deliver parts between the engineering shops and aircraft installation and modifications hangers during the war years and beyond. And utilized up to around the early 1990’s when the 4950th Test Wing transferred to California in 1994, which adds up to a total of 50 years of rough use by the Engineering Shops.

 

[USAFRonBurgundy]

When I started restoring the bike in the late 1990's ( when CABE was a newsletter) I uncovered four layers of paint (yellow, orange, blue, and gray) and found the olive drab, or what was left of it.
Also, under those many layers of paint on a flat panel (this piece was added later by the engineering shops) were the numbers 4950 and the letters AMFDC.
The 4950th was a Test Wing at Wright-Patterson. The acronym AMFDC remains a mystery, but based on the 4950th Test Wing history, it may have stood for Aircraft Modification Fabrication and Development Center. The above acronym cannot be verified with the documentation presently available.
Most likely, the bicycle was used by shop personnel to deliver parts from the engineering shops that supported the aircraft test and modification functions in hangars One and Nine during the war years when these units were under the Material Command of the 4000 Army Air Force Engineering Shops (1944-1948). This is what I put on the bike’s flat identification panel.
The bike was probably first used at Wright Field (Building Five) to deliver parts between the engineering shops and aircraft installation and modifications hangers during the war years and beyond. And utilized up to around the early 1990’s when the 4950th Test Wing transferred to California in 1994, which adds up to a total of 50 years of rough use by the Engineering Shops.

That seems pretty accurate for the acronym's meaning. Flight-line bikes were often painted in high-visibility colors, like yellow and orange, though I haven’t seen or heard of bikes being used on the flight line (or in general on base for official use) for a LONG time, albeit it depends on the location. The blue you saw was likely Strata Blue. These days though, most vehicles in general are kept in their original commercial colors.

However I have noticed some early 2000s work trucks and older Security Forces K9 trucks, —still painted in the Strata Blue color, though they’re gradually being replaced by newer white Ford trucks. Nowadays, you mostly see white or red trucks on the runway and flight line, with a few Strata Blue work trucks/Alert vans still in use. I also see black/grey Polaris type vehicles are used by single personnel, and vans when hauling a crew to the acft.

I plan on acquiring a civilian-era bicycle and painting it in Strata-Blue and adding modifications seen on Late 40s-Late 50s era bicycles used by USAF. The Air Force by the time of its creation was already using standardized force wide vehicles, and using either personal funds/unit fund to acquire bicycles for specific needs if they did not have surplus G519s on hand. Yours is a beautiful example of wartime-post war and was probably painted once wright-pat began acquiring the means to paint vehicles blue.

 

[Mercian]

Hi @USAFRonBurgundy

I assume you've seen this one, which nicely covers the colour ranges for USAAF UASF bicycles.

USAF G519 Original | Military Bicycles

From Wright Patterson AFB just outside of Dayton. Purchased from son of original owner as his father had left it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thecabe.com

I've never owned a complete Blue one, but did own these wheels for a while (now on another ex USAF bike)

If you can tell us which ones you've seen, I should be able to tell you if there are any more known at this time.

Best Regards,

Adrian

PS, perhaps best to start a new thread....

 

[USAFRonBurgundy]

Hi @USAFRonBurgundy

I assume you've seen this one, which nicely covers the colour ranges for USAAF UASF bicycles.

USAF G519 Original | Military Bicycles

From Wright Patterson AFB just outside of Dayton. Purchased from son of original owner as his father had left it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thecabe.com

I've never owned a complete Blue one, but did own these wheels for a while (now on another ex USAF bike)

View attachment 2120877

View attachment 2120879

View attachment 2120880

View attachment 2120881

View attachment 2120882

If you can tell us which ones you've seen, I should be able to tell you if there are any more known at this time.

Best Regards,

Adrian

PS, perhaps best to start a new thread....

I shall start a new thread! Let me gather what I know so far and ill put it up!

Nice wheels! I'm torn between building a G519 clone using reproduction parts or keeping the 1947 National I just bought with its commercial components and just painting it and adding the right accessories. Both options however—G519s with replacement parts and painted commercial bikes—seem authentic to the time period, in my opinion at least. Let me know your thoughts!