Jesse was kind enough to send me a couple of pictures of this bike to discuss before he bought it.
From what he told me, and observing the markings on the bike, I came up with the following history, though I'm happy for others to add to it where I"ve missed things.
MG148696 probably has frame date code K7, July 1943 (to be confirmed). the 'Sweetheart' chainring and straight bar frame are correct for this time period. The rear hub is a Morrow, the original probably dated M2., second quarter 1943. (to be confirmed).
It was built about a month before mine (MG154118) as part of the last big batch of G519's. At this point in US production history many companies were producing all out in preparation for the invasion of Europe, and several bicycles from this batch were found in europe.
From the paint on the bb, this bike started life in the usual Olive Drab, and was subsequently repainted yellow and then blue.
We"ve seen a couple in post war US Air Force blue when found. The US Army Air Force's were part of the US Army during WW2, and didn't become US Air Force until 1947, so there was a lot of common equipment between the two services.
From the committee hearing below, held in February 1950, it is apparent that the bike would have been painted blue sometime after 1950, and the colour was 'Strato Blue'.
I haven't yet seen a yellow USAAF G519, (redline1968 has an original Navy used bike, painted yellow for the same reasons) but do know it was common to paint flight line vehicles yellow to prevent accidents with aircraft.
Here's a USAAF G503 in yellow, acting as a 'follow me' vehicle.
Jesse had been told that the bike had come from Wright Patterson AFB. Considering the marking DMMFFD PAINT SHOP BLDG 105.
With this information, I did a little research and found that Building 105 is indeed the paint shop at Wright Patterson. The note I read in the W-P house newspaper says that Building 105, Paint Shop, should be evacuated in case of Tornadoes. (!)
The 4950th Test Wing mentioned had a sub organisation called Development Manufacturing and Modification Facility (1 FD short!) based at Wright Patterson. It's a big coincidence if it isn't this. However, I'm not sure what the FD is for. Possibly Flight Development?
Also, it means this bike was serving into at least the 1970's, which wouldn't surprise me given that I still see WW2 british bikes on UK RAF airfields.
4950th Test Wing - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Best Regards,
Adrian
