Bicycles have been used in the military since WWI and if anyone has spent anytime at an Army-Navy Surplus you have undoubtedly ran into a couple.  The Japanese, Brits, Italians, Germans, Danes, and Chinese all had airborne bicycle divisions to get troops into enemy territory.  They were cheap, most were foldable, required no fuel and were virtually silent.  However, no military utilized the bicycle more so than the Bicycle Grenediers of the Swiss Army.  They disbanded in 2003 after 100 years of service.   Das Schweizer Militaerfahrrad & Militaer Velo shop has all your Swiss bike needs covered.  Army Bike Carl has some terrific info and photos of Swiss Military bikes as well.

Swiss Light Infantry Bicycle 1940’s-1950’s

Swiss Light Infantry Bicycle 1990’s

Apparently, the US military was not as keen on outfitting their airborne troops with bikes strapped to them.  That said, Huffman and Westfield Columbia both made excellent bikes for the US military.  The Westfield Columbia models are the most desirable and are quite rare. These were mainly used to get around the bases, airfields, depots and I suspect a great many beer runs.

WWII Westfield Columbia

McCellan Field, Sacramento, CA in 1942

If you want to learn more about military bicycle history look no further than this thesis by Major Stephan Tate from 1989 on the, “Suitability of using bicycles to enhance the mobility of U.S. light infantry units.”  It will no doubt educate your head off.  188 pages! I noticed this in Stephan’s thesis and it doesn’t surprise me in the least:

“The bicycle’s simplicity may be the reason it has been constantly overlooked by the American military.”

Located in England, Buy Vintage, is a very detailed and thorough site dedicated to buying vintage vehicles.  It’s packed with interesting, rarely seen gas and pedal powered modes of transportation.  I was skimming through it recently and ran across the English company BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Co.) who made airborne bicycles for the British paratroopers.  It turns out they made around 70,000 of these foldies from 1939-1942.  However, by the time the big invasions of 1944 came around the Brits had bigger aircraft than the Hotspur to fly in Jeeps, etc.  Apparently the soldiers disliked the bike intensely and discarded them within a few miles of the beach.  Can you blame them?  Just imagine hitting the beaches of Normandy with Germans firing on you with all that gear + a bike to lug in the deep sand.

British Commandos with BSA Paratroopers Bicycles Preparing for D-Day, June 1944

Enroute to Normandy

Canadian Troops Landing with BSA Airborne Bicycles

BSA Airborne Bicycle. After the war, Hudson Bay & Co. was selling them for around $5US.

More military bike info can be found here:

Strikehold

The Liberator

Bcoy

I have been in England since the 19th with my in-laws. They have called the quaint sea side village of Burnham-on-Crouch home since the early 70’s. My wife grew up here and knows every inch of the country side having had a horse to lumber around on when she was growing up. The River Crouch stretches for miles heading easterly towards the North Sea. The many inlets and coastal river banks around Burnham, Creeksea and Southend make for some terrific trail running. Providing an interesting back drop on a run are the WWII pillboxes (concrete defence bunkers) that dot the landscape. Burnham was in a direct fly route to London (around 45 miles due west) during WWII so there were bombers going over quite regularly and occasionally bombs and parachute mines were dropped especially when a German Heinkel needed to quickly lighten its load. The pillbox below is along the seawall in the Burnham marshes and probably one the biggest around.

8 miles from Burnham-on-Crouch sits St. Peters Chapel, the oldest Christian church in England still in use. Located in Bradwell-on-Sea and overlooking the entrance to the Blackwater Estuary for over 1300 years this remote, beautiful place really evokes a sense of history.

For centuries people have made the long pilgrimage down this very road.

Of course no trip to England is complete without the customary pub crawl. My wife’s friends are now generally well adjusted members of society and gainfully employed but some 6 or 7 years ago it was a different story and at some point during the evening a punch up would ensue and drinks would fly. Now, it is more of a reserved affair with babysitters and decent champagne. It is also a chance for my wife to size up all of her old mates, see who’s gained weight, having marital issues, etc. One old class mate of hers, thoughtfully named, ‘Simple’ got a hand shake and a pat on the back from me. Apparently, when my wife was around 16 she wanted a tattoo on her upper arm and Simple persuaded her not to do it. Not so ’simple’ after all.

All this fresh air and good food has really invigorated me and I am really looking forward to 2009.

Cheerfully yours,

Chris

“Bill Thomas bought his first pair of khaki pants at an army surplus store near Denison University, in Ohio, in 1984. When that pair–deep-pocketed World War II uniform pants–wore out and he couldn’t find another like it, he sensed a business opportunity. He also came to believe, after a few years working in the advertising world, that durable, high-quality products were the relics of a bygone era, and that a modern company selling anything intended to last a lifetime was increasingly rare. In 1990, with a small loan from his mother, Marge, he founded Bills Khakis in his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania. Now his $9.5 million, 26-employee company distributes 200,000 pairs of pants and shorts annually to more than 500 retailers around the country. Marge, who is 84, keeps an office in the company’s headquarters, a late-1800s brick building in downtown Reading.”

10.2 Ounce Bullard Twill WWII Field Pant

Vintage Poplin WWII Shirt

I would point out that these are patterned after WWII khakis, which were no doubt big and roomy. After all, they were designed with work wear in mind + this was the 40’s when a higher rise was the norm so you may want to go with the M3 – Plain Front/Trim Fit.

Bills Khakis