Air Ministry furniture and RAF bicycles too

This forum has covered many aspects or aerodrome architecture and even vehicles, but are there any online resources/experts specialising in Air Ministry furniture? I remember Hangar No.2 at RAF Driffield being filled with Furniture – from where, I know not. I also remember the odd piece of wartime furniture still being used by my old ATC squadron include crew-lockers. I just think it’s a section of aerodrome history that has been overlooked.

And finally – maybe one for the vehicle entry – but those official RAF bicycles, as used by Bomber Command during the war – how easy are they to buy, and how do you recognise an authentic air/ground crew bike from something not used by the RAF?

Best Wishes

Phil Rhodes

There used to be an Army Surplus store at Eynsham which sold pretty much nothing but surplus AM/MOD furniture. Some of it was very nice too. I think they might of gone out of business now. Same firm owned the surplus store in Oxford.

I was the one who bought the said bit of funiture from the site curtesy of Df and what a nice bit of furniture it is.

HawkEye001

I remember at Marham we still had bikes from wwii, they had the the white paint on the rear mudguard.

A friend has just acquired a BSA bike said to be of 1927 vintage and with hub brakes and 28 inch wheels. It has been stored in a loft for 40 years and is excellent condition. The original colour was black which shows through in places. It has been over-painted in authentic RAF blue, including the wheel rims and even the insides of the mudguards. We wonder if it was requisitioned for wartime RAF use but there is no trace of markings or the tell tale white bottom half of the rear mudguard. An intriguing mystery!

Attached files [IMG]/community/73486=4547-RAF bike.jpg[/img]

I have this image in my collection of two Canadian 410 Squadron members on their cycles, is that a 'Raleigh' or a BSA badge on the front?



Image courtesy of Brian Dunn.

Denis, thanks for posting that; most kind. Googling around, I think that is a BSA badge but not certain. The badge has not survived on the bike in question but BSA is stamped on the frame. Apart from the hub brakes, it looks just like those bikes! Well aware of its possible history, my friend plans to preserve it in its original condition.

For three years nobody at Strike Command knew how many bicycles there were at RAF Catterick, because someone had not completed the annual bicycle return.

Don't know who that could have been, and more to the point, why didn't anybody at Strike query why they didn't have the return?

With regard to furnishings, everything that was surplus from RAF(H) Wegberg was moved to the Ayrshire Barracks sales site in Monchengladbach.

Got myself a lovely Officers dining table for DM10 with chairs at DM5 apiece.