OK, I hope you don't get bored by my pictures...

Here some of a Simplex Servi-Cycle that was used by Father Francis Samson, 101th Airborne Div. during Operation Market Garden, The Netherlands.

The Servi Cycle was produced by Simplex Manufactoring Comp. USA during the 1930's. The military variant called "Power Cycle" was build in 1942 - 1943.
The bike had an 125 cc engine with a topspeed of 50 km/h and only had brakes on the back wheel.

Link to Item

Paul

Original picture of Father Francis Samson:



And the bike in the museum:

Hi Paul - just seen this, and first thought that comes to mind is how on earth did Father Samson corner on this thing!!

With tyres that look almost square and just a rear brake he was a brave chappy!

CB

I think that's why the other men on the picture are looking so respectfully at him!

Niffty contraption.

It's only when you see things like this that you begin to appreciate how much technology has progressed.

It's a minii-chopper.

I've found some nice additional information about this bike on Servi-cycle.com (it shows the same picture also).
The control was a quite "thought through" concept, as can be read here:

"The US Military purchased a number of special Military-spec "G" models, which were designated the G-A-1. These models had a left twist throttle and a right handlebar compression release twist grip. Indian Motocycle had also adopted this design for military and police use where it might be desirable to shoot with the right hand while operating the throttle with the left."

Back in '69-71 I owned a BMW R69US that had a right hand friction throttle grip similar to this.
A smoker back then, it was handy as you could speed down the road and take both hands off the bars and light a cigarette(had a full Vetter upper and lower fairing).

Well 50 km/hr is only about 30mph, & it does have brakes on the back...! My old Royal Enfield Constellation would do 100+ & was about as well braked!