Riverside Museum to Unveil Paratrooper's Folding Bike

Riverside Museum will commemorate 70 years since VE Day was announced on 8 May 1945, by installing a folding used by the parachute regiment during World War II. It's taken 250 hours of conservation to get the bike into display condition.

The BSA Airborne Folding Bicycle is in its original colour, olive drab green, and it dates to c.1944-45. It was given to Glasgow Museums by Mr Henry Valance almost thirty years ago and has laid in storage all this time until museum curators could find out more about it. The time has now come for it to go on display to the public, alongside Bert's story.

During World War II, folding bicycles were specially designed to be parachuted out of planes to help mobilise paratroopers on land. Most military forces had their own dedicated transport, but not the parachute regiments. Within two years about 70,000 were built.

Their primary function was to get the paratroopers on the road as soon as they hit their landing zones. The design was simple: a bicycle that was foldable, concealable and disposable, plus easy to attach to a paratrooper about to jump from a glider plane. But in reality the airborne bicycle became known as more a hindrance than a help to the Paras they were designed for.

The BSA Airborne Folding Bicycle is being lifted into place on the dramatic Infinite Velodrome alongside 30 other historic bikes. Visitors can learn more about the folding bicycle through the eyes of late Glaswegian paratrooper Bert Stone, who served with the Royal Signals during World War II. His wife Margaret will be joined by a serving paratrooper to unveil the new addition. A new touchscreen to be installed underneath the velodrome will tell Bert's story along with pictures of him in service.