The Welbike was developed at the Frythe, Station 9 in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, a top secret SOE establishment for design and research. Other items they designed, some with limited use and effect, also carried the "Wel" prefix. A couple of other examples being the Welrod, a silenced pistol, believed to still be in use to this day by Special Forces, and the Welsub, a one-man submarine. The original concept and design of the Welbike was by the Frythe's Harry Lester, his brief was to design a small folding motorcycle that would fit within a cylindrical drop container, of no more than 15 inches in diameter and be able to be dropped by parachute. It is believed that six prototypes were built, however they did not receive acceptance for their role intended by the SOE, this being to provide motorised transportation for an Agent parachuted into occupied territory. The Welbike did not however flounder as a result of this apparent and seemingly unrecorded rejection by SOE; instead it found a new ally in the newly formed Parachute and Airborne Regiments. They used them on numerous occasions, with varied success. It is claimed that a Paratrooper could remove the Welbike from its special green container, marked in white lettering with the words "Motor Cycle" and its identifiable colour parachute, and be mobile within 11 seconds. Photographs exist that were taken in wartime showing the Welbike in other varying uses, this includes being carried from Landing Craft at Normandy by Commandoes on D-Day. The Welbike weighed in at 70lbs, had a top speed of some 30mph and a fuel capacity for a range of approximately 90 miles.

SOE Welbike with container.

It is recorded that some 3,853 Welbikes were manufactured within a series of three wartime contracts awarded to the manufacturer, Excelsior. Other statistics mention numbers of 8,000 being sold to America after the war and a further estimation of some 12,000 having been produced. It is unlikely that the exact production figure will be established. It is certainly within the quantities mentioned, and in all probability, nearer to the lower estimation, few original examples survive, which would support this theory.

SOE Welbike in container.

Although the "official" perspective is that SOE did not adopt, use and support their own creation of the Welbike there are occasional references that disprove this. Mention is made in a few accounts of SOE Operations in Europe and the Far East of their use. Even more intriguing is the irrefutable fact that the Welbike, in both Mk1 and Mk11 derivatives, was exhibited at SOE's Station 15b at the Natural History Museum. This was used by SOE, until they were disbanded at the war's end, as their Demonstration Room of all items of material and equipment available to their Agents. It was not a historical record of development, but a very real exhibition of available materials. There are several photographic images that were taken at Station 15b at the close of the War and are now on display at our Museum, and this includes the Welbike. It is more than probable that the Welbike was used by SOE, from inception right through to August 1945, a story, as with majority of SOE equipment, that will probably remain largely untold.