Today in motorcycle history, May 2, 1973
John Dolphin dies at 67 in Whitchurch-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
John Dolphin was the inventor the Welbike Parachutists' Motorcycle during his time as the Commanding Officer of the top secret Second World War Special Operations Executive (SOE) "Station IX" where specialist military equipment was developed. An engineer and natural-born inventor, Dolphin also invented the Welman and the Welfreighter midget submarines (the Welfreighter was classified Top Secret for over 50 years). All machines developed for the SOE by "Station IX" at Welwyn were given prefix "Wel-".
Being a motorcycle nut himself, (he owned a 1000cc Ariel Square Four), and with design help from Harry Lester, a former racing bike engineer, they developed a prototype of a small folding motorbike that could be dropped in a parachute container and be used by paratroopers. Codenamed the "Welbike" this was to be the first operational transport for individual parachutists. Between 1942 and 1945, 3853 were built and although it was not much used by the SOE, many were issued to the Parachute Regiment and used at Arnhem (Netherlands) during Operation Market Garden.
After leaving the British Army he founded a number of companies, including the Corgi Motorcycle Co Ltd. in 1946 and also set up Dolphin Industrial Developments Ltd, and Hydraulic Developments Ltd, which he ran until 1950 when he became Chief Engineer at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. He then went on to become Engineer-in-Chief at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Research Group until 1959. Not good at sitting still, he became joint Managing Director of Lansing Bagnall Ltd and J. E. Shay Ltd until 1964, and a Director of TI (Group Services) Ltd, where he successfully secured patents for a number of inventions, including sheet piling revetments, improvements to fork lift trucks and battery-powered tricycles (the forerunner of the modern mobility scooter), bicycle frames and exercise equipment.
John Robert Vernon Dolphin was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 Queen's Birthday Honours.
