It’s pretty easy to determine which men are ‘Brits’ and which are Americans – the two on the Corgi are, clearly, American, while the other guys with the berets are the British, mainly. Soft peaked caps are worn by lots of the Americans, while the Statesiders are all, pretty much, wearing coats with luxurious looking fur collars, presumably to shield against the harsh, cold wind so characteristic of airfields in the UK.
The Brockhouse Corgi was a development of the Second World War Excelsior Welbike, which was the first paratrooper folding scooter, designed to be dropped from the air (in a 6ft long tubular container) and then retrieved and used by the men on the ground.
The engine for the Welbike was a Villiers Junior De Luxe, a 98cc two-stroke unit which prewar had been used in autocycle applications.
The Corgi was the ‘civilian’ version, put into production by Brockhouse, with the main differences to the Welbike being the addition of a ‘saddle’ tank and the use of the Excelsior Spryt engine, made under licence by Brockhouse. Total Corgi production was around 24,500.
