On the other foot, I've travelled pillion on a 'civilian' version of a German bike (a DKW) which was pirated for a Dutch company to get round Nazi restrictions just pre-war. Wirh a larger bore (125c.c.) rhan the German original, the same lightweight bike was militarised for British forces and could be airdropped (I think): it was known as the "Flying Flea".
We had a second-hand civilian one, registered in 1947 and which lasted until a crankshaft bearing-failure in about 1962. Those bikes must be extinct today, apart from an odd army-museum example.
