William "Wild Bill" Gelbke (1936-1978, born in Green Bay,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

) was an American engineer and

motorcycle design Motorcycle design can be described as activities that define the appearance, function and engineering of motorcycles. Professionally it is a branch of industrial design, similar to automotive design using identical techniques and methodology, bu ...

er. He is noted for having designed and constructed large motorcycles powered by automobile engines, particularly the

Roadog Roadog is a motorcycle built by engineer and motorcycle enthusiast Wild Bill Gelbke between 1962 and 1965. A total of two were built. Gelbke, who had attended engineering school in Wisconsin and at University of Southern California, had worked fo ...

and the

Auto Four The Auto Four is a motorcycle designed and built by engineer and motorcycle enthusiast Wild Bill Gelbke during the early 1970s. Approximately seven examples were built. Gelbke, who had attended engineering school in Wisconsin and at University of ...

, the latter a motorcycle intended for mass production. Roadog was intended to be featured on an episode of

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

's ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's f ...

'', however the bit was cut from the episode. Gelbke worked for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

and other US Government contractors during the 1960s, most notably on

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...

s for surface to air missiles, however he quit when he was disallowed from viewing the complete plans for the missiles themselves. He then opened his

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-area motorcycle shops and began designing and building Roadog and, subsequently, the Auto Four. In 1978, Gelbke owned a

semi-trailer truck A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...

as a means of earning income and was suspected by police of transporting

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

rather than the vegetables he actually hauled; he had also purchased a gun that year. On November 25, 1978, approximately 12 police officers converged on Gelbke's rented farmhouse near Green Bay and issued him commands to throw his gun out the door. Two versions of what happened subsequently emerged: one of the officers, Jack Nagel, stated that Gelbke shot him in the knee, while others stated that Gelbke tossed the gun out just before Nagel slipped on ice and fell down: regardless, the other officers believed Nagel had been shot and opened fire on Gelbke, hitting him multiple times. Nagel was taken to the hospital while Gelbke was allegedly left on the ground to bleed to death. Nagel, apparently uninjured, appeared on TV later the same day, at a

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

football game. Official reports and witness statements contradict the above account of what took place. Gelbke introduced several firsts to motorcycle design with Roadog, including dual headlights, automatic transmission with reverse gear, anti-dive leading-link "Earles" type front fork, hydraulic stands, and front and rear disc brakes.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelbke, Wild Bill American motorcycle designers American electrical engineers American aerospace engineers American military engineers 1938 births 1978 deaths People from Green Bay, Wisconsin 20th-century American engineers Military personnel from Wisconsin

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