Although around since the turn of the century, motorcycles only started gaining in popularity in the 1930s. Coincidently, that was also the time of the stock market crash and, later in the decade, the start of the Second World War.During the conflagration, motorcycles (again, especially Harley-Davidsons) were used extensively by American ground forces. Yet it was not only Army soldiers that caught the two-wheeler bug and would go on to create the motorcycle clubs of post-war America. It was Air Force pilots too.

As a result of that even today we get cross-references between the world of aviation and that of motorized contraptions for the road. The most recent we stumbled upon, although not born in America, is another example of that.

Enter a former 2008 Harley-Davidson Rocker now called Air Force. It was modified over in Poland by a shop called Nine Hills out of their “undisguised fascination with the air force.” Although we’re not informed exactly which one, the markings on the fuel tank and the period-specific painting on the rear fender make that extremely clear.

But first, a bit about the Rocker itself. The bike is not a machine one crosses path with very often, and even Nine Hills admits the Air Force is “one of the first projects we had the pleasure to build on this highly modifiable model.”The line of bikes was assembled in stock form by Harley for just three years at the end of the 2000s, and that makes the model a rare sight indeed.

In the Nine Hills approach, the bike blends colors in a such a way that it truly reminds one of the Air Force. We get matte grey on the engine and black on its covers, but a shade of military green on the main body parts and a brown, bobber-syle leather seat that somehow fits just right in there, visually speaking.

The bike was enhanced by means of a body kit, the most obvious change in this respect occurring on the fuel tank. The modified fenders and headlight were matched with aftermarket parts supplied by Roland Sands: discs, pulley, air filter, or hand and foot controls.

The same shop is responsible for the custom wheels this thing rides on, with the rear one capable of accommodating a 260 mm wide tire, and supported by the appropriate swingarm. At the opposite end, an extended fork holds the front wheel.

The engine was mostly left unchanged, but it does breathe air in and out through a new air filter and 2-in-1 exhaust, respectively.

The bike is still listed by Nine Hills on its website, but it being an older build of theirs it comes with no info on current whereabouts or price of build.