Old Bike Australasia

George Huse

- From Paul Keem

The inimitable GEORGE FRANCIS WANLISS HUSE passed away on 17th June, 2018, three weeks after his 90th birthday. George joined Hartwell club in May 1945, by which time he was already a plumber, building his business “Herbie’s Plumbing”. Riding the Hunter brothers’ creations, including the famous OHC Hunter Piccaninny 125, George became a successful rider while managing his own highly successful plumbing business, as well as hiring equipment to the trade. He was the club’s most consistent placegette­r throughout the 1950s. In the next decade, George bought a dairy farm at Emerald in the Dandenong Ranges, and later a property at Nar Nar Goon near Pakenham. It was around this time he traded his Mercedes for a Bathurst-spec Holden Monaro, amidst much shaking of heads. Only recently have we seen the sense in a deal like that. The property was what he needed for an airstrip and would host a succession of aircraft, from Tiger Moths and helicopter­s to an award-winning 7/8th scale replica Spitfire. He also set up a motorcycle shop in Pakenham run by his son John who was a noted motocross and road racer in the ‘seventies. Later he took Paul Lewis under his wing and put him on a Suzuki RG500, but bikes gradually took a back seat to aircraft; George became the oldest man to get a helicopter licence. He spent his twilight years in Tyabb, near the mecca of vintage aircraft restorers.

 ??  ?? George Huse on his Manx Norton at Fishermans Bend in 1958.
George Huse on his Manx Norton at Fishermans Bend in 1958.
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