Obituary

Norman Edwin William Busby
14th October 1931 - 30th June 2005

Norman Busby - Mr 101

It is with great sadness that we must report the death of “Mr 101”, Norman Busby. Norman died peacefully at home on Thursday 30th June 2005 after suffering a heart attack. He was aged 73.

In the Summer of 1966 some initial plans and specifications for a new 1 Tonne payload gun tractor were scratched out on various scraps of paper. Less than a year later Norman was to head the design team - the “1 Tonne Forward Control Land Rover” was born.

Norman has always been an active member of our club, sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience, contributing to our archive and filling in many of the numerous gaps of 1 tonne history.

A true engineer of the old school with an exceptional eye for detail, in the words of Tom Sheppard, “he could see the wood from the trees”. A sharp and wry sense of humour combined with a wealth of insightful anecdotes made him a man for whom we’d always have time, and a little more time could always be made chatting on the telephone.

A keen and accomplished walker, Norman and Alma had just returned from a walking holiday in Pembroke. A couple of weeks previously they’d been off walking in Jersey. Pictured above at our Annual General Meeting last year, Norman will be fondly remembered by all who had the honour to meet him.

Our thoughts are with Alma, William and Susan. No better tribute and memorial can be paid to any superb engineer than to know his design has proven the test of time, and will continue to do so.

Martyn Bailey
3rd July 2005




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