Walter Leslie Handley, (April 5, 1902 - November 15, 1941), was born in Aston, Birmingham, and was a famous British Inter-War motorcycle racer with four wins at the Isle of Man TT Races in his career.
Later he also raced cars in the 1930's, and died during World War II in an aircraft accident while serving as a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary. He was CO of Hawarden, Cheshire at the time.
Handley's Cottage on the IOM course is named for him.
Handley's strong influence saw the arrival of a wider range of models for 1926 including a new four-stroke, with a 173cc ohv AKD engine and Albion three-speed gearbox, which replaced the previous two-stroke.
1927 There were good results at the TT, when Handley won the Lightweight; as well as the world one-hour record - 91.21 miles (145.94km) covered in the sixty minutes.
By 1929 Handley had moved on from Rex-Acme, but his motorcycle racing and flying exploits continued.
"... we have had great riders who were erratic, and others who were clumsy. But Handley was always visibly superb. Walter was one of our greatest aces." ~ Ixion, 1941.
Sources: Graces Guide; Wikipedia.
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