Donald Campbell’s legendary hydroplane, Bluebird K7 has left Cumbria’s Ruskin Museum today for The Aircraft Heritage Trust at St Athan, South Wales, to have her No.1 engine fitted in preparation for her return to Coniston Water in 2026.
K7 is being fitted with a 101 Orpheus engine, slightly different from the original 701 engine that powered the boat in the 1966/67 world record attempt by chief engineer Peter Walker and his team. Once fitted in the hull of the boat, the engine will then be tested extensively.
Jeff Carroll, chair of the Coniston Institute and Ruskin Museum, said: “K7 going away for her engine to be fitted is an exciting further step forwards towards seeing her back on Coniston Water in 2026. She couldn’t be in better hands than with Pete Walker and his team and we look forward to seeing the engine tests with her No 1 engine both outside the boat and then once it’s fitted. It will be a great day when K7 comes back to Coniston, complete with a working engine fitted.”
Walker has worked on Orpheus engines for the last 40 years, starting when he was responsible for certifying the engines for Gnat training aircraft when he was in the RAF. He and his team previously inspected the 101 engine and its twin, the No.2 engine to ensure they were in perfect order for K7 last year. The aim is to have 2 serviceable engines to keep K7 operable well into the future.
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Born on March 23rd, 1921, the Speed Ace Donald Campbell was Britain’s blue-eyed boy of World Water Speed Record-breaking in the 1950s. His matinee idol looks brought glamour to the grey years of post-War austerity. His Bluebird K7 encapsulated the technological promise of the Festival of Britain. And between 1955 and 1959 he broke the outright World Water Speed Record on six separate occasions, four of them on Coniston Water. These were the golden years, when Fortune smiled on him.
Never one to stick to just one type of speed record, in the 1960s, he turned his attention to the World Land Speed Record, once monopolised by his father, Sir Malcolm Campbell. In 1960 he had a disastrous crash at Utah which had a permanent effect on his physical and mental health.
Bluebird K7 will back on display at the Museum with engine fitted from Sunday 23rd March at 10.00am.
