Bluebird's return
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| Bluebird - raised back from the depths in 2001 |
The Bluebird is one of the iconic images of the age of speed.
Following its recovery from Coniston Water in the Lake District in 2001 Donald Campbell's daughter is now prepared to put the car back at the bottom of the lake.
Now Bluebird is back from the depths of Coniston Water, a battle is raging about how she should be displayed.
Gina Campbell, head of the Campbell Trust, wants to rebuild Bluebird using Heritage Lottery Fund monies.
Her vision is the restoration of the boat to its former glory - including making Bluebird able to speed through the waters once again.
Gina says, "I want her restored to her beautiful magnificent self. I want her shiny and bright and the engineering perfect.
"I want young people from all over the world to view her in Coniston… and I will not settle for less."
However, the Heritage Lottery Fund don't agree - they would prefer to stabilise and conserve the boat in a museum, without rebuilding its engine and working parts in full.
The Lottery agree that the wreck should not go on display, but think a full rebuild will lose part of Bluebird's history. It wants a mixture of new and old parts of the boat to tell its story.
But Gina argues that full restoration of the boat into a working machine will inspire a new generation of racers and engineers to take part in breaking new speed records.
Inside Out investigates the battle to restore the Bluebird.
Restoration or renovation?
| "I can have her encased in concrete and have her put back in the lake from whence she came - or we can put her on e Bay and sell her to the highest bidder. I don't want to go down that route, but I don't know the next one. I'm deadly serious." |
| Gina Campbell |
The Heritage Lottery believe that the key aspect of Bluebird is not just the speed records she broke.
Its view is that the crash needs to be represented in the story in any display of Bluebird.
It thinks that too much significant new material would change the nature of Bluebird and that this is not the one people want to see and experience..
The Lottery rejected a £2 million bid to restore and house Bluebird in Coniston for this reason earlier in 2005.
The Ruskin Museum in Coniston is where Bluebird would be displayed, and it has applied for Lottery funding.
The museum hopes to submit another bid to the Lottery in December.
If successful an extension would be built to house the boat, but the debate about the future of the boat rages on.
Speed king
Donald Malcolm Campbell broke many speed records. Born in Horley, Surrey in 1921, he had speed and racing in his blood.
Following the illustrious career of his father, speed king Sir Malcolm Campbell, he set out to smash speed records on land and water.
Campbell began his speed record attempts using his father's old boat Bluebird K4.
However, a 156 mph crash destroyed the K4 in 1951. Undeterred, Campbell developed a new boat - the Bluebird K7, a jet-propelled hydroplane type with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl jet engine.
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| Donald Campbell's daughter Gina back at Coniston Water |
Between 1955 and 1964 Campbell set seven world water-speed records. The first was at Lake Ullswater on July 23, 1955, where he set a record of 203 mph.
After a series of record breaking attempts, he reached 276.33 mph in December 31, 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake in Australia.
Following a crash at Bonneville in the United States with the Bluebird CN7 car in 1960 on land, he went on to set a record of 403.10 mph for jet propelled four-wheeled vehicles at Lake Eyre in Australia in 1964.
He also became the first person to set both water and land records in the same year.
Between them, Donald and his father set eleven speed records on water and ten on land.
On January 4, 1967, Campbell was killed when the Bluebird K7 flipped over and disintegrated at a speed of more than 300 mph on Coniston Water.
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| Bluebird - from speed icon to wreckage |
The cause of the crash has always been a cause for speculation. Some point to Campbell not waiting to refuel after doing a first run of 297 mph, and the boat being lighter.
Others blame the waves caused by his wash or a cut-out of the jet engine.
The wreckage of his craft and the body of Campbell were not recovered until May 28, 2001.
Diver Bill Smith was inspired to look for the wreck after hearing the Marillion song 'Out Of This World' about Campbell and the Bluebird.
The body of Campbell was recovered soon afterwards.
Now the boat in which he died could find itself back at the bottom of Coniston Water.
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Inside Out - North East: Monday October 31, 2005
