The Editor: Battle over Campbell’s Bluebird K7 ends in bitterness
“Sometimes I wish Bluebird had stayed at the bottom of the lake”
The news that Lewis Hamilton was to move to Ferrari for the 2025 season was leaked to an Italian outlet and then quickly picked up in the UK where it rapidly became the biggest “driver transfer” story of the decade. It caught Mercedes and Ferrari flat-footed and both PR machines were apparently unable to address the reports for what seemed like a small eternity before finally confirming them to be true.
There was another leak last month that while not quite as sensational was, in my view, equally important for anyone who cares about the heritage and history of Britain’s engineering past. It was the news that the Bluebird K7 hydroplane was to be returning to the shores of Coniston Water in Cumbria where, in 1967, it had crashed killing Donald Campbell as he attempted to break his own water speed record and reach 300mph.
The news of its return found its way onto a Facebook page prompting a hasty announcement from the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, where it would be housed. As one person close to the project confided, “Someone got a bit overexcited and put it out on social media – we would have preferred to wait until Bluebird was ctually here before making the announcement.”
The reason for the reticence quickly became apparent. No sooner had the announcement been made than the details of the return became muddier than the waters of Coniston itself. More on that later, but first a bit of background.
The return of the boat marks the end of a 20-year battle over the ownership of Bluebird. In 2001 the wreckage had been salvaged from the bottom of the lake by an engineer called Bill Smith and his team. He subsequently undertook to restore the machine which had been donated to the Ruskin Museum by Gina Campbell, Donald’s daughter.
However, disagreements over how the restored hydroplane would be used led to a stand-off between Smith and museum trustees with Smith claiming ownership apparently on the basis that much of the restored craft was of his making. Last year the museum launched legal proceedings designed to force Smith to honour an agreement to allow Bluebird to be displayed in a newly built Bluebird Wing of the museum which had been built at a cost of £750,000. Smith vowed to “fight to the death”.
As I have written here before, the whole sorry tale ran the risk of tarnishing the memory of both Donald and his extraordinary achievements in Bluebird K7 – seven world water speed records between 1955 and 1964 – not to mention casting a shadow over his death.
The news of the return of Bluebird should have drawn a line under the saga. Motor Sport spoke to Smith to find out why he had changed his mind about returning the craft. He told us that he and his team were worn down by the years of conflict and the legal challenge. “Do we really need this hassle?” he said. “It was just a gradual feeling that we’re never going to do anything with them [the museum], so the time came to walk away.”
Was this the opportunity to open the champagne and celebrate the return of a fully restored Bluebird to Coniston? Not quite. Smith told us that he would be removing the engine which he had fitted to the craft meaning it is unlikely that it will run again.
“It’s owned by a third party and he will not allow that engine into the hands of people who aren’t skilled in its use,” he said. “Once you take the engine out, you’re upsetting everything it’s connected to, basically everything. It will be a dead machine when that comes out. It’s such a crying shame to start taking the thing apart and it grieves us to be kicked out and be basically screwed over 20 years of work.” Elsewhere he referred the museum as having achieved a “hollow victory”.
All of which adds an unnecessarily bitter coda to an already sorry story.
In search of some reason I spoke to Don Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, nephew of Donald and member of the Campbell Family Heritage Trust. Don is a gentleman and speed record breaker in his own right.
The family seem to be able to see both sides and it is clear he is disappointed with the way things have gone. He says Smith has been guilty of “mission creep” with regard to how the boat would be used, but is generous in his praise for what his team have achieved. “The bickering has been very unpleasant,” he said. “Smith and his team have done a marvellous job so why are they now saying they will take the engine out? Let’s acknowledge what a wonderful job Smith has done. Let’s not fight over it, let’s celebrate the moment.”
“Sometimes I wish Bluebird had stayed at the bottom of the lake”
Of the years of fighting over the wreck he says the overwhelming feeling is of sadness. “We have lost Tonia [Donald’s widow] and Ken Norris [Bluebird designer] along the way and the whole thing has cast a shadow. Sometimes I wish it had stayed at the bottom of the lake. My mother, Donald’s sister, said that if the boat comes out of the lake it will be a can of worms – and she has been proved right.”
And what would his uncle have thought about it? “He would have been horrified at the unpleasantness. I think he would have loved to see it again and he would have celebrated the rebuild and gone around the team and patted them on the back and said, ‘Well done old boy,’ but he would not have appreciated the nastiness.”
He ends on an upbeat note, however. “Donald would have loved to see it run again, and so will I. Maybe time will heal some of the wounds and we can all enjoy the sight and sound of this incredible machine.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90
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