Bluebird on the water again

Wolfetone

It was great to see photos of the newly restored Bluebird on the water again. I was only seven when Donald Campbell met his end on Coniston in 1967 but it's amazing how the restorers have done such a fantastic job given the state of the wreck.

They managed to run it yesterday after grounding it on the slip and putting the wrong fuel in it but I haven't been able to find any video which is odd. 

guitars4you

Have been around the Museum a couple of times in Conniston - always had some fascination on this

When you look back at it and the team he had, led by Leo Villa and the appropriate budget, you realise they were making it up as they went along - Certainly compared to today's big budget and computer science related input etc

Saw a comment that if the front of the boat was lifting to touch they just put in more sand bags at the front

rawk100

My grandpa was running The Crown pub in Coniston at the time and Villa use to come in for a pint. He got Campbell to sign a couple of photos of Bluebird, my mum still has them. My uncle was working in the quarry on Coniston Old Man which had a perfect view of the lake, they'd watch him racing up and down, he said the speed was incredible.

It's great that Bluebird has been restored, it's a magic piece of history.

guitars4you

rawk100 said:

My grandpa was running The Crown pub in Coniston at the time and Villa use to come in for a pint. He got Campbell to sign a couple of photos of Bluebird, my mum still has them. My uncle was working in the quarry on Coniston Old Man which had a perfect view of the lake, they'd watch him racing up and down, he said the speed was incredible.

It's great that Bluebird has been restored, it's a magic piece of history.

Great story - I assume a few nice pics to go with it - love this nostalgia

Leo's son used to play bass guitar - came into the Derby shop a few times - vaguely recall he lived near the area - this was sometime in the 80's

ESBlonde

We finally got to visit the lake district last year and included a trip on the steam gondella as well as the Blue bird Museum. I found it fascinating having seen the crash on live tv as a boy, it had left memories. The steam gondella births in the dock/ramp used by Bluebird on conniston lake.
This year we visited pendine sands where Malcolm Campbell set some of his early land speed records.

Hattigol

I was always obsessed by this. I remember being gutted when I saw on the news that they were pulling Bluebird out of the water as I would loved to have gone to see it emerge.
How the hell have they got that going after so many years underwater? Baffling. But wonderful.