DONALD CAMBELL CBE  23 March 1921 - 4 January 1967

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Bluebird K7

By the age of 30 the son of the speed ace Sir Malcolm Campbell had outgrown the technology of his father's Bluebird K4 hydroplane racing boat.  Once the spark was lit, there was no stopping him despite a 170mph crash in 1951.  After the crash Donald looked for a new boat.  He wanted something more dramatic than Sir Malcolm had raced and safer.  The obvious answer was a jet powered 3 pointer boat.  More power; more noise and three contact points with the water - hence more stable.

The K7 was to prove a very successful boat that was destined to set 7 World Water-Speed records between 1955 and 1964. The first record run was at Ullswater where Donald set a record of 202Mph. In the same year this was raised to 216mph at Lake Mead. There followed a sequence of record raising runs at Lake Coniston where he attained 248mph in 1958 and on each successful attempt Donald collected the £5,000 prize money offered to anyone who broke the record by Billy Butlin, of holiday camp fame.  The prize money was a good way to finance the project and may explain so many incremental records.  Donald finally raised the water speed record to 276mph at Lake Dumbleyung, Australia in 1964, having earned a theoretical £35,000 prize money.  

Three years later in January of 1967, Donald was trying to raise his own record to 300Mph on water, when the K7 flipped spectacularly at Coniston water. He had achieved a one way run of 297Mph, but he turned K7 around without refueling and without waiting for his wake to settle, he set off on the return run. The boat lifted out of the water after exceeding a speed of over 300Mph, somersaulted and nose dived into the water disintegrating on entry. Donald's body was only recovered in May 0f 2001.

Overall length………………………..26 ft 4 ins.

Overall beam………………………...10 ft 6 ins.

Overall height………………………..4 ft 8 1/2 ins.

Length of floats………………………12 ft 3 3/4 ins.

All-up weight…………………………2 1/2 tons (approx.) 

Construction...............................high duty 'Birmabright' light alloy hull,
built around a high tensile tubular steel main frame.

POWER UNIT

Make & type……..Metropolitan Vickers "Beryl" turbo-jet engine of Straight-through design
with: 10-stage axial compressor, single stage turbine.
(Later replaced with a Bristol Siddley Orpheus from a Gnat fighter plane)

Dimensions……….11 ft 9 ins. Long, 3 ft 2 ins. Diameter, 1780 lbs. Weight

Thrust…………….4,000 Thrust-lbs (Beryl). Sea level static at 8,000 revolutions per minute.
Fuel……………… Kerosene, stored in a "saddle" tank.

Consumption……. 650 gallons Kerosene per hour; 3 tons of air per minute.

Bluebird Marine Ltd and the Jetstar

Few people know that apart from his water speed projects, Donald Campbell was also involved in the commercial production of a high speed runabout that he was marketing under the name: Jetstar.

During the 1966/67 world water speed record attempt, Donald Campbell used his Jetstar as a personal runabout on Lake Coniston. He would take journalists for promotional trips, and entertain the crowds on days when Bluebird could not run. The team also used the boat to evaluate Bluebird at close quarters whilst under way. 

Campbell had planned to promote the Jetstar alongside a world record-beating Bluebird at the 1967 London Boat Show. The show opened on 5th January - but on 4th January Bluebird crashed, and Campbell was killed. 

After Donald Campbell’s death, a fibreglass version of the Jetstar was produced by the Norris Brothers in moderate numbers, at a selling price of £1200, a much higher cost than an equivalent propeller driven boat.

The Jetstar hull was designed by Peter Milne. It is of cold moulded timber construction, fitted with an 80hp V4 Evinrude power head, installed on its side and linked to a Hamilton Jet-drive intake. From there it leads to the jet outlet, through which the flow of water is directed, with a system of flaps incorporated to control boat speed. 

The fascinating prototype is on display in the Museum’s main reception area until June.

These lovely little runabouts are now being produced to order by Bluebird Marine Limited in Sussex, England.

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