Bluebird K7 - Donald Campbell's Jet Hydroplane
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- A short history of Donald Campbell's jet-powered hydroplane Bluebird K7, in which he broke the World Water Speed Record several times before his fatal accident in the same craft in 1967.
** This is an updated edit of my video "Bluebird K7 - A Short History" **
FURTHER READING
I buy a lot of books! Here are a selection of books that have inspired me or have been useful in my research.
Disclaimer: I get a commission every time you purchase a product through my affiliate links below.
Thrust: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Quest for Speed by Richard Noble
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Railton: Man Of Speed by Karl Ludvigsen
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Goldenrod: The Resurrection of America's Speed King by John Baechtel
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Speed Duel by Samuel Hawley
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The History Of Speed by Martin Roach
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Donald Campbell: The Man Behind The Mask by David Tremayne
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Bluebird and the Dead Lake: The Classic Account of how Donald Campbell broke the World Land Speed Record by John Pearson
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Leap into Legend: Donald Campbell and the Complete Story of the World Speed Records by Steve Holter
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Bluebird CN7: The Inside Story of Donald Campbell's Last Land Speed Record Car by Donald Stevens
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Parry Thomas: The First Driver to be Killed in Pursuit of the Land Speed Record by Hugh Tours
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Quest For Speed: The Epic Saga of Record-Breaking On Land by Barry John
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The Fast Set: Three Extraordinary Men and Their Race for the Land Speed Record by Charles Jennings
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Man Against the Salt by Harvey Shapiro
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Ultimate Speed: The Fast Life and Extreme Cars of Racing Legend Craig Breedlove by Samuel Hawley
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Infinity Over Zero: Meditations on Maximum Velocity by Cole Coonce
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Speedquest: Inside the Blue Flame by Richard Keller
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Crusader: John Cobb's ill-fated quest for speed on water by Steve Holter
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Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/divider/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/
Footage from Pathe, AP, GoPro, Sky News and unknown sources, used under Fair Deal / Fair Use.
The Bluebird Project - www.bluebirdproject.com
The Ruskin Museum - www.ruskinmuseum.com - Авто та транспорт
The K7 was and still is a beautiful thing. My dad was a pattern maker and worked on both versions of the CN7 Bluebird car (the original one that crashed and the second one where they added the tail). He also did some work on the K7 but a lot of his stories centred around the CN7. He did the patternwork for the compound curvatures, wings and cockpit canopy and also made the actual canopy and windscreen. One story he tells is of the recovery of the crashed car and the cockpit canopy being returned virtually unscathed after Campbell crashed at 400mph. The only “damage” to it were the paint streaks on the inside where Campbell’s head and helmet had rattled around inside like a marble! An incredibly brave man to get back in version 2 of the car and take the record!
S head of his time
If I recall correctly, his fatal accident was caused by a combination of lighter weight due to not refueling and hitting his own wake from the first run. Damn shame such a simple decision cost him his life.
...and also the sponsors putting too much pressure on him, which caused him to take those risks. Great film thank you!
I remember seeing pictures of Bluebird just before Cambells accident, having sand bags draped over the tail, presumably to keep the tail down perhaps they then put too much weight in the tail which caused the front to lift up and consequently crash.
@@keithdouglas4581 , your on the right track, but the tail heaviness at the time of the crash was actually a nose lightness due to low fuel. Had he refueled the weight the fuel would have been ballast in the nose.
The theory is that because the nose was light when it was upset into a pitch up by a wave, the air was able to get under the craft and then Newton took over in making the boat fly. Campbell instinctively cut power which caused the nose to come back down and then plummet into the lake.
I also remember a theory that Campbell wasn't in the boat when it crashed ..... having faked his own death due to financial problems..
The eventual discovery of the body put that story to rest once and for all. Brave men the Campbells.
A simple decision, forced on him by press and sponsors.
I was born the year this boat was launched. Eleven and a half years later Campbell died. At that time in a boys life such things were thrilling. I remember attending school that day and the place was alive with the sad news. The headmaster spoke of it in assembly. In a world far from our own, a true hero had passed.
He really should of been Knighted for his 1964 double. Today they knight idiots for sod all .
I too remember hearing the devastating news at school as a 12 yr old and the utter feeling of disgust when, after bursting into our large kitchen at home and pronouncing "Donald Campbell is dead", my older sister said "Who is Donald Campbell?" Grrrrr
He was every young lads hero for so long!
I remember, so clearly, seeing that on the News as a boy of ten. He was one of my heroes...
Not even a mention of Donald in the news on what would of been his 100th birthday . Wonder if hed be proud of the way this country's gone down the pan ?
@@stevenwade7466 Crikey, Steven; l'm fed up with it so God knows how he'd feel.
As for his birthday, it appears that he was born on 23rd March 2021.
You're probably safer traveling on the Apollo mission. Water is very unforgiving. Thank you for a wonderful channel.
I was there in 1959. I had won an art competition with Bluebird Toffees to attend the record attempt and was the youngest person to be permitted on the jetty at the time of the run. I was nine years old.
Wow! What an honour to have seen it run first-hand!
@@ScarfAndGoggles I would love your version of "the Spirit" and Ken Warby's efforts. . . . . .
Sad that harry Vincent's blue bird toffee factory closed. Nr clent and hailsowen . Best toffee ever . I still have an early blue bird tin which is 80 90 years old. Which toffee was sold in
. Very decorative.
I watched this live on the tv as it happened, one of those images one never forgets
The uprated fuel system had a sprung loaded bleeding valve that was located on the fuel line from the main fuel tank to the aux tank with the booster pump required to supply the new engine. It opened and allowed an air lock to stop fuel being pulled from the main tank. Engine suffered complete fuel starvation and lost the down thrust holding the nose down that was enough to allow the noise to lift beyond the critical angle to flip at 300 mph. The same thing happen on the trials on Fad in 2019. Ties in with the lack of jet effects on the water in 1967 when the boat was vertical. I get to help out working on the restoration (licensed aircraft engineer).
A minor point of correction: Birmabright was an alloy of aluminum and magnesium, but did not have steel as an alloying element. Today it would be classified as a 5000-series wrought aluminum.
Great documentary about a great man. The craft and the body were found by a diver, who got inspired by Marillion's song "Out of this world". Singer Steve Hogarth sang at the funeral in the church. I have had the pleasure to see the song live several times and it gives goosebumps every time.
I was lucky enough to be a guest of the video crew and band in Dublin back in 2001, they kindly allowed my wife and I to sit in for soundcheck. They played "Out of This World". There was a bit of consternation as Steve H's earpieces weren't working and he couldn't hear himself. I couldn't determine any fault in his singing at all, he's that good. A replacement set was found in time for the gig that night and all was well. Every time I hear "Out of This World" now I think of that night. It certainly is a magical and otherworldly song, very appropriate for the subject.
Why does this channel NOT have a video on Ken Warby, the current world water speed record holder at 317mph since 1978? Built in his backyard with an engine bought from a junk dealer it is a true story a one man's triumph against the world.
Probably because hes not from the upper classes. They seem to be the only ones who get recognition for this sort of stuff. Theres quite a few ordinary people who've done some great stuff but got nowhere because they havent been born with a silver spoon in their mouths
very imformative, great delivery, thanks
Thank you for these videos about all of those incredible machines and the people behind them, lovely work!!!!
Suicide Machines...But, everyone should have the freedom to do with is life what he thinks he has to do.
Great video. Yes I knew the ending. I do think it would be good to see Bluebird K7 run again at speed, although 150 to 200 MPH would be enough, machines are made to be used.
I'd like to see this in real life, and not just watching old film. It's a shame when they're stuck in a museum.
Would have been nice to mention that his back to back run was set on lake dumbleyung in Western Australia, where a monument in his honour stands
I'm from South Australia and back in the 90's our neighbor told us he water skied behind the Bluebird when it came to Australia lol..
He was getting old and loved to tell stories and I think he believed some of them, my brother and I would never laugh at him but this is one story I've always remembered.
@MusicMadMaurice By "we" I take it you mean Sandgropers, West Aussies? I totally agree! I'd never heard of the Dumbleyung thing but I'm glad to hear it. Greetings from Perth
I recall that at some stage there was a demonstration on the Swan River in Perth. I was there for that and remember seeing Bluebird on a trailer afterwards. Many years later I was working on the Wheat Bins at Wagin and made a trip to Make Dumbleyung. I didn't see any monument but then again I did not know one existed.
@@paulreichelt1259 My Dad used to tell me he rode a horse to school and it took him 2 hours to get there. One day I decided to drive it in my car. Like the hare he must have had a good sleep on the way. I did see the Bluebird boat at Lake Bonney at Barmera late Nov 64 when I was 9 years old. I couldnt get over how huge it was.
Thank you for this. Always been fascinated by Donald Campbell...a very complex and flawed man but one of the last of the old school heroes.
Another channel by chance & I couldn't be more intrigued👍TY
The blue bird is part of British land and water speed records History. This should be placed in a museum for the general public to view. Then Donald Campbell’s legacy will live on .The engineering company that rebuilt the blue bird should be paid for the cost of the rebuild and given recognition in the exhibition for all there hard work. The blue bird K7 is part of Britain’s Great history and should be recognised as such .Raising the blue bird was the right thing to do . R.I.P Donald Campbell .
Amazing engineering.... All designed by hand, hand drawn plans, measured using micrometers and calulations done using slide rules and log tables.
Yep, and not a computer in sight!
@@devilsatan2973
It was no longer "amazing engineering". Within three years the Americans had put men on the moon and brought them back.
@@markcynic808 At the time, and today too for that matter, much of our own ocean remains undiscovered, we know MORE about space than our own ocean.
So given the slow advances in nautical matters (which persists to this day), for a few guys in a shed (the initial construction anyway) it was pretty amazing engineering if you ask me.
Petyr Kowalski - According to Leo Villa's book, they also filmed a powered remote controlled small scale replica of Bluebird on water where they could apply small modifications until obtaining desired results, very old school and definetly no computers...
@markcynic808 most of NASA were Nazi scientists....Operation Paperlip
Incredible insight into speed on this channel, literally everyone of the clips in this video the lakes or water looks choppy as hell to be running at speed!!
That was a great video. Water crashes are so violent.... I hated seeing that but it’s the reality of breaking speed records. What an amazing boat and team.
I was 3 yrs old when I heard on NZ radio that Bluebird had crashed and Donald had been killed-having read so much about Donald over the years he was always in his Father's shadow yet he was a talented and very brave man,what he achieved over the years is a testament to this thanks for the doc
Great video, so much research went into it, thank you, I learned a lot Bluebird still looks stunning and futuristic in 2020
That machine is magical😍it is an engineering Marvel how it just glides at such incredible speed😳
I think allowing Bluebird to run at Coniston Waters would be the greatest tribute to Donald Campbell.
Excellent quality work as usual my good man.
Fascinating. Marvelous historical record and presentation of Mr. Campbell and his passion. Superb telling of an amazing story. Thank you so much. My favorite hydroplane was U-27 in your video. I hope to ride in a vintage hydroplane this October on Lake Chelan, WA.
Thomas O'Leary U27 Good old Slo Mo IV...Allison V12 Aircraft engine of WW II vintage....Stan Sayers first 3 point hydro that all hydros copied and is still being used today !!!
Another quality video on world speed records. Great job.
Absolutely wonderful story, as a small child growing up at the time of his death, i am really happy to know what really happened. R.I.P Donald Campbell.
kudos for the superb narration
Very well done documentary !!
Excellent video cheers
327 mph on water? You'd have to be obsessed, insane, drunk, all three to even attempt that.
"The nose is up ... I'm going ..." Great final words from a true British legend.
We can only hypothesise that if Donald had added some fuel at the turnaround, even a small amount, Bluebird K7 would have been more stable on that return run.
He was a man in a hurry though and gambled his life against a few extra kilos of kerosene.
I've discovered this channel only recently and the videos you make is a joy to watch. I sure as hell hope to one day involve myself in some attempt to break some speed record in some way. Cheers, keep up your good work.
The fatal run occurred on my nineteenth birthday. When I saw that Bluebird had been recovered and fully restored I was inspired to compose a guitar instrumental as a tribute. I've now posted it on You Tube; (Bluebird's Last Run).
I was 10 at the time will never forget it
Another fantastic video thanks
Great video a pleasure to watch.
Great documentary, I remember his last attempt, I was 10 years old, and into speed records.
Excellent and informative video - can remember the day it happened very clearly - great tribute to a very brave man!
Good work, well done.
There was a book called "The Racing Campbells"published in the early 60's which chronicled the exploits of both Donald and his father, it was a detailed excellent read which is as far as I know, sadly no longer in print.
I've seen WSR/LSR documentaries on TV that were less comprehensive than this and most importantly you show a true respect for the men and women who risk their lives in the quest to be the best in the world at what they love. I subscribed and turned on notifications because I don't want to miss anything you put out.
Very good job on your videos! I really enjoy them, I'm letting others know of your channel too! Thank you for your great work!
notable material, hermoso recuerdo ......felicitaciones.. Nací en los 60´ y desde niño supe y conocí la historia de D Campbell, saludos desde Chile
Thank you for your video.
Great video!
amazing that it was recovered after decades, restored and now being run again
In 1967 I was around 11 yrs old. I had followed Bluebird and Donald Campbell, and was horrified when he was killed in the crash. He had been a hero of mine.
Correction, K7 is not the rating by Lloyd's of London but by Lloyd's Register, too completely different companies never related, one is a insurance company the other is a ships register
Interesting life of that craft. To be a record holder, then asleep underwater for three decades, then resurrected as a viable craft again only to be locked down by bureaucratic red tape. Too bad.
Still going on yet!!
Excellent presentation. I was not aware that K7 had been restored to such extent that it is routinely run. That shot towards the end..."only" 150 mph and it looks like it is flying! Film from it's original runs is mostly all long teles with compression and you never got an impression of how truly fast 300+ is on water. Thank you!
use UA-cam's speed settings to double the speed of the video , i looks incredible!
I was fascinated by land and water speed records as a boy. The Campbell story and the close but gentlemanly rivalry with other English engineers and technical geniuses. I used to enjoy going to Beaulieu while we were sailing in the south of England. These legends should be celebrated as the heroes they were.
Love your videos! Thanks for posting...
Thanks for watching!
Brilliant videos
So informative and shows how good the British are at innovation, courage and skill.
Great video. Well done.
Being born in 1967 i've always had a fascination with her....i was over in Bute in 2018 to see her for real,and seeing Gina at the Highland Games,memories i'll cherish!
Wonderful story
Great video thanks, i used to have a book called "the record breakers" by Leo Villa, i believe he was Sir Malcolm and Donald's mechanic. Unfortunately someone borrowed it and didn't return it. A wonderful book, now out of print.
An absolutely awesome book which got me interested in the Campbell's and World speed record breaking in general. Still got it on the book shelve.
@@arnenelson4495 Sorry, I just found your comment; yes, I am afraid you are correct.
4:47 - How brave was Sayres to go at 287 km/h (178 mph) in what looks like a glorified speedboat!
this is awesome
I had no idea that Bluebird had been restored back to functioning condition! Last thing I heard, they were still debating having it on display in the condition it was in when it was raised from the lake. Obviously the media has decided that it's not a story worthy of publicity. I guess it's better this way as it has allowed the team to get on with it without being disturbed too much by people wanting to do interviews / photoshoots.
Lake dumbleyung western Australia there's a replica of bluebird in town of dumbleyung open to the public and a memorial at the lake,..Well worth the visit
Love your work, subscribed
Thanks and welcome!
Thank you
Dam good video. My compliments sir
Vet been following the restoration project for years and donated also. I hope some day Warbelies record can be eclipsed. Keep up the British upper lip gentlemen.
"Warby's" please get it right.
Great video, with a name like mine I'm interested in all this stuff.
Huge difference between the Bluebird and a modern Unlimited Hydroplane. The jet-powered Bluebird achieves its thrust by its jet exhaust, where an Unlimited Hydroplane is a propeller driven craft using a gas turbine engine driving through a gearbox to the propeller shaft. The jet-powered craft would naturally be much faster as it has less drag in the water. It’s hard to compare the two craft.
I love your content and please keep it coming.
That last shot you can see the pilot leaning into the turn, magical!
I'm amazed at the simplicity of the cockpit. No trim!
Plus, what felled me after being a kid who had purchased the Red Arrows Gnat Airfix kit & still remembers gluing in that strange landing light in the nose, £200!
Really? A whole, flyable Gnat for £200!
Can I buy three please? I'm sure you could make a flyable aircraft from three decomissioned ones!
I don’t know that it was actually airworthy.
Brilliant upload
Absolute stunning well engineered beautiful Machine . Campbell was a brave man because water so unforgiving .
I read Jessi Combs tragically died chasing my Hero Kitty O,Niels record .
Kitty tried Her hand at the water record and even as brave as Kitty was she said she refused to pilot the machine for the return run to back up 275mph .
very cool
Brilliant. . . . .
I was 12 at the time , it was major , major news and shocking . Last year I visited the Lakeland Motor Museum, across the car park is The Campbell/Bluebird ( tribute ) museum , whilst not the real item's , the exhibit was very powerful.
The first thing you'll notice is how much bigger K7 is in person when the whole boat is out of the water.
What an astonishing man Donald Campbell was and a tragedy that (his own) human error cost him the ultimate price. As for Bluebird CN7; what a thing of genuine beauty and it shoud be displayed permanantly in Conistons museum as a tribute to the legend that was Donald Campbell.
Donald would never want her in a museum , she was meant to fly.........gosh we need her right now to lift our spirits.......
Very brave guy, it takes guts to lay your life on the line, to gain something special
I remember a drama with Anthony Hopkins starring as Donald Campbell.
The gist of it was that Donald spent his life trying to live up his powerful and rather domineering father Sir Malcolm Campbell. It was rather a sad tail, to be honest.
It's right here - ua-cam.com/video/v9PouwZkbnM/v-deo.html
He's the only world speed record holder to hold both the water and land at the same time.
I think he was under too much pressure to try and get a record and prove the ankle hacking journalism that seems to be the remit of the English Press.
If I'm not mistaken he held both water and landspeed records in the same period
Vickers F2/4 was a post war axial flow engine design, circa 1947. The Meteor shown used a centrifugal engine.
Meteor flew with F2 Engines in 1944.
Great video. Something that always bugs me with speed records though is when they all swapped over to jet or rocket power. Damn... there is just something pure about how fast can a car or motorcycle go when the wheels are powered traditionally. Same goes for boats... a screw or water jet just seems appropriate. Jets and rockets are a bit like cheating and IMO only belong on aircraft.
I could not agree with you more!
The car was four wheel drive. The Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet engine provided drive to the axles via two power take offs from it's external gearbox. The rear casing of the gearbox had to be recast with the mounting for the take off in reverse, to match the direction of rotation for the front take off. This was a special job given the go ahead by the brilliant engineer, Sir Stanley Hooker, the then boss of Bristol Siddeley. So although the car was jet powered, it wasn't jet propelled.
Great story Deliver news paper it was from page i do remember he has the feel for speed
As I see it... if it wasn't that day it would have been another one... the man was never satisfied.. it was never fast enough
It's sad no matter what he did and accomplished, he could never seem to escape the giant shadow his Father cast , and always seemed to drive him on .
Balls of steel
The boat was created to have a top speed of 250mph. It was going in excess of this when it took off. I have a theory which may well be rubbish, but here it is anyway. The sponsons at that speed, acted like winglets at it briefly did an uncontrolled take off.
Hi, great videos keep up the good work. Just to say K7 was first launched in February 1955 not January and the actual date was 11/02/55
The latest version of the bluebird was pretty well conceived . It looked almost picture-perfect on the water . At speed . The fatal mistake was not refueling .
“There are old pilots and there are bold pilots', ..... 'there are no old bold pilots'.
you get that from " some mothers do Ave em "?
BIGBADWOOD did you get that from some mothers do Ave em?
Original?
Water adds another variable that isn't a constant.
By my memory am sure the recovery team was given the go ahead from the family to raise k7 in the hopes she might be restored to full glory ,a hard decision his daughter had to make but she agreed, where she should reside is with the people who had been granted permission to raise her and rebuild her , if you look at burt munroes Indian ,it resides at a museum but on special occasions it's run at an event usually dedicated to speed ,maybe for the sake of the people and cambells memory it should be the same ,so she's shown most the year round and not locked away
Bluebird was designed to run. She shuold be run on water in the summer months and static display during the winter maintenance.
Such a great man gone too soon 😒
Great video, somehow fascinating even if this is considered as suicide in todays world.
such a shame that petty politics has stopped bluebird running at coniston. whilst it is a fantastic piece of history that the public should be able to visit, so much work has gone into its restoration that it would be a shame to see it sit stationary for the rest of its life
Currently building a bluebird model rc which when finished I hope to run her on coniston in tribute to Donald my hero and then go place flowers on his grave.
My favourite channel these days, brings back so many memories of when I was a child, visiting museums, hearing stories etc. As an adult I can more fully appreciate the beauty and ingenuity of these wonderful machines and the huge bravery of the men who piloted them.
Water speed records are hard to break, mostly because they're most likely to kill you in the attempts. Water speed records are for people who got bored of regular old not-as-deadly land speed records.
They should have left her where she was and not pulled it up due to the disrespect to the man who died in her.. God speed Donald Campbell may you rest in peace and forgive the people who disrespected your beautiful speed record boat..
I actually support the new Bluebird Project and believe that Mr Campbell and his father are both please to see her run again. I hope Bluebird K7 is not just stuck into a museum but will continue running on the water.
The Bluebird story REALLY made a big impression on me as a kid.
@@jeremyacton4569 well we all have our own opinion on this and no one is in the wrong for what they think.. the only thing I would say is build a new k7not the one that mr. Campbell lost his life in . Build a Exact replica and keep this one to teach people how easy it was and is to lose your life in high speed time trials vehicles.