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01-05-2017, 09:08 PM
By Sarah Barns 4th January 2017, 4:58 pm
Entire Article and Numerous Pics: https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2535130/donald-campbell-remembered-50-years-after-he-was-killed-while-trying-to-break-a-water-speed-record-in-his-bluebird-k7-boat/

Rocket Man Donald Campbell remembered 50 years after he was killed while trying to break a water speed record in his Bluebird K7 boat

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The 45-year-old was travelling at 300mph when his vessel dramatically somersaulted into the air and plunged him deep into the lake
By Sarah Barns 4th January 2017, 4:58 pm

HE is still the only man to break the world land and water speed record in the same year.
But Donald Campbell’s career was cut tragically short in 1967 when he was killed a split second before breaking his own water speed record in his jet-powered boat, the Bluebird K7.

Donald Campbell was killed 50 years ago today while trying to break the water speed record. He was travelling at more than 300mph on Coniston Water in the Lake District when the nose on his 12-year-old vessel lifted and he was dramatically catapulted 50ft into the air.
Donald, 45, was killed instantly as the boat hit the water and immediately disintegrated. Today marks the 50th anniversary of that fatal crash.
Neither he, the water rocket or his famous lucky mascot – a 9ins “Mr Woppit” bear – were seen again until 2001 when a recovery crew brought them to the surface of the lake.

Donald was born at Canbury House in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, to Sir Malcolm Campbell, the holder of 13 world speed records in the 1920s and early 1930s, and his second wife Dorothy.

As the Second World War broke out, Donald volunteered for the Royal Air Force but was unable to serve because of a case of childhood rheumatic fever. He later became a maintenance engineer at a motor company.

Following his dad’s death on New Year’s Eve in 1948, Donald, aided by Leo Villa, his father’s chief engineer, strove to set speed records first on water and then land.

He began his speed record attempts the following summer using his dad’s old boat, the Bluebird K4, which he remodelled with a propeller and a Rolls-Royce R engine.

Donald came close to beating his father’s record but the boat required urgent modifications.

A propeller blade was re-positioned so it would be out of the water at high speed and a second cockpit was added for Leo Villa.

Donald Campbell worked as an engineer at a motoring firm before turning his attention to speed racing

Bluebird K4 reached speeds of 170mph but a structural failure on Coniston Water in 1951 meant the vehicle had to be retired.

In 1952, Donald began developing an all-metal jet-powered Bluebird K7 hydroplane to challenge the water speed record, which was now held by an American prop rider hydroplane called Slo-Mo-Shun.

The Bluebird K7 had a steel frame, an aluminium body and a three-point hydroplane with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl axial-flow turbojet engine, which could produce 3,5000 pound-force of thrust.

Donald Campbell set a new world water speed record of 248.62mph on the 10th November 1958

Donald set seven world water speed records in Bluebird K7 between July 1955 and December 1964.

In order to extract even more speed, Bluebird K7 was modified in the late 1950s to incorporate more effective streamlining with a Perspex cockpit canopy and fluting to the lower part of the main hull.

In 1955 Donald, who married three times and had one daughter, famously told the media: “If you’re going to succeed, you’ve got put what you’re trying to do first.

“Way before your own comfort, way before your own pleasure and way before your own family considerations.”
Numerous follow-up attempts on Coniston Water saw him reach speeds of 225.63mph in September 1956, 238.07mph in November 1957, 248.62mph in November 1958 and 250.35mph in May 1959.
After the 1959 attempt the Bluebird K7 was put into retirement.

The boat catapulted into the air of speeds at over 300mph before hitting the water