Following successful trials in which Bluebird K7 has hit speeds of around 150mph during tests in Scotland the record-breaking hydroplane is now back in its workshop in North Shields.
Engineers were testing Donald Campbell’s Bluebird on the Isle of Bute, in which lead pilot Ted Walsh pushed it to around 150mph, however project boss Bill Smith said any attempts to break speed records would have been “incredibly foolish” given the boat’s history.
It’s taken over fifty years for Bluebird to return to water, after it flipped into the air and crashed into Coniston Water in 1967, killing Sir Donald Campbell, but with nothing further to prove the engineers called a halt to the tests after 11 days.
“We just wanted to know that she wasn’t filling up with water and about to land on the bottom with her tail fin sticking above the surface. “That’s all we wanted to see. We couldn’t wait to get it back out again,” Smith added.
He hinted that the historic boat could become a regular visitor to the island, now that the test runs are over.
“I’d come back and do it every year,” he said.
