Donald Campbell’s famous Bluebird hydroplane will soon be returned to the Lake District, nearly 60 years after Campbell’s fatal crash while setting a water-speed record. Campbell’s daughter Gina, who had previously accepted that her father’s last resting place was the bottom of Coniston Water, was called by an amateur diver in 1996 who wanted to locate the wreck. She angrily opposed this idea, as she considered the wreck to be her father’s grave. Eventually, the wreckage was raised in 2001 and extensively rebuilt with the intention of returning Bluebird to running. However, a prolonged row then erupted over ownership.
Bill Smith, an engineer and amateur diver, found the wreckage in Coniston Water and was enlisted to lead the reconstruction of Bluebird. Smith eventually sought part-ownership of the hydroplane, leading to legal proceedings and a bitter dispute with the Campbell family. The difficulty of negotiations increased after the Ruskin Museum, which had been gifted the wreckage in 2006, sought the craft’s return. Smith was in charge of rebuilding the hydroplane, but last month he backed down, relinquishing his part-ownership claim.
Bluebird, the craft in which Campbell set seven water-speed world records, will now be exhibited in the Ruskin Museum, where it will be the museum’s star attraction. The Museum is situated near Campbell’s grave. Miss Campbell praised the recent rebuild by Smith’s Bluebird Project volunteers but described the years-long row about ownership of the hydroplane as “a tragedy”. She also responded these conflicts in the past few years of derogatory remarks about her family and the Ruskin figures.
Despite having backed down, Smith is still calling for his team to be awarded a contract to maintain and run Bluebird, but the notion was rejected by Miss Campbell. The Ruskin Museum has yet to publicly comment on Smith’s continuing involvement. After the craft’s condition is checked at the Ruskin, it remains to be seen whether it is possible to fire it up on the lake again, possibly in 2026, with visits to the USA and Australia to mark Campbell’s record attempts in those countries
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