{"id":897,"date":"2016-12-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelovers.cottage-search.com\/blog\/50th-anniversary-of-donald-campbell\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:32:40","slug":"50th-anniversary-of-donald-campbell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/50th-anniversary-of-donald-campbell\/","title":{"rendered":"50th Anniversary of Race Ace Donald Campbell\u2019s World Speed Record on Coniston Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can\u2019t talk about Coniston Water or visit it without thinking about legendary speed ace Donald Campbell.<\/h2>\n

And, next month marks the anniversary of his death attempting a World Speed Record in the Lake District.<\/p>\n

The world-renowned ace was killed instantly on January 4, 1967, in a spectacular crash<\/a>. He was attempting to beat his own 285mph water speed record on Coniston Water in his Bluebird.<\/p>\n

Between 1955 and 1959, Donald broke the World Water Speed Record on six separate occasions \u2013 four of them on Coniston Water.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Campbell in his BlueBird on Coniston Water<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While trying to secure his eighth World Water Speed Record \u2013 at a speed topping 300mph \u2013 Donald\u2019s boat suddenly soared 50-feet into the air.<\/p>\n

It somersaulted and hurtled back to the water, plunging him and the Bluebird K7 to the depths of Coniston.<\/p>\n

The wrecked hydroplane lay at the bottom of Coniston Water for 34 years as the Campbell family requested it be left alone.<\/p>\n

But, with the blessing of Mr Campbell\u2019s daughter Gina, the Bluebird was recovered with Mr Campbell\u2019s remains by Bill Smith in 2001.<\/p>\n

Donald was finally buried in Coniston Cemetery in 2001.<\/p>\n

The restoration of the BlueBird<\/h2>\n

In January 2007, to mark the 40th anniversary of the fatal crash, the Campbell Family Heritage Trust donated the wreck to The Ruskin Museum.<\/p>\n

The museum was established in 1901 and\u00a0covers the history and heritage of Coniston.<\/p>\n

The iconic Blubird is seen as a national treasure by many because Donald paid the ultimate price for pushing himself and engineering boundaries to the limit.<\/p>\n

Donald\u2019s Bluebird is currently being brought back to life by Bill Smith, an engineer specialising in metals, and a team of volunteers, so it can once again thunder down Coniston Water.<\/p>\n

The Lake District National Park Authority has already given permission for proving trials to exceed the speed limit on Coniston Water, once the Bluebird is restored.<\/p>\n

\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The BlueBird restoration team<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Racing Campbells<\/h3>\n

Donald had followed in the footsteps of his famous father Malcolm.<\/p>\n

Malcolm also broke records on Coniston in his Bluebird K4, the final one being when he racked up a speed of 141.74mph in 1939.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the speed legend\u2019s attempt, the Ruskin Museum is holding a string of events.<\/h3>\n

January 4<\/h3>\n

You will want to be outside and looking up (as long as the cloud stays away) as there will be an RAF jet flypast to kick-start the anniversary events.<\/p>\n

Then at 11am, people are invited to join the K7 Club for their tribute to Donald Campbell at the Campbell Memorial and at his grave side.<\/p>\n

Plus, the Ruskin Museum and the Bluebird Wing will be opened to the public from 10.30pm-3.30pm, where you can find out all about the Racing Campbell Dynasty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

January 5<\/h3>\n

The Ruskin Museum<\/a> and The Bluebird Wing will be open if you want to know more about the Racing Campbell family. But, there will also be a talk on Donald by Keith Hick at the Coniston Mechanics\u2019 Institute.<\/p>\n

And, a highlight has to be the showing of \u201cHow Long A Mile\u201d \u2013 a film made by Donald himself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bluebird. Picture credit: Jeff Wilkinson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

January 6<\/h3>\n

Ullswater was the first stretch of water that Donald took to, to set the UK\u2019s first 200mph record. So, the Day in Glenridding and Ullswater event will be a great way to celebrate the milestone celebration.<\/p>\n

Then, the world\u2019s fastest woman on two wheels, Becci Ellis, will give a talk at the Glenridding Hotel at 1.30pm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

January 4-8<\/h3>\n

The Lakeland Motor Museum will host the \u201cAcross the Lake\u201d exhibition.<\/p>\n

For more information on the anniversary events, see the Ruskin Museum The Ruskin Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coniston<\/h3>\n

Coniston sits at the Southern part of the Lake District National Park.<\/p>\n

The town was originally built to support the local slate and quarrying and copper mining. But it was popularised by other well-known Brits \u2013 as well as the Campbells.<\/p>\n

Poet and social critic John Ruskin lived at Brantwood in the 1800s and painter Henry Robinson lived and worked in the village in the early 1920s.<\/p>\n

It is home to Coniston Old Man and with beautiful scenery is a great place for a walking holiday in the Lake District.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our Cottage Holidays In Coniston<\/h2>\n

If you would like to take part in these landmark celebrations of this legendary speed king, then how about a last-minute New Year stay in the Lake District?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got cottage holidays in Coniston, which will be a perfect base for exploring the area and history of the world-renowned racing Campbells.<\/p>\n

See our Coniston Holiday Cottages<\/a>, or\u00a0call us on 015394-88855.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re interested in Donald Campbell and the famous Bluebird, then don’t miss this article on his terrible crash and how he’s being remembered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9305,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions\/9305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}