Bluebird flies again!

On 4th January 1967 Donald Campbell strapped himself into the cockpit of Bluebird and set off down Coniston Water in an attempt to break the water speed record - again. He achieved 310mph on one run, but as the world knows, this attempt ended with his death when Bluebird left the water, somersaulted and sank, taking Donald with her. Although Bluebird was located shortly afterwards she was not salvaged until 2000/1 when Donald's body was also found.

To cut a long story short, the machine was given to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston in 2006 and restoration began. Earlier this month, the restored Bluebird was transported to Loch Fad on the island of Bute for low-speed trials which have taken place over a number of days.

I had to see her, of course, so we set off at 8am today and arrived at Loch Fad at 11.45. After a long wait, while engineers carried out a number of checks, her jet engine was run up; she was then launched and restarted in the water and during the afternoon did a couple of runs with a former Red Arrows pilot in the cockpit. It was incredible to see her in action and I took countless pictures and a few videos which I have yet to see. Donald's daughter Gina has been present during the trials this week and was there today, though we didn't see her. She has been very supportive. When she arrived last Saturday she brought Donald's teddy mascot, Mr Whoppit, who was rescued from Coniston in 1976. I've put the picture, not mine I'm afraid, on as an extra. As a bonus the weather today has been glorious, with blue skies, amazing clouds and sunshine all day long!

Altogether a most exciting day!