Donald Campbell
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other people with the same name, see Donald Campbell (disambiguation)
Donald Malcolm Campbell (March 23, 1921 - January 4, 1967) was a British car and motorboat racer who broke many speed records.
Campbell was born in Horley, Surrey, as the son of Sir Malcolm Campbell. Following his father's career, he strove to set speed records on land and water.
Campbell began speed record attempts using his father's old boat Bluebird K4, but after a 156 mph (250 km/h) crash destroyed the K4 in 1951 he developed a new boat. The Bluebird K7 was a jet-propelled hydroplane type with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl jet engine producing 4000 lbf (18 kN) of thrust. Campbell set seven world water-speed records between 1955 and 1964. The first was at Ullswater on July 23, 1955, where he set a record of 203 mph (325 km/h). The series of increases peaked in December 31 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia when he reached 276.33 mph.
Image:Campbell Bluebird CN7.jpg
On land, following a heavy crash at Bonneville with the Bluebird CN7 car in 1960, on July 17, 1964, at Lake Eyre, Australia he set a record of 403.10 mph for jet propelled four-wheeled vehicles (Class A). He became the first person to set both water and land records in the same year. But his land record was short-lived, because rule changes meant that Craig Breedlove's Spirit of America soon set new records.
In 1966, Bluebird K7 was fitted with a lighter and more powerful Bristol Orpheus engine, taken from a Folland Gnat jet aircraft, which developed 6000 lbf (27 kN) of thrust.
On January 4, 1967, Campbell was killed when Bluebird K7 flipped and disintegrated at a speed in excess of 300 mph on Coniston Water in England. The cause of the crash has been variously attributed to Campbell not waiting to refuel after doing a first run of 297 mph, and hence the boat being lighter; the waves caused by his wash; and, most likely, a cut-out of the jet engine. The wreckage of his craft and the body of Campbell were not recovered until May 28, 2001 when diver Bill Smith was inspired to look for the wreck after hearing the Marillion song "Out Of This World" (from the album Afraid of Sunlight), which was written about Campbell and the Bluebird. The body of Campbell was recovered soon after and was laid to rest in Coniston cemetery.
The story of his last attempt at the water speed record on Coniston Water was told in the BBC television drama Across the Lake in 1988, with Anthony Hopkins as Campbell.
Between them, Donald and his father had set eleven speed records on water and ten on land.