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"Bluebird" K4Sir Malcolm Campbell added to his long list of successes with this magnificent boat. Designed by Commander Peter du Cane, with Reid Railton as mechanical consultant. Bluebird K4 was built by the Vosper company in 1938/39. She was a three-point hydroplane (it was Railton who suggested a three-point configuration) powered by a Rolls-Royce R-type V12 engine that had previously been fitted to her forerunner, Bluebird K3. The engine drove a single three-bladed propeller via a gearbox situated at the front of the craft. Her hull was crafted almost entirely from wood, although there was duralinum and aluminium in the mix too. On 19 August 1939, on Coniston Water, England, Sir Malcolm drove Bluebird K4 to a new World Water Speed Record of 141.74 mph. The Second World War brought speed records to a shuddering halt. But Sir Malcolm - still hungry for the challenge - had Bluebird K4 converted into the world's first-ever jet-propelled boat in 1947, and the chosen powerplant was a de Havilland Goblin II centrifugal turbojet which generated 3,100 pounds of thrust. The craft that emerged from the workshops bore no resemblance to anything that had gone before. In its revised form, however, the craft proved highly unstable during initial trials that summer on Coniston Water. Vosper's had made a good job of converting the craft to its radical new configuration, but at speeds approaching 90 mph it became clear there was a more fundamental problem. K4 was returned to Vosper's works for further modifications. A new round of trials at Poole Harbour in Dorset proved more favourable, so the Bluebird team returned to Coniston a week later and knuckled down to more trials with a view to a serious attempt on the record. But the spirit of optimism was shortlived. Whenever Sir Malcolm pushed the speed over 100 mph, K4 porpoised alarmingly - and, although he tried valiantly to battle through the problem, in the end the handling problems beat him. Sir Malcolm's health was, sadly, starting to fail him, and he passed away peacefully in his sleep, in his own bed at home, on New Year's Eve 1948. The Bluebird saga could have ended there and then, but Sir Malcolm's son, Donald, gamely set his sights on continuing the family tradition. He did not want American challengers to seize the record his father had worked so hard to retain for Britain. Taking a pragmatic view, Donald converted Bluebird K4 back to a propeller-driven format when he took over, but he was dogged by bad luck and the record evaded him. On Coniston Water on 19 August 1949 - ten years to the day since his father had set his last record - Donald got within two miles-per-hour of a new world's-best mark with the very same boat on the same lake. If ever there was a case of being so near, yet so far ... In 1950 Bluebird K4 became a two-seater, Donald having the craft modified to accommodate his trusty friend and chief mechanic, Leo Villa, to monitor the instruments. More trials followed on Coniston Water - but no record. Yet another metamorphosis took place in 1951, when K4 was converted to become what was referred to as a "prop-rider". The requisite modifications were ordained by Lewis Norris and Ken Norris, two brilliant young engineers who had set up an engineering consultancy business. K4's powerplant remained in place - the Rolls-Royce R-type, which generated 2,500 horsepower, was giving sterling service in spite of its advanced age - and the hull shape remained essentially the same, but the engine was relocated to a new position closer to the bows to shift the craft's centre-of-gravity further forward, and the angle of the planing shoes was changed. Together, these modifications resulted in the craft riding with her propeller half out of the water, so that the propeller hub itself - along with the single blade submersed at any given point in time - would serve as the rear planing point. The principle of "prop-riding" was straightforward, though highly radical for its time. It had been determined that the propeller itself had been generating excessively high water-drag as racing and record-breaking craft travelled progressively faster, so that now - even with the inefficiencies inherent in having only one blade propelling at any given moment - it was more efficient, overall, to lift most of the propeller apparatus out of the water. The massive reduction in drag more than compensated for the loss of propeller efficiency. In its new "prop-riding" guise, Bluebird K4 was a storming success. Following trials on Italy's Lake Garda in May 1951, Donald Campbell and Leo Villa won the prestigious Oltranza Cup in a dramatic three-lap race around the vast lake. This triumph spurred Donald Campbell to make yet another bid for the World Water Speed Record. But victory, so evasive, eluded him once again. In September 1951, on Coniston Water, Bluebird K4 struck a submerged log whilst travelling at an estimated 165 mph. At those speeds, a record was well within grasp - but imminent disaster was a constant companion. Campbell and Villa were lucky to escape unharmed. The hull was badly holed and Bluebird partially sank, but the hulk was towed ashore. Donald had all of the major mechanical parts including the engine and gearbox stripped from her and ordered the punctured hull to be set alight on the shore. Donald, it seems, was less concerned with preserving history - even if it was a boat, and a Bluebird to boot, that his father had driven to glory - than he was with returning the World Water Speed Record to his beloved Britain. And, with an all-new Bluebird designated K7, he at last succeeded. |