page_title: Donald Campbell
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Donald Campbell / Rocket car plans and final water speed record attempt / Death
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the memorial plaque for Donald Campbell, by a public seat in Coniston, between Ruskin Avenue and Tilberthwaite Avenue,
context_page_description: Donald Malcolm Campbell, CBE was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year. He died during a water speed record attempt at Coniston Water in the Lake District, England.
context_section_description: On 4 January 1967, weather conditions were finally suitable for an attempt. Campbell commenced the first run of his last record attempt at just after 8:45 am. Bluebird moved slowly out towards the middle of the lake, where she paused briefly as Campbell lined her up. With a deafening blast of power, Campbell now applied full throttle and Bluebird began to surge forward. Clouds of spray issued from the jet-pipe, water poured over the rear spar and after a few hundred yards, at 70 miles per hour (113 km/h), Bluebird unstuck from the surface and rocketed off towards the southern end of the lake, producing her characteristic comet's tail of spray. She entered the measured kilometre at 8:46 am. Leo Villa witnessed her passing the first marker buoy at about 285 mph (459 km/h) in perfect steady planing trim, her nose slightly down, still accelerating. 7.525 seconds later, Keith Harrison saw her leave the measured kilometre at a speed of over 310 mph (500 km/h). The average speed for the first run was 297.6 mph (478.9 km/h). Campbell lifted his foot from the throttle about 3/10 of a second before passing the southern kilometre marker. As Bluebird left the measured kilometre, Keith Harrison and Eric Shaw in a course boat at the southern end of the measured kilometre both noticed that she was very light around the bows, riding on her front stabilising fins. Her planing trim was no worse than she had exhibited when equipped with the Beryl engine, but it was markedly different from that observed by Leo Villa at the northern end of the kilometre, when she was under full acceleration. Campbell had made his usual commentary throughout the run.
  Campbell's words on his first run were, via radio intercom:
  "... I'm under way, all systems normal; brake swept up, er ... air pressure warning light on ... I'm coming onto track now and er ... I'll open up just as soon as I am heading down the lake, er doesn't look too smooth from here, doesn't matter, here we go ... Here we go ... [pause 3 seconds] ... Passing through four ... five coming up ... a lot of water, nose beginning to lift, water all over the front of the engine again ... and the nose is up ... low pressure fuel warning light ... going left ... OK we're up and away ... and passing through er ... tramping very hard at 150 ... very hard indeed ... FULL POWER ... Passing through 2 ... 25 out of the way ... tramping like hell Leo, I don't think I can get over the top, but I'll try, FULL HOUSE ... and I can't see where I am ... FULL HOUSE – FULL HOUSE – FULL HOUSE ... POWER OFF NOW! ... I'M THROUGH! ... power ... (garbled) er passing through 25 vector off Peel Island ... passing through 2 ... I'm lighting like mad ... brake gone down ... er ... engine lighting up now ... relighting ... passing Peel Island ... relight made normal ... and now ... down at Brown Howe ... passing through 100 ... er ... nose hasn't dropped yet ... nose down."
  Instead of refuelling and waiting for the wash of this run to subside, Campbell decided to make the return run immediately. This was not an unprecedented diversion from normal practice, as Campbell had used the advantage presented i.e. no encroachment of water disturbances on the measured kilometre by the quick turn-a-round, in many previous runs. The second run was even faster once severe tramping subsided on the run-up from Peel Island (caused by the water-brake disturbance). Once smooth water was reached some 700 metres (766 yd) or so from the start of the kilometre, K7 demonstrated cycles of ground effect hovering before accelerating hard at 0.63 g to a peak speed of 328 mph (528 km/h) some 200 metres or so from the southern marker buoy. Bluebird was now experiencing bouncing episodes of the starboard sponson with increasing ferocity. At the peak speed, the most intense and long-lasting bounce precipitated a severe decelerating episode — 328 miles per hour (528 km/h) to 296 miles per hour (476 km/h), -1.86g — as K7 dropped back onto the water. Engine flame-out then occurred and, shorn of thrust nose-down momentum, K7 experienced a gliding episode in st
caption: Memorial plaque for Donald Campbell, in Coniston village
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