The Bluebird Project

In my humble opinion, I cannot see what the problem is with people on Bill's choice of K7 Drivers. Ted had a skill set that was suitable for being lead driver. Stew is a highly experinced Fast Jet driver, holding the skill set that is excellent for development work and of course operates gas turbines on a day to day basis. A blend of experince that working together that is what I would chose and of course has proved to be highly effective on Bute.

Well done all on the BBP.

Techteam,

I apologise to you, unreservedly. By now you will have realised that I am over-defensive in some situations.

You will have to remind me in more detail - by PM, if you would - of the circumstances you have just outlined. Please bear in mind that I do a fairly large number of talks up and down the country, and I can't associate you with one of them if I don't know which talk it was, and in which year.

For now, I hope my humble apology is enough. Clearly, I have misjudged you and am in the wrong.

Nigel

Power boat and pilot experiance a big advantage but personally i think the main attributes are intelligence, level headedness and courage! Those attributes with pilot and power boat experiance then thats the man or men for the job so ted and stu are the right ones. Ian lazenby

I read in donalds book ‘into the water barrier’ that when he applied power bluebird pulled to one side due to the gyroscopic forces of the engine spinning. Does any one know of Ted or Stu experienced this ??. Ian lazenby

longarmedgibbon wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:06 pm Power boat and pilot experiance a big advantage but personally i think the main attributes are intelligence, level headedness and courage! Those attributes with pilot and power boat experiance then thats the man or men for the job so ted and stu are the right ones. Ian lazenby

The most important is discipline in any venture of this sort. Lack of discipline? Example was making a second run 4 minutes after the end of the first. This whole project stems at the end of the day from that lack of discipline, for whatever reason it was made (I get such thoughts with HMRC letters too). I am not having a go at the memory of anyone BTW, it is just an example.

Canopener Al wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:20 pm

longarmedgibbon wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:06 pm Power boat and pilot experiance a big advantage but personally i think the main attributes are intelligence, level headedness and courage! Those attributes with pilot and power boat experiance then thats the man or men for the job so ted and stu are the right ones. Ian lazenby

The most important is discipline in any venture of this sort. Lack of discipline? Example was making a second run 4 minutes after the end of the first. This whole project stems at the end of the day from that lack of discipline, for whatever reason it was made (I get such thoughts with HMRC letters too). I am not having a go at the memory of anyone BTW, it is just an example.

Can I suggest that DC knew exactly what he was doing. Read my book if you want to understand that returning straight away had no bearing on the cause of the accident.

sheppane wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:53 pm

Canopener Al wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:20 pm

longarmedgibbon wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:06 pm Power boat and pilot experiance a big advantage but personally i think the main attributes are intelligence, level headedness and courage! Those attributes with pilot and power boat experiance then thats the man or men for the job so ted and stu are the right ones. Ian lazenby

The most important is discipline in any venture of this sort. Lack of discipline? Example was making a second run 4 minutes after the end of the first. This whole project stems at the end of the day from that lack of discipline, for whatever reason it was made (I get such thoughts with HMRC letters too). I am not having a go at the memory of anyone BTW, it is just an example.

Can I suggest that DC knew exactly what he was doing. Read my book if you want to understand that returning straight away had no bearing on the cause of the accident.

Really.. Are you an aerodynamist or did DMC tell why he returned into his own wash? The film of the the return run is clear, the boat was unstable and if the thrust line did change with the fuel running out and Bill has always said K7 has downthrust, it would have had the effect of the raising of the bow and 300+ MPH airflow aerodynamics taking over. On that stop he was supposed to make, he should have refuelled. Leo Villa wrote in his first book on the subject that the calculations for K7 were always for flat calm conditions. I take his word for it. Licenced Aircraft Engineer is my profession by the way and aerodynamics is one subject I had to take for the ticket.

Centre of Pressure getting too far forward of Centre of Gravity is not usually a good thing for Aircraft or Hydroplanes or Land Speed Record Cars. Actually it is pretty bad if you cannot control it by other means.

For those who may not know, the Quick Return (without refueling) had been tried & tested, several times, by DMC in K7 - in its final form - before 4Jan67. That being over the Christmas/New Years holidays, when he took K7 out, with just a few people to help him.

I have read Neils book - I have just been re-reading part of it, to better understand the operation and characteristics of the Water Brake. I have no problem with the analysis of the events of 4th Jan67, as presented there. I do not believe the Quick Return was an error or mistake, by DMC. While there were some effects from Run 1, he got through those OK, near the start. After that the water was good.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

IM

Canopener Al wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:54 pm

sheppane wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:53 pm

Canopener Al wrote: ↑Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:20 pm

The most important is discipline in any venture of this sort. Lack of discipline? Example was making a second run 4 minutes after the end of the first. This whole project stems at the end of the day from that lack of discipline, for whatever reason it was made (I get such thoughts with HMRC letters too). I am not having a go at the memory of anyone BTW, it is just an example.

Can I suggest that DC knew exactly what he was doing. Read my book if you want to understand that returning straight away had no bearing on the cause of the accident.

Really.. Are you an aerodynamist or did DMC tell why he returned into his own wash? The film of the the return run is clear, the boat was unstable and if the thrust line did change with the fuel running out and Bill has always said K7 has downthrust, it would have had the effect of the raising of the bow and 300+ MPH airflow aerodynamics taking over. On that stop he was supposed to make, he should have refuelled. Leo Villa wrote in his first book on the subject that the calculations for K7 were always for flat calm conditions. I take his word for it. Licenced Aircraft Engineer is my profession by the way and aerodynamics is one subject I had to take for the ticket.

Two things Mr 'Canopener'.

Why are some people so aggressive on Discusion Forum's? There is absolutely no need to be rude, and my reply certainly did not give you cause to be so.

The second thing is this.

Keith Mitchell and I (Neil Sheppard) did literally hundreds of hours of analysis with the full co-operation of Prof John Stollery (Consultant aero dynamicist retained by the Norris bros and DC) from Imperial College and latterly Cranfield and Mr AE James (managing director of Norris Bros and project manager for the 1966 rebuild). Tony carried out the post crash analysis in 1967. The conclusions we came to are on a basis of that work and are fully endorsed by Mr James and the late Prof Stollery. I suggest again that you take time to read our analysis before repeating the conclusion that Campbell hit his own wash when Bluebird left the water. Its a little bit more complicated than that.