Donald Campbell's restored Bluebird in museum home row

[Renegadenemo]

Donald Campbell is known to have said “Donald and boat stay together.” Returning Bluebird to Coniston where Campbell is buried will ensure, as best we can, that those wishes are fulfilled.

Indeed. He is known to have said it in Dumbelyung as folks tried to persuade him to leave for Blighty as a record attempt seemed a lost cause as 1964 drew to a close when he preferred to stay and take his chances.

Deliberately quoted out of context or simply ignorant of the history?

[Filtertron]

Donald Campbell is known to have said “Donald and boat stay together.” Returning Bluebird to Coniston where Campbell is buried will ensure, as best we can, that those wishes are fulfilled.

Indeed. He is known to have said it in Dumbelyung as folks tried to persuade him to leave for Blighty as a record attempt seemed a lost cause as 1964 drew to a close when he preferred to stay and take his chances.

Deliberately quoted out of context or simply ignorant of the history?

I'd say a little from Column A, and a little from Column B.

Off topic a little; are you aware they're making a movie about K7 at Dumbleyung?

[ace_chris]

Hi Bill has the silence been deafening from the museum or is there any news?

“We would be grateful also if you would have your response with us no later than 4.00pm on Saturday 13th April in order that we may make the most efficient use of the limited time remaining.

Should we not hear from you by this time we shall take this to mean that you have no comment or wish of involvement in either instance and that we are free to proceed and will therefore issue a press release on Monday 15th April 2019 to the effect that K7 will be displayed running on the water for public benefit in Scotland between July 19th and July 29th 2019.”

[Renegadenemo]

Hi Bill has the silence been deafening from the museum or is there any news?

You are not allowed to ask too many questions and there will be more to follow but keep some time free end of July - we're going back to Bute. we'll issue a formal statement in due course.

[ace_chris]

Thats brilliant news Bill! Massive congratulations to you and the team!!

[auldescort]

Excellent news

[sheppane]

Donald Campbell is known to have said “Donald and boat stay together.” Returning Bluebird to Coniston where Campbell is buried will ensure, as best we can, that those wishes are fulfilled.

Indeed. He is known to have said it in Dumbelyung as folks tried to persuade him to leave for Blighty as a record attempt seemed a lost cause as 1964 drew to a close when he preferred to stay and take his chances.

Deliberately quoted out of context or simply ignorant of the history?

I have never seen any evidence that DC stated that boat and Donald say together. If that was the case, why did the RN spend 2 weeks with the full backing of both the Campbell Family and Leo Villa attempting to recover his body after the tragedy. It makes no sense. This is an anecdote that I believe gained currency long after the crash. LV in his book The Record Breakers speaks of these efforts and evidence of the time, and correspondence between Futcher and LV records how disappointed all were that recovery of DC's body had not been possible. Both Gina and Tony James outright refuted the suggestion that DC remain on the lake bed if recovery was possible. The decision not to recover K7 was taken at the time because the team felt they knew what had gone wrong. I don't doubt for one second Leo's sincerity, or the care for his best friend, but I do doubt that this was DC's expressed wish, and the way is now been used as a fact to justify their position re the future of K7. The fact that DC wanted the team to carry on his work with K7, if possible, should anything happen to him personally adds futher evidence against the viewpoint.

[Renegadenemo]

I have never seen any evidence that DC stated that boat and Donald say together. If that was the case, why did the RN spend 2 weeks with the full backing of both the Campbell Family and Leo Villa attempting to recover his body after the tragedy. It makes no sense. This is an anecdote that I believe gained currency long after the crash. LV in his book The Record Breakers speaks of these efforts and evidence of the time, and correspondence between Futcher and LV records how disappointed all were that recovery of DC's body had not been possible. Both Gina and Tony James outright refuted the suggestion that DC remain on the lake bed if recovery was possible. The decision not to recover K7 was taken at the time because the team felt they knew what had gone wrong. I don't doubt for one second Leo's sincerity, or the care for his best friend, but I do doubt that this was DC's expressed wish, and the way is now been used as a fact to justify their position re the future of K7. The fact that DC wanted the team to carry on his work with K7, if possible, should anything happen to him personally adds futher evidence against the viewpoint.

So there you have it from the man himself. I for one would not question Neil's authority when it comes to DMC's history so thanks for that' Neil.

On another matter, following much tooing and froing these past few weeks we were seriously running out of time because the army has one again kindly offered to help but has a deadline to get what's needed together to install our slipway. Remember that we were supposed to be running on Coniston so we got a fair way down the road of recruiting, organising, taking holidays, etc. before the gig was pulled so the plan was just to take the vacated dates and run elsewhere. Anyway - having finally reached the point where we believe we have a workable understanding with our museum partner there's simply no more time to play with so the army has been asked to go ahead and we're prepping to go back to Bute this summer at the end of July. After that we'll do a the requisite strip-inspection then settle into finally getting all the restoration work finished and the paperwork done.

We'll issue a full statement in the next 24 hours

[Ernie Lazenby]

Bill are you saying that the Ruskin Trustees have agreed to K7 running on Bute in 2019 or is it a decision you have taken unilaterally?
I am sure many folk will want to be sure holiday arrangements plane flights etc will not be wasted?

[Renegadenemo]

Bill are you saying that the Ruskin Trustees have agreed to K7 running on Bute in 2019 or is it a decision you have taken unilaterally?
I am sure many folk will want to be sure holiday arrangements plane flights etc will not be wasted?

There is now a much fuller understanding of where everyone stands and if there's any wasted travel / accommodation it won't be because of anything we have done. We're up for telling Bluebird's story and giving the public the best possible sensory experience.