Bluebird Recovery On Thursday 8th March 2001 Bluebird was recovered from Coniston Water where she had lain since the 4th of January 1967. Although it is fair to say that a lot of local people did not want the boat recovering from the lake, once it had been, most accepted it and moved on hoping that it would be  returned to Coniston some time in the future.  
We now have framed, colour photographs showing the recovery of Bluebird by Bill Smith and his team.
The Hero Returns On Monday 28th May 2001 it was announced that human remains had been recovered from Coniston Water and it was believed they were the remains of Donald Campbell. This was confirmed in August. The funeral took place on Wednesday 12th September in foul wet weather even by Coniston standards. A large crowd paid their respects to one of our country's greatest heroes and most respected men.  
The funeral of Donald Campbell is also represented in framed, colour photographs.    

Showing on a TV screen are colour clips of Donald and Bluebird from the 1966/67 record attempts. These clips are from the DVD "Campbell at Coniston" by John Lomax which is on sale at reception price £15.99.   
  

To complement the colour pictures of recent events we have a gallery of over 20 framed B/W pictures of Donald Campbell. These photographs really capture the many facets of the man.

In this area we also have cases of memorabilia and a large number of photographs relating to Sir Malcolm and Donald as well as Bluebird K4/K7. 
 

Black & White framed photographs

    
19" monitor display

Photographs on the walls work well but unfortunately you are limited by the amount of space available!
For some time we have been thinking of a way round this. We have now solved the problem.

A 19" wall mounted monitor shows 136 images of Donald Campbell, Bluebird, family, and team members. Our aim was to capture an all-round picture of Donald that is both inspiring and poignant to both casual and dedicated Campbell followers.
We think we have succeeded in this! 
A number of the images are from local people and have not been seen before.
The images change automatically every 4 seconds.

On the 6th January 2007, following the 40th Anniversary of Campbell's death which took place on the 4th, Bill Smith and his team brought another part of K7 for display at the museum. This time it was the aluminium air-intake from the Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus engine. It has undergone extensive conservation and looks very dramatic in the Campbell display next to the tailfin. These two significant items -  substantial remnants of a unique craft - provide tangible links to the Donald Campbell story. The museum is proud to be able to show them, and is very grateful to those people who have made it possible.

Come and view them first hand, and catch a glimpse of past engineering greatness and present conservation achievement!