​Daughter’s tributes to Bluebird speed record breaker Donald Campbell 50 years on

THE only child of Bluebird speed record breaker Donald Campbell has described her dad as her “hero” on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Gina Campbell, 67, will lead a week of commemorations to her dad, who died 50 years ago attempting to break the world water speed record in the Lake District.

She will lay a wreath on the grave of her beloved father, and on the spot on Coniston Water, Cumbria, where he crashed on January 4, 1967.

Gina, who now lives in Leeds, told The Sunday Post: “I can’t believe it is 50 years since my father died.

“I remember him as a handsome young man and a dashing hero.

“I believe the way he died has immortalised him and made him a hero to so many people.

“He still has a worldwide following with books and replicas and other forms of hero worship, because he inspired so many people.

“If my father could have chosen how to die, I know what he would have chosen.

“I don’t dwell on the fact that he died in that accident, I dwell on the fact he was a hero who still has an amazing following.”

Campbell’s sleek Bluebird K7 soared and flipped at around 300mph before disappearing beneath the surface of the lake.

The two-and-a-half tonne, aluminium alloy boat sank into the silt where the lake is at its deepest, along with Campbell’s body.

For 34 years, the village followed the family’s wishes to leave it as a grave.

But towards the turn of the millennium, Gina became aware that diving technology had advanced and there was a risk the grave would be plundered.

So when Tyneside engineer Bill Smith came up with a plan to recover the boat, and with it Campbell’s body, Gina agreed, saying: “Find dad, so we can put him somewhere warm”.

This was achieved in 2001 and Campbell was buried later at Coniston cemetery.

However, the restoration of the recovered Bluebird is proving to be a long and arduous task.

An incredible 80,000 rusty rivets have had to be removed and replaced. A third of the boat has been rebuilt from scratch.

A large amount of work is done by a dedicated army of volunteers while Bill has become an expert at begging and borrowing from the Lancashire aeroplane industry.

But there’s now light at the end of the tunnel.

The restoration project is likely to be completed by next year.

Afterwards, Bluebird will be given one last run down Coniston Water before it is placed on permanent display in a Cumbrian museum.

Gina agrees the restoration job cannot be hurried.

“Of course I’m as impatient as anyone to see Bluebird back at Coniston – everybody is – but in the end only Bill will know when she is ready,” she has said previously.

Meanwhile, unseen colour footage of the fatal crash has emerged.

Kenneth Ireland, of Burneside, near Kendal, was on the shoreline with his cine camera.

After capturing Mr Campbell’s practice runs he recorded the moment it flipped.