Original Bluebird powerboat restored in Polegate

K3 Bluebird Run - Coming soon from Phill Beaney on Vimeo.

Original Bluebird powerboat restored in Polegate

Hot on the heels of my post the other week on the Land Speed Record holders of the 1920s and '30s, which featured in part Sir Malcolm Campbell and his Blue Bird speed cars, comes this news of the restoration of Malcolm Campbell's Blue Bird K3 powerboat that he used to capture the Water Speed Record in 1937 and 1938 following his triumphant retirement from the land speed race.

As I mentioned the Water Speed Record was if anything even more dangerous than the Land Speed Record since it claimed the lives of Sir Henry Segrave in 1930 and of course Malcolm Campbell's own son Donald in 1967.  Malcolm Campbell, along with his contemporaries Kaye Don and American Garfield Wood, would be one of the few speed record holders to survive to old age.

Blue Bird K3 was built for Campbell at the beginning of 1937 with the aim being to take back the Water Speed Record from the American Gar Wood, who had held it at 124.86mph since 1932.  Campbell elected to use the same Rolls-Royce R aero engine that he had used in his last Blue Bird car (and which both Segrave and Kaye Don had also used in their powerboats, the Miss England series), in fact one of the three engines he ended up using during his various runs had been fitted to the Campbell-Railton Blue Bird previously).  On the 1st September 1937 at Lake Maggiore on the Swiss-Italian border Campbell succeeded in raising the Water Speed Record to 126.32mph in Blue Bird K3.  Unsatisfied with a mere 2mph improvement he went to Lake Hallwyl in Switzerland the following year and raised it just past the 130mph mark - to 130.91mph.  This proved to be about the limit of K3's capabilities so Campbell set about having a completely new boat built, the K4. 

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Sir Malcolm Campbell's good fortune is now ours as despite initially using K3's engine in K4 the boat itself was not destroyed and by 1988 it had found its way into the Foulkes Halbard Collection, part of the Filching Manor Motor Museum that is dedicated to the Campbell family's many successes.  Having undergone a slow yet full restoration in the ensuing 24 years Blue Bird K3 has now begun to be put through its paces once again on Bewl Water in Kent, as this news article and accompanying footage shows.  Although so far only a short 40mph test run, it is hoped that Blue Bird K3 will return to Lake Maggiore next year and travel a bit faster.  I doubt 130mph will be on the cards, though!

Nevertheless this is yet another great example of two decades' hard work paying off handsomely, honouring the memory of Sir Malcolm Campbell and bringing an historically important machine back to its best for enthusiasts and future generations to appreciate and experience.

Video reveals life on the Broads in 1930s

Video reveals life on the Broads in 1930s

Another wonderful find thanks to the tireless efforts of a devoted archivist, who has uncovered these delightful cine films of a family's holidays on the Norfolk Broads in the early 1930s.

Even this 3½-minute clip contains myriad delights, some sadly long since vanished but others seemingly unchanged from today, so what unseen attractions the whole 45 minutes must contain one can scarcely imagine. I suppose I'll have to buy the DVD to find out!

Then again, I have a rough idea as a lot of my family reside in Norfolk and we went on a tour of the Broads ourselves back in the mid-90s (note to self: must go back again soon!). So a lot of the places featured in this clip I am familiar with, places like Oulton Broad, Stokesby and Wroxham (the bridge at Wroxham, from 2:38 in the film, I have gone both over and under on more than one occasion!).

As I've said some of the things have long since vanished such as the row-boats laden with hay and the hand-cranked water pumps, not to mention the working drainage windmills. Yet on the other hand, as the article mentions, parts of the film contain footage that those of us who know the area would still recognise.

In fact, this has spurred me to dig out some old photographs that I took at the time of our Broads holiday and to which, using my [very] limited knowledge of Photoshop, I have attempted to approximate the same Thirties look. You can see them dotted about this post, and I hope you agree that some haven't turned out too badly and that they give a good idea of what I mean when I say that some aspects of the Broads have changed little in 80 years.

The Norfolk archivist, Mrs Carol Gingell, who came into possession of these films is to be commended for creating a valuable collection of local historic images and for taking such good care of this important footage by seeing that it is preserved on DVD for others to enjoy. It has certainly brought back happy family holiday memories for me, as well as enchanting me with excerpts of brilliant Thirties living and another generation's enjoyment of the same trip.

Historic wooden car floated at auction

Historic wooden car floated at auction

Wood has long been used as part of automobile manufacturing, although these days it tends to be reserved for the dashboards of higher-end luxury cars. The exceptions to this rule are the likes of Morgan, who still use ash wood as part of the frame in their cars, Rolls-Royce - whose Phantom Drophead Coupe has teak decking as part of the roof-covering mechanism - and the bizarre Splinter concept from a couple of years ago. It's all a long way from the old Morris Minor Traveller of the 1960s, isn't it?



Long before that, though, wood was being used in abundance in car design. Wood was plentiful, surprisingly strong yet able to be made into various shapes and in any number of sizes. The nautical look was also popular in the first three decades of the twentieth century as car makers tried to create a link between the then-luxuries of motoring and sailing. Sea-faring terms like "boat-tail" and "skiff" were applied to vehicular offerings, such as this ultra-rare (only 5 made) 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Labourdette.


The car that features in this article, a 1932 Talbot, was originally just another normal saloon of standard Thirties design and didn't actually acquire its magnificently-built wooden body until the 1960s. Happily the chap who owned it obviously appreciated the Art Deco design of the period and found himself an immensely talented boat-builder to perform the actual transformation. What resulted is a unique piece of automotive design - even the likes of that Rolls skiff still used metal forward of the windscreen, whereas this Talbot's body is wood from the grille to the tail-light.

I find it hard to believe that such a beautifully skilled piece of construction is only estimated to make between £20,000 and £30,000 at auction (says the man who would struggle to afford a tenth of that right now!) and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it easily exceed the higher figure. Whoever ends up buying it, I hope he enjoys varnishing!

'Spitfires of the sea' saved for the nation by £580,000 grant

'Spitfires of the sea' saved for the nation by £580,000 grant


More good news for those of us with a fondness for [military] history. These boats and the stories of the actions they took part in during the Second World War can now be preserved rather than consigned to the junk pile of the past. If it helps to keep alive the memories of the courage and skill of the men who commanded them (and it will) and preserves historical machinery so that people today and in years to come can appreciate it then it is money well spent.