Eighty years on, record-breaker Bluebird is still making waves

His Bluebird K3 speedboat was the stuff of adventures, motivated by a very British desire to defeat the Americans. It set not one, but three records in the 1930s. Now – almost 80 years on – Bluebird is back on the water, after avid collector Karl Foulkes-Halbard restored the hydroplane to her former glory. Yesterday Sir Malcolm’s K3 hit speeds of 52mph as part of a set of test runs on Bewl Water, in Kent. It was a far cry from the 130.91mph in reached in its pomp, but was still impressive.

Mr Foulkes-Halbard, who piloted it on test runs, said: “It’s a pretty wild experience, even at just over 50mph. I can only take my hat off to Sir Malcolm Campbell, who was doing more than double those speeds.”

Bluebird K3 was commissioned in 1937 and set three world water speed records, two in two days on Lake Maggiore in 1937, then raising the bar to 130.91mph in Switzerland in August 1938.

Sir Malcolm’s son, Donald Campbell, who was himself a British speed record breaker, died during a speed attempt at Coniston Water in the Lake District in 1967.