Donald Campbell: Plea for return of restored Bluebird 'in one piece'

Bluebird K7 had been restored after being found at the bottom of Coniston Water

A museum has made a final plea to the restorer of Donald Campbell's Bluebird boat to give it back "in one piece".

A legal battle began in June between the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, Cumbria and restorer Bill Smith over the hydroplane's ownership.

Mr Smith said the museum had broken an agreement to "share" the craft and he did not want to dismantle pieces added to the wreck, but would if forced to.

Mr Campbell's daughter Gina said she was "appalled" at Mr Smith's behaviour.

Bill Smith recovered Bluebird's wreckage in 2001

Mr Campbell was killed trying to break the water speed record with Bluebird on Coniston in 1967.

Mr Smith recovered the wreckage in 2001 at Coniston and the restored craft made its return to water on Loch Fad, Scotland, in 2018.

Mr Campbell's family promised it to the museum.

Bluebird reached speeds up 150mph (240kph) on Loch Fad on the Isle of Bute in Scotland

Mr Smith said his team had restored about "half a boat" while the other half was built "from scratch" in his North Shields workshop.

In 2020 Mr Campbell's daughter called for it to be returned to the scene of her father's death in the Lake District, amid an earlier legal row over where it should be displayed.

Donald Campbell was killed during his world record attempt on Coniston Water in January 1967

Jeff Carroll, of the Board of Trustees at the Ruskin Museum, said the museum had written to Mr Smith asking for the K7 boat to be returned.

'Reprehensible'

He said: "We recognise the work Bill Smith and his team of volunteers have done, but he has broken the agreement we had with him.

"For him and his colleagues to threaten to take apart this British icon and remove his parts is reprehensible as it would destroy the original fabric of this historic record breaker."

He added: "We want K7 to return to Coniston and, ideally, for her to run on occasion.

"That has been our stated ideal for some time, but at every turn, Bill Smith has tried to retain control over the Museum's property and thwart our aims."

However, Mr Smith said that the museum had promised that his team could operate the craft on water for a certain part of the year and the Ruskin would have it for the rest of the time.

"That's where we were in 2013. Then in 2019 the museum said they weren't going to honour that agreement," he explained.

"We were given to understand we would have a life-long interest, to maintain it and keep it tip-top - that's where we got to in 2013 and we need to get there again.

"We don't want to see Bluebird locked in a museum - we want Bluebird out in the water where people can enjoy it."

He also said it was the museum that suggested dismantling the boat, not him.

'Enough is enough'

Ms Campbell said Mr Smith had not kept his side of the agreement and was behaving "appallingly".

"Enough is enough, I want my father's boat in the wing that was designed to house it without further delay," she said.