This is not information we had intended to place in the public domain.
However, following a series of social media videos published by Bill Smith, and the subsequent commentary they have generated, we feel it is necessary to explain factually what has taken place since Bluebird K7 returned to Coniston in 2024.
When Bluebird K7 returned to Coniston in 2024 it was done legally via a Tomlin Order which Bill Smith initiated.
The well-publicised ownership dispute had been ongoing since 2018 and we entered into mediation in October 2023, then out of the blue, on 26th January 2024, the day following exchange of costs budgets for the impending court case, we received an offer via our solicitors which said Bill Smith and The Bluebird Project Ltd (BBP) would hand back Bluebird K7, walk away, and each side would pay their own costs to date.
After some further negotiation it was agreed that Bluebird K7 would be returned to Coniston completely intact but minus the engine (which was on loan to BBP by a third party) everything else was to go with the boat, including the launch and recovery cradle. Bill Smith also agreed to pay £25,000 compensation towards our costs on behalf of himself and of BBP.
On the 8th February 2024 the Tomlin Order was signed and Bluebird K7 legally became the undisputed property of The Ruskin Museum.
We arranged for Bluebird K7 to be collected, initially we wanted to collect her on the 24th February but Bill Smith pushed this back to the 9th March, 23 years and 1 day since K7 was recovered.
During this period, photographs showing Bill Smith’s signature added to K7’s nose badge were shared on social media. As K7 was by then the indisputable legal property of The Ruskin Museum, we considered this alteration to be unlawful and made note of our concerns.
We collected her on the 9th March and as many of you will know she received an amazing welcome back into Coniston.
When we got her into the Bluebird wing it became apparent that she had been meddled with. Bill Smith had always driven the narrative that K7 wouldn’t fit in the Bluebird Wing without taking the tail fin off. As the wing was built around K7 we knew this wasn’t true, but after getting her in the wing, and coming to take the engine covers off, we found that a lot of the bolts holding the engine covers down had been rounded off, some even glued in, in an attempt, we assume to make it difficult to take the tail fin off outside (which Bill had stated we needed to do) but of course we didn’t.
We unloaded all the parts we had been given and it became apparent that major parts were missing, but the thought of having to go via the courts to retrieve them was too onerous and very likely costly so we decided to replace what was missing, and we chose not to make this public knowledge at the time.
When K7 returned in March 2024 we also announced our aspiration put her back on Coniston Water to complete the circle.
She spent a year on display in the wing, apart from her trip to the Royal Motor Yacht Club to commemorate the return of the World Water Speed Record Challenge Cup to the UK, when she also took in a trip to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and a visit to Salmesbury where K7 had been built in 1953/4.
In Feb 2025 she was taken to Horizon Aircraft Services at St Athan to have her engine fitted in preparation for her running in May 2026.
We had hoped it would be a fairly straight forward job because all that should have happened was the engine had been taken out, and some parts needed to be replaced, which we were already aware of.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t have been more wrong…Our engineers identified that integrity of the hydraulic accumulator and electrical systems appeared to have been compromised, among other things and major remedial work was required.
Bolts had been removed making the boat unsafe, wires had been cut, historically sourced cockpit gauges had been removed and replaced with sub-standard inappropriate gauges.
So, what should have been a simple fitting of the engine and systems turned into a mammoth task of remedial repairs.
K7 was due to be back in the Museum for 23rd March 2025 for Donald’s birthday so we had to place the engine inside, unconnected, and arrange for her to have the remedial work done in November 2025.
We had always intended to check everything over, but because of what had been found we had to go over every element of K7 with a fine-tooth comb and that meant having her structure checked over too, as we couldn’t trust this too hadn’t been compromised.
Therefore, since November 2025, after her visit to the Lady Mayor’s Show in London, Bluebird K7 has been in the workshop having the structural checks and remedial work done and getting her ready for May 2026.
It is important to clarify that we are 100% certain that most of the Bluebird Project volunteers were unaware of what had been done to the boat, and the vast majority of the BBP are decent, honest people who only want the best for K7.
In December 2025, we invited most of the original members of BBP to be involved with the May event, and at this time we told them what had been found by our engineers.
We do believe that what was done to K7 was carried out by a select minority and for that reason these individuals were not asked to be a part of the event.
Most of the team elected to walk away from BBP when they found out about what we had found on K7, but a few remained and defended the actions.
We didn’t want to have to share this information in the public domain, however yet again we are being publicly criticised, bordering on the defamatory and accused of “damage” to our own property when the irony is it that, significant “damage” had already occurred before we received her in 2024.
We have made some reversible modifications to Bluebird K7 to allow her to run safely in 2026, some were requested by the Water Safety Team, and we make no apology for that. It is not possible in this day and age to run a 70-year-old craft without making it comply with 2026 safety aspects.
If Donald Campbell wanted to run his boat with him piloting it, that was his choice, but the Ruskin Museum has to make K7 and the whole risk of running her as “As Low As Reasonably Practicable”, especially when we’re asking our Pilots, Dave Warby and DJ Gibbs to get into the cockpit.
We have always said there will be a static “original” vessel and a running craft, but please be under no illusion, modifications were made by BBP which deviated from the original 1967 specification including fitting a completely different engine and off board air start system.
The engine currently in K7 is identical to that which BBP had fitted, an Orpheus 10101. Our No.1 engine came with full paperwork and is effectively a brand-new engine. Our No.2 Engine is also the same type. Orpheus 701 type engines as fitted for Donald Campbell’s 1966/67 campaign are now very rare indeed and so this change is the “next best thing” available.
We are receiving quite a number of emails and messages, because people are watching Bill Smiths YouTube videos where he very convincingly tells people that he has been kicked out with nothing, when in fact he walked away of his own volition.
A copy of the factual timeline is available on the Ruskin Museum Website, along with the original Deed of Gift, donating Bluebird K7 to the Ruskin Museum and a copy of the Tomlin order outlining the legal agreement which all parties signed up to. https://ruskinmuseum.com/bluebird-k7-a-timeline/
We didn’t want to make this public but unfortunately it feels that our hand has been forced in order to explain and defend ourselves.
