C
Cannock Chase Miner
Guest
Hi and Hello to all on the Birmingham Hitory forum. My Name is Novie Dzinora and I currently live in Coniston Cumbria. Prior to that I Lived in Rugeley In Staffordshire all my life and worked at Littleton Colliery for ex amount of years at Cannock . I have a Keen interest in Donald Campbell and his record breaking Hydroplane Bluebird K7. I am a Team Member of -the Bluebird project and at this moment in time we are restoring K7 to fully operational condition or if you like as she was on the morning of January 4th 1967 when she left the jetty in search of her 8th world record. However tragedy struck and Donald was killed on his return run when K7 left the water and dramaticly crashed in full public view of the media.
Anyway as I said we are restoring K7 and using as much original fabric as we possibly can in her restoration. We spent over six months retrieving as much of the boat from the lake bed before finalllly raising the large rear section that survived the crash amazingly still intacked. This was carried out on the 8th March 2001 some 34yrs after that tragic day. We have waisted 5yrs attempting to gain H.L.F funding to build an extension to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston in which to house Bluebird K7 and rebuild K7. However thats a long story of Goalposts being constantly moved and in the end Project Leader Bill Smith cuting them loose two years ago. We are going it alone and anybody wishing to to get a project update can go to www.bluebirdproject.com and check out the progress we are making in restoring this unique British record breaker. Just click on the Diary section for the latest or on the Diary archive for the complete story.
However we have a problem in the fact that we know that Burman made a Steering Box for K7 in 1954 but this is one part of the boat we have not been able to find in Coniston as picture evidence suggests it came out in 1967 in the search for Donald campbell. Also we have nothing to go off in the original drawings and plans of K7's construction. We are confident it was a Burman Steering Box as the Company appears in the launch brochure as a major sponsor back in 1954 but what is it from? Was it a one of special? Was it from a commercial vehicle of the time? It has been suggested by a former team member from 1955/56 that it was "a bulky piece of kit" as he puts it and could have come from a commercial vehicle from the fifities,forties or even as far back as the Thirties! He recalls being told it was taken from an earlier Bluebird Hydroplane! Possibly K4 Donalds Late fathers Sir Malcolm Campbells record breaking Hydroplane boat of 1939! In my quest to find information and searching the Web I came across the Birmingham History Forum and a posting by Nickcc101 Stating "Burman also made Steering Boxes "grabbed my attention! I would request that if anybody has any information on this Burman steering box could you Please get in touch. An old press release or advert anything that can give us a hint as to where it came from! Burman had factories in Birmingham could they have had other plants up north as K7 was built originally by samlesbury Engineering Preston Lancashire? I Apologise for not being able to contibute to your history forum but only seek information on the Steering box. Not to famliar with how this site works so will attempt to pick up the thread. The Moderators of the site have my email address if anything comes of this appeal please forward any usefull information should i loose the thread.
Many Thanks
Novie Dzinora
The Bluebird project
Anyway as I said we are restoring K7 and using as much original fabric as we possibly can in her restoration. We spent over six months retrieving as much of the boat from the lake bed before finalllly raising the large rear section that survived the crash amazingly still intacked. This was carried out on the 8th March 2001 some 34yrs after that tragic day. We have waisted 5yrs attempting to gain H.L.F funding to build an extension to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston in which to house Bluebird K7 and rebuild K7. However thats a long story of Goalposts being constantly moved and in the end Project Leader Bill Smith cuting them loose two years ago. We are going it alone and anybody wishing to to get a project update can go to www.bluebirdproject.com and check out the progress we are making in restoring this unique British record breaker. Just click on the Diary section for the latest or on the Diary archive for the complete story.
However we have a problem in the fact that we know that Burman made a Steering Box for K7 in 1954 but this is one part of the boat we have not been able to find in Coniston as picture evidence suggests it came out in 1967 in the search for Donald campbell. Also we have nothing to go off in the original drawings and plans of K7's construction. We are confident it was a Burman Steering Box as the Company appears in the launch brochure as a major sponsor back in 1954 but what is it from? Was it a one of special? Was it from a commercial vehicle of the time? It has been suggested by a former team member from 1955/56 that it was "a bulky piece of kit" as he puts it and could have come from a commercial vehicle from the fifities,forties or even as far back as the Thirties! He recalls being told it was taken from an earlier Bluebird Hydroplane! Possibly K4 Donalds Late fathers Sir Malcolm Campbells record breaking Hydroplane boat of 1939! In my quest to find information and searching the Web I came across the Birmingham History Forum and a posting by Nickcc101 Stating "Burman also made Steering Boxes "grabbed my attention! I would request that if anybody has any information on this Burman steering box could you Please get in touch. An old press release or advert anything that can give us a hint as to where it came from! Burman had factories in Birmingham could they have had other plants up north as K7 was built originally by samlesbury Engineering Preston Lancashire? I Apologise for not being able to contibute to your history forum but only seek information on the Steering box. Not to famliar with how this site works so will attempt to pick up the thread. The Moderators of the site have my email address if anything comes of this appeal please forward any usefull information should i loose the thread.
Many Thanks
Novie Dzinora
The Bluebird project
