11th May 2026 saw Donald Campbell’s jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 return to the waters of Coniston for Bluebird K7 – The Festival.

In 1967, at around 320mph, Bluebird K7 suffered a catastrophic crash instantly killing Donald Campbell and scattering K7s remains across the Coniston lakebed.

In 2001, following a search spearheaded by Bill Smith, a commercial dive team recovered K7 from her watery grave. Later that year, Donald Campbell’s body was found, recovered and finally laid to rest in the Coniston cemetery.

In late 2001, Bill Smith, and the Bluebird Project volunteers, started restoration of K7.

In 2018, after 17 years of meticulous restoration, K7 returned to the water, running on Loch Fad, running at speeds up to 150mph.

In 2024, K7 returned to Coniston and its new permanent home in a purpose built wing of the Ruskin Museum.

K7 was designed to run, so plans were set in motion for K7 to have a new engine and to return to the waters of Coniston. 3dMB are proud to have played a small part in enabling K7’s return to Coniston Water.

3dMB’s involvement was twofold:

  1. To carry out an in-water survey of the Coniston boatyard slipway, to ensure that there were no sub-surface hazards that could endanger the in-water launch and recovery crew, or K7 herself.
  2. To provide an in-water camera platform for K7’s floatation tests, after having her new engine fitted.

Using our Blue Robotics BlueROV2 Rachael, mounted with a Deep Water Exploration ExploreHD camera, 3dMB performed an in-water photogrammetry survey of the slipway, resulting in a scaled digital 3D point cloud and mesh, as well as a Digital Elevation Model and Orthomosaic. These datasets were crucial for the water safety team to assess for hidden hazards at the launch and recovery point.

Below are the DEM & Orthmosaic of the Coniston Boatyard Slipway.

In addition to performing the survey, 3dMB also provided ROV training to the water safety team for the second phase of our involvement.

K7’s new engine is different to the one that powered her across Loch Fad, so floatation tests in a controlled environment were carried out before K7’s return to Coniston.

In keeping with the color scheme, 3dMB supplied ROV Rachael, to be operated by Paul Womack, of the Bluebird water safety team. Again we mounted a Deep Water Exploration ExploreHD camera, as well as DivePRO D40F dive video lights, pointing directly up, to provide real-time views of K7’s underbelly, while she was in the water.

We chose the Deep Water Exploration ExploreHD camera for these applications due to its small size, great image quality, low latency, easy integration with Blue Robotics Cockpit software, and above all, its ability to be deployed in any orientation the ROV operator wishes. This little camera definitely punches above its weight!