Longbow Jet Hydroplane: A Personal Journey to Break the World Water Speed Record

The Outright/Unlimited World Water Speed Record relates to the fastest average speed in both directions, within the hour through an optionally measured kilometre or mile, and is generally considered to be the record for the fastest boat in the world. Historically, this record is homologated by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) based in Monaco, with the trophy for it being owned and awarded since 1937 by the Royal Motor Yacht Club (RYMC), in association with the UIM.

Donald Campbell CBE in his all-metal jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 held both record and trophy several times, with holiday camp entrepreneur Billy Butlin MBE regularly awarding his friend Donald a considerable monetary prize for doing so. Campbell’s last successful record was 276.33mph, achieved in 1964.

Wishing to exceed that record, Bluebird’s original engine, a Metropolitan Vickers F.2/4 ‘Beryl’ pure thrust turbojet, was replaced with a more powerful Bristol Siddeley Orpheus of 4,500 lbs static thrust. Unfortunately, on the 4th of January 1967, at around 290mph, Donald was killed on Coniston Water in the Lake District when Bluebird blew over and crashed, sinking to the bottom of the lake, where both boat and Donald remained until being recovered in 2001. As for the record, it was then taken later in the same year Campbell crashed, by American Lee Taylor in a primarily wooden hull jet hydroplane called Hustler at 285.22mph.

Coniston Water at the time Bluebird crashed was part of the County of Lancashire, rather than Cumbria as it is today. Remarkably, there were no rescue divers immediately on scene, so Royal Navy divers were brought in to search the lake bed, both for Donald and Bluebird’s wreckage. Lancashire Police, having no dedicated divers of their own, appealed to the public for civilian divers to assist, and my parents’ friends, being members of Blackpool Sub Aqua Club, volunteered to help. As part of that, and as a young child, we went up to Coniston and I recall being stood on the shoreline, with my parents watching our family friends dive upon Bluebird and aid in the search.

As I grew older, I went on to read as much as I could upon the subject matter, and as part of my engineering qualifications, I undertook a dissertation upon Bluebird, for which the boat’s designers, the Norris Brothers, kindly supplied me with a considerable degree of technical information.

During 2005-2008, I assisted volunteers with the restoration of Bluebird, including recovering wreckage material of the craft from Coniston Water. During that time, I became friends with Donald’s daughter Gina, herself twice holding the Women’s World Water Speed Record. I was also approached by Chartered Engineer Ken Wheeler, who, being a Managing Director of a Norris Brothers company, had been involved with Bluebird for its last attempt. A friendship developed with Ken mentoring me through the engineering analysis of the craft and of jet hydroplanes in general.

During this period, I also became friends with Australian David Warby, whose father Ken was awarded an MBE in 1978 for achieving the current record of 317.596mph with his primarily wooden hull jet hydroplane, Spirit of Australia (SOA), powered by a turbojet of 3,400 lbs static thrust. SOA is now permanently displayed at the National Maritime Museum, Australia.

From 2008-2012, I assisted Helical Technology with building their full-sized loose replica of Bluebird called Silverbird K777, for which I sourced Orpheus engines and worked with gas turbine engineers who mentored me through rebuilding and running them. I also became friends with several people involved with hydroplanes in the USA, notably Doug Ford, H1 Unlimited Chief Engineer and former aeronautical engineer who shared his analysis of high-speed hydroplanes with me, Steve Comptom of the vintage unlimited hydroplane Miss Thriftway, and Ron Jones Sr, who built many successful boats including unlimited hydroplanes. During 2012, I assisted with the logistics of bringing the American unlimited hydroplane U-11 to the annual international Coniston Records Week event, where the boat achieved a class record of 175.11mph.

Whilst involved with the Silverbird K777 project, I was approached by RAF pilot David-John Gibbs (DJ), who flies helicopters, fixed wing aircraft including jets, races a hydroplane, and has a steam-powered boat. From that friendship, we discussed David-John’s desire to drive a jet hydroplane and, as a part of that, make a credible British attempt upon the Outright World Water Speed Record. DJ is still serving in the RAF.

David Warby informed me that he intended to build a primarily wooden hull successor to SOA called, not surprisingly, Spirit of Australia 2 (SOA2) with increased power over SOA by way of an Orpheus turbojet, which, as previously mentioned, powered Bluebird on her last record attempt. Through my friendship with David and being the sportsman that he is, it was suggested that I build a jet hydroplane to provide him with credible international competition for the record. David’s father Ken assisted building SOA2 over several years but sadly passed away in 2023. Since 2017, SOA2 has been trialled on the water with David recently reaching peak speeds of around 280mph.

As the Ruskin Museum, who own Bluebird, intend to run her at just enough speed for her to hydroplane at an event upon Coniston Water next year, I sourced them Orpheus engines and provided them with considerable technical information regarding the craft. I placed them in contact with my friend Pete Walker, who knows the Orpheus very well, and the Museum are employing him to install one of those engines within Bluebird. Having previously worked with aircraft canopy manufacturer Mecaplex to form Silverbird’s canopy, I introduced them to the Museum to make one for Bluebird, and through my friendship with David Warby and David-John Gibbs, the Museum announced them both to be the drivers of Bluebird at that event.

The jet hydroplane that we are building in my cottage workshop on the Fylde coast, Lancashire, is called Longbow after the English weapon that is probably the most famous wooden bow in the world. Those with a keen eye may note that within the word longbow are the letters ‘GB’, which for our purpose seemed rather apt for a jet hydroplane built in Great Britain. Additionally, given the archery longbow was made from wood, the name also reflects our jet hydroplane hull being made primarily of wood, for which it is said to be nature’s own composite material and hence why for centuries it has been used for ships crossing the roughest of seas.

HMS visited the restored original Bluebird K7 – Watch the walkaround tour

Flt Lt David-John Gibbs is Longbow’s driver, and our design engineer is the talented Paul Martin, who has worked upon such prestigious projects as the McLaren F1 Supercar, Indy car racing, along with the Aussie Invader and Bloodhound land speed record cars.

Longbow is being built by volunteers in their spare time with assistance from industry both national and international, along with involvement of students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Blackpool & Fylde College, and Swansea University under the Government educational initiative of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). For the first time, we recently opened the workshop doors to the television cameras of the BBC and ITV, who both had asked to interview us about the venture, along with appearing upon BBC radio, commercial radio, and various press articles, for which we are very pleased Longbow has been so warmly received by the public and media alike.

Longbow at present is financed by ourselves along with product and support from sponsors, but we welcome discussions with those who may read this article and wish to become involved directly or indirectly. Irrespective of any record attempt, pure thrust jet hydroplanes are a very rare type of craft, and just to see Longbow, which is the first twin turbojet hydroplane with a combined static thrust of 7,000 lbs (twice that of the current record holder), running regularly and much quicker than the historic restored Bluebird will be allowed, and all within a National Park setting, will make Longbow an awe-inspiring sight and sound experience.

The media, including television, having now filmed and broadcast their initial visit to Longbow, have promised us that, along with the public crowds, they will be attending regularly to cover her being developed safely over time, thereby providing an excellent and protracted high-profile marketing platform for our sponsors.

When Bluebird was first built, her bow was awash, requiring a major redesign to get her to hydroplane, but even then she had several issues that were never fully resolved. She sank on more than one occasion, and her Orpheus conversion for the last attempt was, in our view, a disaster from start to finish. Her air intakes collapsed and she suffered engine shutdowns whilst running at speed, which was a factor in her crash. Accordingly, despite her achievements, our admiration, and us working upon her restoration, she is not our primary inspiration for Longbow. If we had to choose a jet hydroplane that was, it would be Rich Hallett’s beautiful, successful Hustler for Lee Taylor, closely followed by the Warby’s boats.

A primary requirement when designing and building Longbow has been for us to provide a safer cockpit than previous record holders. Whilst one obviously aims to not have a major accident, nevertheless it has to be considered. In that respect, and unlike SOA2 and previous record boats where their cockpit is a permanent fixture within the hull, with Longbow we have opted for a cockpit type similar to the propeller-driven drag boats in the USA. Reaching speeds of 270mph, these craft have a life-saving system of a self-contained capsule with driver inside that, in the event of a crash, completely detaches from the main hull, and that capsule is then left floating upon the lake surface for rescue to easily and safely recover.

In 2013, the UIM altered their rules for cockpits of craft attempting water speed records exceeding 150mph from a straightforward sample panel test, to additionally requiring engineering analysis to show that the integrity of the cockpit would remain intact for the speeds being attempted (see UIM Circuit rule 601.01). In light of this cockpit rule change and in conversation with David Warby, his intention at time of writing this article appears to be to run SOA2 outside of the UIM governance.

David’s view, as I understand it, is if he exceeds 317.596mph average speed on the same course his father ran, he will then be able to request Guinness World Records acknowledge the achievement. Under such circumstances, the RYMC would presumably then have to decide whether or not they would award their Trophy to David Warby, given historically it is awarded to those where the UIM homologate the attempt.

As for ourselves, at time of writing the article, we are just about ready to submit our cockpit analysis for Longbow to the UIM Safety Cockpit Committee for their consideration.

The risks of a jet hydroplane having an unplanned engine shutdown due to bird strike by waterfowl whilst running at speed on the lake are a very real possibility. SOA, SOA2 had them, and Bluebird had two within a fortnight.

Twin engines are not an unusual design with aircraft, and amongst the reasons for this are matters of safety, as one engine still providing thrust allows the plane to maintain stable flight if the other engine shuts down. With a jet hydroplane where stability is critical, engine thrust being above the water surface is to some degree keeping the bow of the hydroplane down. One of the reasons for Bluebird blowing over was her single engine suffered a shutdown with resultant total loss of thrust. However, with Longbow having twin engines, if one engine shuts down, she still has thrust from her other engine to aid keeping the bow down. Longbow’s small diameter/low height engines also aid stability, keeping her centre of gravity low in the hull, compared to larger diameter/taller engines.

Competitors may run model tests, but water does not scale very well when comparing models to full-sized craft, such that they are a poor substitute for a person’s experience of actually driving a boat at these very high speeds. In that respect, David Warby’s debriefing to us from running SOA2, especially as he approaches 300mph, and recollections from his father about what it was like driving a boat that fast and beyond, has been highly beneficial to us with Longbow.

The primary difficulty with breaking this record will not be a lack of engine thrust. Bluebird, Hustler, SOA, and SOA2 all had/have enough thrust to exceed 317mph. The primary challenge is in keeping the boat stable over the distances required to accelerate, pass through the timing trap, stop, and then do it all again in the other direction.

With a land speed record, there is suspension keeping the vehicle stable; their course is levelled, removing any debris from it. A boat, on the other hand, has no suspension and reacts to the ever-changing surface conditions that inevitably contain floating debris. With water around 800 times more dense than air, it is all a highly delicate balancing act with rudder and fixed fins immersed in the water, whilst the rest of the boat skims across the surface.

If there is to be any hope of success, one cannot simply launch the boat and put your foot down to take the record. SOA2 has been running for several years now, and despite her engine having more than enough thrust, David refuses to bow to pressure to rush his programme of development, returning to the workshop to address problems as and when they occur, rather than pressing on regardless.

With the hull of Longbow now mostly built and her engines installed, our next stage is engine testing and forming her cockpit. Obviously, we wish to commence trials as soon as possible, but one has to appreciate the venture is reliant upon volunteers assisting in their spare time.

Some may ask what is the point to it all, why not just run an unmanned remote control boat; what value is there to having a driver in it? There is no commercial benefit, otherwise industry would be building a fleet of jet hydroplanes.

Yes, of course, there is the record trophy to aim for and the kudos of building hopefully a very fast boat. I trust from the above that you will appreciate I have spent a considerable part of my life involved with jet hydroplanes and been fortunate enough to be mentored by some very talented and experienced people with regards to the subject matter, but you may ask, surely there is more to it than that?

Certainly, record attempts that cost millions of pounds are of no interest to us. They are cold, sterile, remote affairs that historically either went into administration or became staggeringly over budget, or both, and for what? Seven seconds or less through a kilometre timing trap and then parked in a Museum. If you have access to that amount of money, then do something far more worthwhile and fund a new hospital.

Despite my age, and just as I did as a child, I still mischievously seek excitement and fun, so that is inherently part of the reason for building Longbow and then to see it safely but excitingly blast along a lake like a bat out of hell. For the sound and sight of it as I survey those around me with wonder in their eyes and think, are you not entertained?

Give me a few skilled folk, people who want to learn, friendships made, kids who think it’s cool, crazy, and awesome that this grandfather with a twinkle in his eye is building a jet hydroplane in his cottage workshop, ably supported by his loving wife and family. That for me, with all the struggle on such a modest budget and with a little good fortune, like in the film ‘The Fastest Indian’, is what record breaking should be all about. Of course, we are lucky to have brilliant engineers, some very skilled companies attracted to the Project, and our highly trained RAF pilot David-John to make it all happen, but then isn’t there something so very British about how we do all of this exceedingly well from our tucked away home workshops.

A big thank you to Donald Campbell for inspiring at least one little kid back in the 1960s to chase this record!