By Meg Jorsh

Last updated 13:31, Thursday, 31 July 2008

Donald Campbell’s Bluebird K7 has been restored to its former shape, more than 40 years after his fatal crash on Coniston Water.

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Campbell, 46, was killed in 1967 as he attempted to break the world water speed record. His vessel was recovered by amateur diver Bill Smith in 2001.

Mr Smith, 34, has spearheaded restoration efforts by a team of volunteers and their efforts were unveiled at the engineer’s North Shields workshop yesterday.

He said: “It’s marvellous. We’ve set ourselves targets and we’ve met them.”

He added that the boat will not be in full working order until late next year. Before then, it will be taken apart and repainted its original blue.

“When it crashed, about 8ft of the front of the boat was destroyed,” he said.

“Rather than building new parts we’ve very carefully repaired the old ones. We had to straighten out the bent metal and work out where it was supposed to fit.”

The finished boat will be displayed in the new Bluebird Wing of the Ruskin Museum in Coniston. The £527,000 extension received a boost yesterday, with a donation from Virgin Trains.

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic space travel, handed over two Donald Campbell name plates from a Super Voyager train. One plate will be displayed in the museum, while the other will be auctioned for funds.

Vicky Slowe, of the Ruskin Museum, said: “The finished boat will float, and she will be in working order. We won’t be attempting to reach 300 miles per hour.”

The vessel’s unique design has called for a range of specialised restoration skills.

“We have to remember, Bluebird is an aircraft on top, and a boat underneath,” she said.

MJorsh@cngroup.co.uk