Click the image to see it full size.
Bluebird or Blue Bird?
In 1924 a former Royal Flying Corps pilot made his first attempt at the world’s land speed record on Pendine Sands, South Wales. By the spring of 1935 he had broken the record on eight separate occassions which led to much national acclaim and the bestowal (in 1931) of a knighthood for this magnificent achievement. The cameo captured here took place at Brooklands, Surrey where Campbell himself can be seen alighting from the cockpit of Blue Bird in front of the assembled British media. The photo was taken over the winter of 1934/5 prior to his fifth and last visit to Daytona Beach, Florida USA where on the 7th March 1935 Sir Malcolm Campbell‘s latest Blue Bird car, a 36.7 litre Campbell-Railton (powered by a supercharged Rolls Royce RV12 engine) raised the record to 276.816 mph. Later that same year Campbell journied to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA where, on 3rd September, a longer course enabled him to propel Blue Bird past the 300 mph mark to record a remarkable aggregate of 301.337 mph over the two-way record setting run. This was to be Campbell’s ninth and last land speed record breaking attempt. (LATplate Motor 778-60)