Rare military radio as used in Bluebird K7 loaned to the Ruskin Museum 

A rare military radio, the type used by Donald Campbell CBE on his record-breaking hydroplane Bluebird K7 has gone on display at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston.

The radio, an A41 Number 2, which was chosen by the Royal Signals to keep in touch with Donald Campbell during his fatal final record attempt has been loaned to the museum by Tony Stuchbury, a long time Donald Campbell enthusiast.

Tony who lives in Bolton said: “I admired Donald Campbell from an early age and the announcement of his death on the radio, which was told to me by my grandfather, is one of my first and lasting memories. As a young boy at school, I became interested in Donald and his record attempts on land and water and started to collect items associated with the famous man.”

He added: “I have a collection of Donald Campbell memorabilia and recently came across the rare radio, which is exactly the same model as the one that was chosen by the Royal Signals to go into Bluebird K7 when they set up ‘Exercise Deep water’ in November 1966. This was in preparation for Donald Campbell’s attempt on the world water speed record which ended tragically on the 4th of January 1967.”

Tony said: “The Royal Signals spent a great deal of time testing communications around Coniston Water, setting up a base station at Pier Cottage before the final run and discarded other radios before coming up with the A41.”

Tracy Hodgson, Director of the Ruskin Museum said “We are delighted that Tony has loaned the radio to the museum. The radio is an important part of the Donald Campbell story and his attempt on Coniston water. It is now an important part of the displays that tell that story.”

She added: “When the restored Bluebird came back to Coniston earlier this year it was without a similar radio that had been donated to the project and has been mislaid. There was, therefore, a gap in the story of how communications were shown in our display. Tony has enabled us to remedy this.’’