Bluebird Project

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Steven Cole
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Location: Exmouth, Devon, UK
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Uploading Pictures

Post by Steven Cole »

Thanks Brian for your replies. If anyone needs to post pictures or documents to this forum, please e-mail them to me and I will upload to the site.

Steven....
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Brian Hill
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Post by Brian Hill »

Hi Mike,

I will be looking to meet some army re-enactors with that sort of vintage gear end of March. Meanwhile an A41 base photo is attached.
If it was an Army Coporal who did the job originally, be prepared to "see" what you require in something that may have been modified from another item, and probably not sourced as such.
I am trying to rmember where I have seen similar bases before, as I was involved with HF on aircraft and it looks vaugely familiar. The Collins company did a lot of A/C HF, and it might be worth contacting the Ham radio people at Duxford who have vintage kit from both army and RAF.

Regards,

Brian

PS Can't see how to attach the picture to this message, link is: www.armyradio.com/pictures Aerial base type A
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Mike Bull
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Post by Mike Bull »

Thanks for the offer of help Brian- we know that we're chasing a long shot, but it only takes one person to know something, or someone, and we might crack this one...

No, Bluebird crashed in January 1967, and was recovered (as was Campbell himself) in 2001.
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Brian Hill
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Post by Brian Hill »

Hello Mike,

I left the army in 1967 but although trained as Field, unfortunately I was on aircraft at the time and dealing with VHF. The A41 was an HF field equpt as far as I recall.
However, I am meeting up with some other people at the end of the month, and will take the photos along and ask around. I also have one or two other contacts.

Brian.

PS Thought the Bluebird was lost back in '54?
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Steven Cole
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Bluebird Project

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From: Mike Bull

I'm a member of The Bluebird Project, the team who are rebuilding Donald Campbell's famous 'Bluebird' hydroplane back to working order.

Among the few pieces that never came back out of the lake were the radio set,and it's aerial. We know that the radio was a Murphy A41 No.2, fitted by an Army Corporal who was seconded to handle Campbell's comms, and we have obtained a matching replacement unit, but we have no idea what kind of aerial was fitted and where we might obtain one now.

We are rebuilding the boat to it's exact 1966/67 specification, so the aerial must match visually.

The aerial mast appears to be around four foot tall, and some photos of it as fitted on the boat are given below. (The two small brackets adjacent to it are part of the boat, not the aerial)

If anyone reading this post could be of any assistance with this query, it would be very much appreciated indeed.

Thanks very much for your time,

Mike Bull
The Bluebird Project

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