On Wednesday 26th September 07 an unprecedented piece of engineering will be officially unveiled in the presence of the legendary speed ace’s daughter, Gina Campbell QSO.

Originally constructed in 1954, the main frame of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird hydroplane returned to Lancashire, the place of its birth, over half a century later to be rebuilt by nelson-based PDS Engineering, an aerospace supplier with links to other successful speed-record vehicles.

Bluebird remains the most successful water speed record boat ever constructed and held the record seven times until the spectacular accident in January 1967 that claimed Donald Campbell’s life.

Thirty four years later in 2001, Bluebird was recovered from the lake and in October 2006 works to return her to full running condition commenced.

The rebuilt frame is a masterful blend of ingenuity and engineering excellence as it represents the first successful application of rigorous museum conservation ethics whilst engineering an object back to working condition – two disciplines hitherto staunchly opposed.

Following two declined applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund the rebuild team, including experts from BOC (British Oxygen) and TWI (The Welding Institute), worked thousands of man-hours free of charge to painstakingly reconstruct the frame whilst retaining over ninety-eight percent of the original material recovered from the depths of Coniston Water.

So committed is the Bluebird-Project to using only original components that a four-month salvage operation took place earlier this year to recover the last, missing piece of cockpit frame, which is now incorporated into the completed structure. This was only possible with the use of a prototype sonar designed by Westhill, Aberdeen based Tritech International.

Richard Marsh, Managing Director of Tritech International commented:“It was a great privilege to be involved with this piece of history and I would like to congratulate Bill Smith and his team on their success. This work is a just and fitting tribute to a very brave man.”

Bluebird’s frame now stands almost entirely original and fully serviceable, a unique landmark in the history of conservation and with refurbishment completed is about to return to Tyneside where reassembly of the boat will commence.

The Bluebird-Project team is rebuilding Donald Campbell’s boat, not as a static museum piece, but to full working order as a living exhibit for future generations to marvel at. This week’s events represent a major milestone on that journey.

The eight metre frame will be collected from PDS’ workshops around 09.00 on Wednesday morning and transported by road to the Bluebird-Project HQ on Tyneside for the next stage of work to begin.

Personally overseeing the move will be Donald Campell’s daughter, Gina, a fierce supporter of the project to bring her father’s boat back to life who has naturally placed such a significant event firmly on her itinerary. Gina will attend both PDS and the Bluebird-Project HQ as the day progresses to meet and personally thank many of the people involved in making this ambitious endeavour a thrilling reality.

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The Tritech RAM-300 radio/acoustic modem is the first of its kind to be used underwater. The new underwater modem is being launched at the UUVS this month.

Aberdeenshire based subsea technology company, Tritech International are unveiling the RAM-300 radio modem, with consortium partners, Wireless Fibre Systems and Insensys Oil and Gas Ltd.

The consortium say they have taken a new approach to radio technology and produced the very first hybrid modem with excellent ability to relay data underwater. One of the key benefits of using Radio Frequency (RF) to relay data is that RF is able to travel from sea or river bed through water and obstacles, even ice, rock, mud and concrete to reach and communicate with a land based modem.

Maurice Fraser, International Business Development, said:

“This technology offers an endless amount of new applications within the subsea industry and neatly complements all the advantages of RF and acoustic techniques in a single product.  The RAM 300 offers a new and exciting method of underwater communication traditionally been dismissed as being too challenging for commercial success”.

The hybrid modem will be on display at The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Showcase which takes place at The National Oceanography Centre in Southampton for two days, 26th – 27th Sept. The show is a unique conference & exhibition bringing together leading oil & gas, academic, security and industry players to focus on cutting edge technologies and developments in underwater vehicles.

RAM-300 is the first of 5 products being developed under a £1.1M grant awarded in January 2007 by the Department of Trade and Industry, now the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.

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Tritech International based in Westhill, has won a national competition organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC).

The DiveTrack competition, set up in memory of Penny Glover who died in a tragic accident, challenged engineers to design and create a tracking device for divers who get into difficulties at sea.

The team designed and manufactured a transceiver device shaped in the form of a small torch to be carried by divers, which communicates with a surface unit via a submersible cable mounted transducer. This enables the diver to be located at all times and also sends emergency signals to the surface to alert boat crew to problems underwater.

Tritech International collaborated with Newcastle University to design this hardware. Of the four finalists, it was only the Tritech – Newcastle University team which completed all the tests successfully.

BSAC divers, led by their national expedition officer, Andy Hunt, successfully tested the Tritech/NU prototype in real diving conditions in Ardmucknish Bay and Loch Etive near Oban, Scotland.

Richard Marsh, Managing Director of Tritech says that he is confident that, in the near future, the company will bring an easily affordable product to market which will significantly improve diver safety worldwide. He also hopes to continue collaboration with BSAC divers in the design and testing of such products. The fundamental technology would support future developments such as simple text messaging and telemetry of diver health or gas data.

Richard Marsh adds, “The Dive Track system is expected to be equally in demand for lost ROVs and AUVs”.

Colin Foote of the IET Young Members’ Board said; “It has been a pleasure to help support the DiveTrack competition with BSAC. The IET is delighted to recognise the innovation and achievement of the Tritech/NU team. Their product holds great promise for improving diver safety and illustrates how well engineering and technology can benefit us in all areas of life”.

There are plans for the device to be on display at the Birmingham Dive Show this weekend and at the BSAC Diving Officers Conference in December. The Tritech/NU team will be presented with a prize of £5,000 at the Inaugural IET Ambition Awards ceremony in London on 13 November 2007.

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Tritech International Ltd has forged new international links with China through its parent company. The Aberdeen based company designs and manufactures high performance sonars and tools for ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicles) in addition to acoustic sensors and cameras.

Tritech joined the Halma group of companies in November 2006 and recently welcomed a visit from Chief Representative of Halma China in Shanghai, Martin Zhang.

With the Chinese market currently growing around 10% a year, Halma China’s role is to support Halma companies seeking to enter the Chinese market. Tritech have been selling their products in China, through their distributors based in Qingdao, since 1999 and it is hoped that the additional support from Halma China can provide significant growth opportunities.

Martin Zhang visited the Tritech manufacturing site at Ulverston to meet the team and become acquainted with Tritech’s sub sea technology and its applications. He commented, “It was a very successful visit. We believe Halma China can be instrumental in strengthening the company’s current position in the market. We will be able to locate potential projects in China where Tritech products are applicable, collect market information and facilitate industrial partnerships in the region. Our role is to provide any necessary support to Tritech and its distributors.”

Mike Broadbent, Technical Marketing Executive of Tritech commented, “with the Chinese market growing so rapidly, its great that we have this additional support. With Halma China we can increase our presence in the region and be aware, and take advantage of, any opportunities in this emerging market that perhaps we couldn’t otherwise have done.”

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