Campbell, Donald Malcolm

Donald Malcolm Campbell, (born March 23, 1921, Horley, Surrey, Eng.—died Jan. 4, 1967, Coniston Water, Lancashire), British motorboat and automobile driver who emulated his father, Sir Malcolm Campbell, in setting world’s speed records on land and on water.

The first to complete an officially timed run in a jet-propelled hydroplane (July 23, 1955, Ullswater Lake, Cumberland), Campbell established that day a watercraft speed mark of 202.32 miles per hour (325.60 kilometres per hour). He raised that record to 276.33 mile/h (444.6 km/h) on Dec. 31, 1964, at Dumbleyung Lake, Australia. In a jet-powered automobile he set a speed record for Class A land vehicles (unlimited size, four wheels): 403.1 mile/h (649 km/h) on July 17, 1964, at Lake Eyre Salt Flats, Australia. Once more making an attempt to break the water speed record, Campbell was exceeding 300 mile/h (480 km/h) on Coniston Water when his jet-propelled boat was wrecked and he was killed.