Bluebird K7

BLUEBIRD K7: HYDROPLANE

Overall length………………………..26 ft 4 ins.

Overall beam………………………...10 ft 6 ins.

Overall height………………………..4 ft 8 1/2 ins.

Length of floats………………………12 ft 3 3/4 ins.

All-up weight…………………………2 1/2 tons (approx.).

Construction...............................high duty 'Birmabright' light alloy hull,
built around a high tensile tubular steel main frame.

POWER UNIT

Make & type……..Metropolitan Vickers "Beryl" turbo-jet engine of Straight-through design
with: 10-stage axial compressor, single stage turbine.
(Later replaced with a Bristol Siddley Orpheus from a Gnat fighter plane)

Dimensions……….11 ft 9 ins. Long,

3 ft 2 ins. Diameter,

1780 lbs. Weight

Thrust…………….4,000 Thrust-lbs (Beryl). Sea level static at 8,000 revolutions per minute.

Fuel……………… Kerosene, stored in a "saddle" tank.

Consumption……. 650 gallons Kerosene per hour; 3 tons of air per minute.