Speed record wreck found

The wreck was filmed by underwater cameras

The wreckage of the boat used by John Cobb in his fatal attempt to beat the world water speed record has been found at the bottom of Loch Ness.

BBC Scotland has exclusive pictures of the jet-propelled Crusader which broke up on impact in the record-breaking attempt 50 years ago.

Cobb already held the world land speed record when he took his boat onto Loch Ness in September 1952, aiming to beat the water speed record of 178.4 miles per hour held by the American Stanley Sayres.

On his first run Cobb, a London fur broker, recorded 206mph, the first man to travel at such a speed on water.

John Cobb: Speed king

But yards beyond the mile marker, when he should have turned round and repeated the distance, he hit three freak waves.

The flimsy craft broke up and sank, catapulting its pilot into the dark waters.

One eyewitness described the flimsy red and yellow pieces of the Crusader on the water as being like "autumn leaves". Most of the craft disappeared.

Cobb's body was recovered after the crash, but for 50 years the wreckage of the Crusader has lain undiscovered 200 metres down in the depths of Loch Ness.

Before World War Two, Cobb had attained a reputation as a speed king.

Record books

He reigned supreme at the Brooklands motor racing track in the 1930s.

In 1947, at Bonneville Flats in Utah, he exceeded 400mph in a car before deciding to go for the double with an attempt at the water speed record.

His 206mph top speed did not enter the record books because he did not complete the second run of his attempt.

Fifty years on, the wreck of the Crusader was discovered by a team belonging to the Academy of Applied Science.

The crew were investigating the Loch Ness monster phenomenon with an underwater camera when they came across the wreck.

Like the monument to Cobb which stands at the side of the loch, the searchers said Crusader should now stay where she is.