Bluebird, the hydroplane that reached record-breaking speeds, has returned to the water for the first time in more than 50 years after it crashed killing its pilot, Donald Campbell.

The jet-powered boat successfully floated in a loch on the Isle of Bute in Scotland on Saturday, in an operation watched by his daughter, Gina.

Campbell died aged 45 on Coniston Water in January 1967 when the boat, travelling at more than 300mph, flipped into the air and disintegrated as he attempted to beat his own record.

Bluebird K7 takes to the water, slowly, with the help of the restoration team observed by enthusiastic members of the public and a dog out for the occasion. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty

The team struggled to get the Bluebird K7 into the water at Loch Fad, but the renovated craft was afloat before 4pm.

Campbell’s body, with his race suit still intact, was pulled from the Cumbria lake along with the wreckage from the depths in 2001.

Volunteers have worked to restore the boat to near its original state, but they said the engine had to be replaced.

Bill Smith, leader of the underwater team that recovered Donald Campbell’s Bluebird K7, on top of the wreck recovered from Coniston Water in the Lake District in 2001. Photograph: John Giles/PA

The team hopes to make full displays in a fully completed vessel a year later following Saturday’s test.

Having broken eight world-speed records on water and land in the 1950s and 1960s, Campbell was attempting to break his own water-speed record of 276mph when he was killed.

Campbell, the son of speed record-breaker Sir Malcolm Campbell, was posthumously awarded the Queen’s commendation for brave conduct.