WARBIRDS: Lockheed Hudson survivors

The Lockheed Hudson is a disproportionately rare type. James Kightly examines the handful of survivors.

The Hudson came as a development of the Model 14 airliner, and was another step in the revitalised Lockheed company’s twin engine types, which started with the Model 10 Electra.  Used by many air forces, including the Commonwealth’s RAF, RAAF, RNZAF, SAAF and RCAF, it was also used by the USAAF and USN and several other combatant nations. 

Additionally, the Model 14 was licence produced and used by the Japanese, making the type one of the few in production by both Allied and Axis powers during W.W.II. 

Despite the breadth and significance of its military service, it is a poorly represented survivor of the Lockheed twins. Nevertheless, the histories of the surviving examples show a fascinating mix. 

The Hudson is, by any standard, a significant military type in the history of W.W.II, with a number of firsts and remarkable achievements to be recorded by its crews.

The history plane
The Hudson was built initially for the RAF shortly before the outbreak of W.W.II, and was the first significant aircraft contract for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation – the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received.  As the civilian Model 14, the type is significant for being Chamberlain’s ‘Peace in our Time’ British Airways shuttle-diplomacy aircraft, and an adapted Model 14 was used by Howard Hughes for a successful pre-war global circumnavigation.

Some of the Hudson crew’s significant feats during the first half of the war included becoming the first RAF aircraft to shoot down a German aircraft, on 8 October 1939, when, over Jutland, a Hudson gunner hit a Dornier Do 18 flying boat. As a sub hunter, it saw early success with two services that had never intended to fly the type - A PBO-1 Hudson of US Navy squadron VP-82 became the first US aircraft to destroy a German submarine when it sank U-656 southwest of Newfoundland on 1 March 1942, while a Hudson of 113 Squadron RCAF became the first aircraft of RCAF’s Eastern Air Command to sink a submarine, sinking U-754 on 31 July 1942.  Later, the Hudson was found ideal for clandestine work all over Europe with 138 and 161 (Special Duties) RAF Squadrons, where their load carrying capability outclassed the famous Lysanders; Hudsons also undertook this work in the East.

As well as the extraordinary combat outlined by Michael Claringbould on page 48, some of the type’s significant RAAF achievements included being the first type used to make an attack in the Pacific War, sinking a Japanese transport ship, the Awazisan Maru, off Kota Bharu, an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Less positively but just as significant was the loss of several senior military and government figures on the 13 August 1940 in the Canberra Air Disaster crash, killing the six passengers and four crew, affecting the strength of the Menzies Government, and Australia’s military leadership.  Further notable records are outlined below.

The numbers game
Yet the Hudson is, in proportion to the numbers built, the rarest Lockheed twin, and despite its pre-eminent military record, the rarest of the military Lockheeds. Use in Canada and Australia postwar for mapping extended the type’s survival chances, but even so, remarkably few are left. Of the earlier 149 Lockheed 10 Electras built, 15 survive; of the only 130 Lockheed 12 Electra Juniors built, a remarkable 28 survive, 21% of production.  Of the 3,028 Harpoon / Ventura family, 59 are extant, while of the 746 Lodestars made, a significant 61 survive.  Of the 3,172 Model 14 Hudsons built, only 14 survive, less than half of one percent of production.

Today’s ‘Tojo Busters’
Australia has two of the most exciting Hudsons around.  Firstly is the well known A16-112 (C/No.6041, US A-28 41-23182).  With the RAAF from 1941 to 1947, it started service with No.1 OTU in Victoria, before going to 14 Squadron on 8th July 1942 for anti submarine patrols off Western Australia.  Crossing the continent again, it then served a period with No.32 Squadron off the East coast of Australia, before travelling again to 6 Squadron, where it served out of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, on bombing, armed reconnaissance and patrol work for a period of twelve months.  Later returned to the mainland for overhaul, it was allocated to the RAAF Survey Flight, and flew with them for the next two years. 

After its RAAF service, it was VH-BNJ and later VH-EWA with East West Airlines – the latter registration as the company’s flagship ‘Peel City’ between 1949 and 1953.  It then went to Adastra Aerial Surveys Pty Ltd as VH-AIU (later VH-AGS) for high altitude photographic mapping, before a period of storage and finally acquisition by Hudson ‘remanufacturer’ Malcolm Long, of Melbourne in 1976.  Restored to fly – and back to an overall accurate wartime configuration with Boulton Paul turret – between 1983 and 1993 it flew again as VH-KOY (after the 2 Squadron code letters carried) before being loaned to Air World, Wangaratta Victoria from 1993, later moving to Coolangatta, Queensland with Malcolm. 

In 2002 it flew as USAAC “889” for the film The Great Raid.  Loaned to the Temora Aviation Museum (TAM) in 2003, it was acquired by TAM in 2004 and  repainted in 2005 as RAAF ‘A16-211’ – a reversal of it’s real serial – ‘The Tojo Busters’.  Other than occasional flights by its sister aircraft ’105, this has been, for many years, and remains, the world’s only airworthy Hudson, a jewel in Australia’s aviation history crown.

RAAF Museum
The RAAF Museum has the remains of two Hudsons in store, for future restoration.  They are the fuselage of Mk.I (C/No 1873) A16-22 which served from 1940 to 1946, before going to Guinea Airways for parts, the fuselage being obtained by Harry Parrott, of Blackwood, SA, who intended to use it as a hut.  Displayed after recovery at Pearce Dunn’s Warbirds Aviation Museum at Mildura, Victoria between 1972 and 1983, it was then obtained by Malcolm Long, and parts used for his Hudson restorations in 1991, before going to the RAAF Museum and storage in 2006.

The second aircraft is construction number 6051, which received a USAAF designation A-28 and number 41-23192 before going to the RAAF as A16-122 in 1941.  It was used by the famous Adastra Aerial Surveys Pty Ltd as VH-AGX between 1954 and 1973, when it crashed during a take off at Horn Island, Queensland.  Like A16-22, it passed through the hands of Malcolm Long before ending up stored at the RAAF Museum.

Britain
Despite the importance of the type in RAF history, Britain has only one Hudson, naturally enough in the RAF Museum, and not surprisingly, it is an ex-Australian machine. Built as a Mk. IIIA (C/No.6464, US A-29A 41-36975, RAF FH174) it actually joined the RAAF as A16-199, not being delivered to the RAF.  Passing through the ownership of the Macquarie Grove Flying School, the Herald Flying Service, and Adastra Aerial Surveys, it was eventually obtained by Sir William Roberts for his museum in Auchterader, Scotland, the Strathallan Collection, in 1973.  After the closure of the collection, it went to the RAF Museum, Hendon in 1981 where it is on display in RAAF colours and with a turret and Uffa Fox lifeboat displayed alongside.

New Zealand’s Hudsons
New Zealand has several Hudsons in preservation, including what is currently the best restored example in the world.  This is Hudson Mk. III NZ2031 (previously AE499, C/No.3854) which was brought on charge in September 1941, and issued to No 1 Squadron RNZAF at Whenuapai, following assembly at Hobsonville.  It served with No 4 Squadron RNZAF in Fiji, (and a brief period in New Caledonia) in August/September 1942, before returning to New Zealand in July 1944, and served with the School of Navigation and Reconnaissance at New Plymouth, later Wigram, until  July 1948.

It was then sold to Mr Clarke of Oamaru in May 1949,  and used as a shed and chicken coop on Mr Clark’s farm, until being purchased by the RNZAF Museum Trust Board and No 26 Squadron, Air Training Corps in 1985.  The restoration of this aircraft, started in 1987, was completed by the Museum in July 1996, and it is painted in its 4 Squadron 1943-44 colours.  Currently it is the only Hudson fitted with the ventral ‘tunnel gun’ gun position.

On the North Island, in Auckland, the Museum of Transport & Technology has Hudson Mk. III NZ2031 (C/No.3854, formerly AE499).  Serving with the RNZAF between 1941 and 1947, it was obtained by W. & T. Garr, in Dunedin, the wings being torched off.  MoTaT obtained it in 1966, the fuselage being airfreighted to Auckland by RNZAF C-130, and it is currently under a more detailed restoration than was possible previously. 

The Ferrymead Aeronautical Society, Christchurch, has Hudson Mk.III NZ2035 (C/No.3858, RAF AE503).  Disposed of by the RNZAF in 1949, it was used as a chicken house before going briefly to Warwick Bint’s Marlborough Museum of Flight, and ultimately in 1973, with the fuselage airfreighted by RNZAF C-130, and the wings and other parts trucked to Ferrymead, Christchurch, where it is undergoing a very long term restoration. 

The fourth New Zealand example is the privately owned Mk. IIIA NZ2049 (C/No. 6465, US A-29A 41-36976, RAF FH175).  After RNZAF service it was stored on a farm between 1957 and 1965, when it went to John R. Smith, of Mapua, Nelson in 1969.  Mr Smith has a collection of rare machines not on view to the general public, for future restoration.

Canada
The Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum (ACAM) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, had the main parts of the only surviving Hudson Mk.VI,  FK466 (C/No.6942, US A-28A 42-47022) which was in external store for a number of years. As in the previous Flightpath’s news pages, it was announced that the National Air Force Museum of Canada (NAFMC) at Trenton, Ontario, in association with the ACAM are undertaking the restoration project of this Hudson. 

As the NAFMC says: “This Hudson is the only Mk.VI left in the world, and when restored, will represent a significant aircraft in the history of Canada’s Air Force. Restoration has already begun with an early estimate of five years to complete.” It was built in September 1942 as one of the last batch of Lend–Lease Hudsons, being assigned to No.31 (RAF) OTU Debert, Nova Scotia, a unit of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.  Another aspect making this machine unique is that it was converted to Air Sea Rescue configuration with an Uffa Fox Mk 1 airborne lifeboat at 21 Repair Depot Moncton, New Brunswick in 1944, serving with 1 (Composite) Detachment (later redesignated No. 1 (Composite) Squadron) based in Torbay, Newfoundland. 

After a brief career as a target tug, it went to a scrapyard before the fuselage was rescued by ACAM members and transported to Halifax in 1987. It is not complete, and will require numerous items including a tail, cockpit and engines.

The last Hudson on external display worldwide is the example at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, Gander, Newfoundland. Intended for the RAF, it remained in Canada and was used by Canadian Pacific Airlines and then various photo survey companies; the Photographic Survey Corporation, Kenting Aviation Ltd, and Hunting Survey Corporation, between 1949 and 1964, before being laid up. 

During the 1967 Canadian Centennial Year, a group of volunteers at Gander decided to erect a monument to the crews of the Royal Air Force Ferry Command who were so vital to the Allied success, flying Hudsons across the North Atlantic, and a Hudson bomber located at Field Aviation in Toronto was donated to Gander. The acquisition of this coveted Hudson was largely due to the work of A.J. Lewington, Les Gettel, Jack James and particularly Marsh Jones for flying the Hudson to Gander on May 17, 1967. 

Once in Gander the Hudson was mounted on a pedestal near the airport, and in 1990, volunteers at Gander’s 103 Rescue Unit refurbished BW769 and painted it as T9422 to commemorate the historic flight of D.C.T. Bennett of 1940.  Although still outside, it is well presented and cared for.

Remnants & memorials
And there are numerous remains, including engines in the Australian War Memorial, and the Spanish Air Force Museum and a memorial to a 161 Squadron RAF Special Duties machine, FK790, in Holland, and apparently the part fuselage of BW402 in Sackville, New Brunswick, in use as a ‘scout bunk house’!  As with a ‘new’ rear fuselage piece discovered in Australia recently, there are still items to be found.


With acknowledgement to the AWM staff, including Debra Holland, John White and Jamie Croker, as well as the many people and organisations named and un-named who have helped with Hudson details around the world and over the years. Reference was made from Geoff Goodall’s Warbird Directories, the ever-useful ADF Serials website, and Roy Blewett’s Survivors books.

For a detailed look at the current restoration of Hudson Mk.IVA A16-105 by the Australian War Memorial click here.