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Lockheed Hudson

1939 COLD WAR WORLD WAR 2

The History of Lockheed Hudson

While Lockheed is a major defense player in military products today, it struggled early to secure quantitative manufacturing contracts. It wasn't until World War II loomed in Europe that the company made its first windfall with its Lockheed "Hudson" multipurpose performer - largely thanks to the desperate attempts of the British to stock up on their fighter jets in stock.

Ultimately, nearly 3,000 Hudsons were completed, serving with British and Commonwealth forces during the conflict, and two other prominent operators in wartime with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the United States Navy (USN).

As early as 1937, Lockheed was selling its new Model 14 in both civilian and military form, a design that caught the attention of the British preparing for war in Europe. This led to the UK committing to the type with the "Hudson Mk. I" production models, these were used for maritime patrol missions (351 went to the UK and another 50 were supplied to the Australians). While the defensive armament and its bomb load were fairly modest, the aircraft proved robust and reliable, and perhaps more importantly, state-of-the-art and easy to procure.

Both the Hudson Mk. I and Mk. II models had the addition of the British Boulton Paul turret to bolster their defenses - although the latter brand also featured an upgraded engine and lack of a propeller spinner and sporty constant speed propeller.

The Hudsons were first delivered to the UK in February 1939, so the series was already in service when World War II broke out in September of that year.

The design follows the traditional twin-engine arrangement, with one nacelle located on the leading edge of the main aircraft on each wing. The main plane itself appears to be straight, although tapered at the tip. The fuselage is deep and relatively spacious, the nose section is glassed for viewing, the sides of the fuselage are dotted with rectangular windows, and the swept rear wing holds a split rudder arrangement. The cockpit position has been stepped to give a view of the nose and each engine. The position of the rear gunner is just in front of the horizontal stabilizer.

The landing gear, wheeled and retractable, has a traditional "trailer" arrangement.

The Allies fought with this light bomber design. The plane was flown by a crew of six, including the pilot, gunner, bombardier, navigator and radio operator. Dimensions include a length of 44.3 feet, a wingspan of 65.5 feet and a height of 11.9 feet.

Curb weight is 12,000 lbs and MTOW is 18,500 lbs. Performance specs include a top speed of 245 mph, a maximum range of 1,950 miles and a service cap of 24,500 feet. The climb rate is 1,200 feet per minute.

Standard armament consists of 2 x 7.7mm Browning machine guns mounted on the dorsal turret. An additional 2 x 7.7mm array is placed in the nose area to prevent oncoming attacks.

Bomb load is another limited mass of the aircraft - limited to 750 pounds of conventionally thrown ammunition, which includes depth charges when in a seafaring role.

A total of 428 Hudson Mk. IIIs were built with retractable ventral turrets. Hudson Mk. The IIIA was the leased version of the A-29/A-29A, which added another 800 aircraft to the series.

Lockheed internally refers to the militarized Hudson brand as the "Type 414". The original American version was the "A-28" with two 1,050 hp R-1830-45 engines. The interior of the A-28A was modified for use as a personnel carrier, 450 of which were adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF).

The

A-29 brand followed, powered by 2 R-1830-87 series 1,200 hp engines. About 416 were built for the RAF, but 153 of them were requested by the USAF (as RA-29s) and 20 were delivered to the US Navy (operating as PBO-1s).

The A-29As were converted into personnel carriers, and 384 were shipped to the RAF. The A-29B brand is a collection of 24 A-29 aircraft converted into photographic surveillance platforms.

The AT-18 is a shooting trainer powered by 2 R-1820-87 series engines. About 217 brands were produced. The successor, the AT-18A, was a navigation trainer that lost its dorsal turret position. 83 of this brand were produced.

The Hudson wasn't the absolute star of its operator, but it stuck to a variety of battlefield roles early in the war, testing the design to its limits. It acts as a light bomber, reconnaissance platform, submarine/ship hunter, trainer (gunnery and navigation) and transport. It was the first British (British Isles) Allied aircraft of the war to claim an enemy in aerial combat, and the first Allied aircraft to conduct an attack in the Pacific (the latter by the Australians).

During the battle, the plane was praised by the crew and the enemy alike for its fighter-like controls, which not only caused seizures in the enemy fighter pilot who tried to shoot down the compact bomber.

The British were apparently the main operator of the aircraft, with dozens of squadrons operating on it during the war years (1939-1945). Australia is close behind with a dozen of its own squadrons, and Canada has six squadrons. New Zealand is also involved in the operation of the aircraft and has about eight of its own squadrons.

The Chinese Nationalist Air Force was also given the type to fight against Japan, and South Africa was another Commonwealth operator.

Australia, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom all operated Hudsons on the civilian market for some time in the post-war period.