LOCKHEED HUDSON 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 35Type: Five-crew general reconnaissance and light bomber aircraft
First fl ight: December 10, 1938; entered service May 1939
Powerplant: Two 900hp (671kW) Wright Cyclone radials
Dimensions: Span 65ft 6in (19.96m), length 44ft 4in (13.51m)
Weights: Empty 12,000lb (3,658kg), all-up 17,500lb (7,938kg)
Max speed: 222mph (357km/h) at 7,900ft (2,408m)
Range: 2,160 miles (3,476km)
Armament: Two fi xed .303 guns plus twin .303 guns in dorsal turret. Provision
for two .303 guns in beam positions. Bomb load: 1,000lb (454kg) or
four 250lb (113kg) depth charges
Replaced: Avro Anson
Taken on charge: 2,725 (351 Hudson I, 20 Hudson II, 428 Hudson III, 350 Hudson, 23
Hudson IV, 350 Hudson V, 410 Hudson IV, 118 Ventura I, and 675
Ventura II)
Replaced by: Vickers Wellington, Douglas DakotaLOCKHEED HUDSON I
where the last RAF Hudsons were
to be found. Two aircraft flew on
with 251 Squadron at Reykjavik
until August 1945 in the air-sea
rescue role, complete with
airborne lifeboats.
VENTURA
Experience gained with the Hudson
led the RAF to order the Lockheed
Ventura as a light bomber in the
summer of 1940. Developed from
the Lodestar transport, it varied
from the Hudson in having a longer
fuselage, which was stepped to
accommodate a ventral turret. The
aircraft also had more powerful
2,000hp (1,491kW) Pratt &
Whitney Double-Wasp engines.
The first RAF Ventura (AE658)
flew on July 31, 1941 and, after a
variety of delays, deliveries began in
the spring of 1942. The type finally
entered service with 21 Squadronon May 31 that year and made its
first operational mission as part of a
daylight raid on November 3, 1942.
Although it was 50mph (80km/h)
faster and carried more than twice
as many bombs as the Hudson, the
Ventura was never popular with RAF
crews and proved unsatisfactory
as a bomber. By the summer of
1943, the type had been replaced
by the de Havilland Mosquito and
the last Ventura raid was flown on
September 9 that year. Some aircraft
were modified to be used by Coastal
Command and nearly 400 of
these were employed by the RAF in
the Mediterranean.Above
This Lockheed Hudson
III was built for the
RAF but diverted to
the Royal Australian
Air Force in February- After retirement
it passed through
the hands of various
Australian owners
before joining
Scotland’s Strathallan
Collection in 1973. In
1981 it was sold at
auction to the RAF
Museum and is now
on display at the
London site. STEVE
BRIDGEWATER
Left
A 206 Squadron
Hudson begins
its take-off in the
summer of 1940.
The most obvious
difference between
the Hudson and its
civilian Super Electra
cousin, was the
addition of the large
Boulton Paul two-gun
dorsal turret.