History

The Lockheed Husdon was a light bomber, reconnaissance and general purpose aircraft used widely by allied forces from the beginning of World War II. It served with ten squadrons of the RAAF during the Pacific War.

Lockheed offered a military conversion of its Lockheed 14 airliner in late 1937 which attracted the interest of several air forces including Australia.

The first one flew on 10 December 1938 and deliveries began in February 1939.

When production ended in 1943 2,942 had been manufactured.

Australia ordered 50 Hudsons in January 1939 and deliveries began in January 1940.

Eventually the RAAF took delivery of 247 Hudsons and used them for bombing and reconnaissance operations, air-to-sea rescue, transport and convey protection, mainly in the South West Pacific region.

This model represent A16-129 in service with 6 Squadron, RAAF, at Milne Bay in 1943.

Italeri 1/72 kit with DK decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in February 2023.

Data

MODEL: Lockheed Hudson IV

ROLE: Light bomber and patrol aircraft

TIME PERIOD: 1938-1970s

ENGINES: two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines of 890kW each

WING SPAN: 19.96m

LENGTH: 13.51m

GROSS WEIGHT: 7,938kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 396km/h

RANGE: 3,150km

CREW: 5

ARMAMENT: four 7.7mm machine guns and 640kg of bombs or depth charges

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

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