NEW DEFENCE UNIT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21969, 22 May 1941, Page 4

NEW DEFENCE UNIT

Long Range Bombers Lockheed Hudsons Come To Hand Speed And Offensive Power (P.A.)) AUCKLAND, May 21. The fastest and most modem warplane in New Zealand, the first of the Lockheed Hudson bombers newly delivered from the United States for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, was flown for the first time in the Dominion this week. Already famous as the natural enemy of the U-boat and prowling surface raider, two types of enemy craft which have been heavily hit by Hudsons of the Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force, the Hudson is a newcomer to the Dominion. Its long range, good speed and heavy offensive power make it an eminently suitable craft for use from a remote island country such as New Zealand, and the presence in the Dominion of such machines is a valuable asset In wartime. Assembled by a New Zealand ground staff, the first Hudson was watched by a large proportion of the station staff as she left the hangar and was rim up preparatory to a test flight. Long and detailed checking on the ground had been completed, and the big monoplane towered over an assortment of other aircraft on the tarmac. With a minimum of fuss and surprisingly little noise, the two Pratt and Whitney engines, each of 1200 horsepower, lifted the Hudson off the runway, leaving an ample margin of take off, always the critical part of a test. The flight was closely watched by all who could spare a moment from their duties. There was nothing spectacular about it, merely a big aeroplane getting cleanly off the ground, tucking up her wheels behind the engine nacelles and disappearing swiftly into low cloud. For 45 minutes those who waited on the flying field could hear the monoplane speeding Overhead. They could not see her behind the curtain of cloud until the test pilot “shot up” the aerodrome, diving to 300 miles an hour and then pulling up steeply into a zoom that carried the Hudson a couple of thousand feet up in seconds. Watchers saw a confused pattern of brown and green, heard the bellow of the twin engines and then for a moment caught the characteristic Lockheed outline against a patch of blue as the bomber shot skyward. The subsequent landing was an anticlimax. The Hudson approached with all the docility of a light trainer. With undercarriage and flaps down, she lazed over the boundary fence, sat down on her big air wheels and trundled to a halt, having completed a successful test. Developed from the successful commercial machine, the Lockheed 14, the Hudson has proved Itself as a reconnaissance bomber. Many New Zealanders serving with the Coastal Command to the Royal Air Force have successfully engaged not only enemy ships but enemy warplanes, for the Hudson, apart from turret armament, carries a forward firing machine gun and has a sting in its tail in the form of twin Vickers guns that command a wide arc beneath the machine. Long range is one of the most desirable features of the type. Hudsons for Britain regularly fly the Atlantic from Newfoundland bases, and, operating from English aerodromes, fly hundreds of miles on escort duty and in search of enemy ships. Among the latest developments incorporated in the machines are self-sealing fuel tanks built up of layers of special material and capable of preventing leaks in spite of being pierced by bullets. A selfinflating rubber dinghy is also carried neatly stowed in the main door, and the two engines fitted to the models supplied to New Zealand are newer and even more powerful than those which nave already carried many scores of Hudsons to Britain to join squadrons of the Royal Air Force.