A-28 Hudson, U.S. Medium
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LockheedHudson III
| Crew | 4 or 5 |
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| Dimensions | 65’6” by 44’4” by 11’10”19.96m by 13.50m by 3.32m |
| Wing area | 551 square feet51.2 square meters |
| Weight | 13,160-20,000 lbs5969-9070 kg |
| Maximum speed | 252 mph at 15,000 feet405 k/h at 4572 meters |
| Cruising speed | 155-196 mph249-315 km/h |
| Rate of climb | 20 feet per second6.1 m/s |
| Ceiling | 25,000 feet |
| Power plant | 2 1200hp (895 kW) Wright R-1820-G205Aradial engines driving three bladed propellers |
| Armament | up to 7 Browning 0.303 machine guns in nose, dorsal turret, waist, and ventral positions. |
| External Stores | up to 1600 lbs (730 kg) of bombs |
| Range | 780 miles (1260km) with maximum load2800 miles (4500 km) maximum |
| Fuel | 644 gallons1140 liters |
| Production | A total of 2939 at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, California, of which about 80% went to Commonwealth countries. 350 Mk.I20 Mk.II428 MkIII800 A-29/Mk.IIIA130 Mk.IV52 A-28/Mk.IVA409 A-28A/Mk.V450 Mk.VI300 AT-18/A |
| Variants | There were numerous variants. The Hudson I and II used two 1100hp R-1820-G102A nine-cylinder radial engines. The IIIA used a more powerful engine and was designed the A-29. The IV introduced two 1200hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C3-G14-cylinder two-row radial engines. Armament varied considerably. Later marks were often armed with ASV radarand rockets. The AT versions were gunnery and navigation trainers. |
After the Munich crisis of 1938, the Britishbegan looking for combat aircraft in the United States. Lockheed responded by hastily improvising a bomberversion of its Lockheed 14 civilian airliner, with a top turret and a bomb bay. The British named this the Hudson and adopted it as an antisubmarine hunter aircraft to replace its aging fleet of Avro Ansons. The original order of 200 aircraft was by far the largest Lockheed had ever received, and it transformed the company from a minor manufacturer into a major player in the aircraft industry. The first prototype flew on 10 December 1938.
About 80% were delivered to Commonwealth forces, the remainder going to the U.S. Army (as the A-28) or the Navy (as the PBO), mostly as patrol aircraft. About 100 had been delivered to Melbourneby December 1941 and a total of 247 would eventually be sent to theisland continent. Two squadrons were present in Malaya when war broke out, and one of the aircraft was shot down by the Japanese as it snooped the approachinginvasion convoys prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. The failure of the aircraft to return made little difference, as the British were already aware that war was imminent.
With its reasonable range, the Hudson was a serviceable patrol and antisubmarine aircraft, but in the desperate early days of the Pacific War it was often used on bombing missions for which it proved ill-suited. Though easy to maintain and fly, it lacked structural strength. Most were eventually converted back to transports.
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References
Bonné (2000; accessed 2013-2-16)
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