jdvoss wrote:
I've attached a photo I took at the Moorribin Airport near Melbourne, Australia in 1992. The Temora Hudson was in another hangar nearby. Two Hudson's on the same field! Wow.
Your photo was taken when Malcolm Long actually owned "3" Lockheed Hudsons, inclusive of this stripped fuselage of a rare Hudson I A16-22, which he was using for its turret mounting structure to mount a turret in VH-KOY / A16-112, a Hudson IVA now flying with Temora Aviation Museum but marked as "A16-211". (I think you will find this aircraft is fitted with Wright Cyclones / 1820s, ie converted back to Mark III standard despite being built as a IVA and originally fitted with 1830s)
However, it wasnt the last time "2" Hudsons were on the same field.
Malcolm also owned VH-FXF / A16-105, also a Hudson IVA fitted with 1830s.
These two aircraft were together for much of their time with Malcolm, firstly at Point Cook, and then for a while A16-112 and A16-22 (fuselage) were together at Moorabbin for the turret restoration, but then A16-112 relocated to Chewing Gum Field in Qld where Malcolm had moved his collection to, joining A16-105.
Later Malcolm moved A16-112 and A16-105 to Wangarratta Air World, where they were both on display (the photo above of 112 has the wing of 105 just showing on the RHS, the photo below shows 105 hiding behind 112).
This was probably the last time two restored Hudsons have been on public display together.
Later with Wangarratta closing @2004, A16-112 was sold to Temora where it continues to fly, and A16-105 was sold to the Australian War Memorial where it is undergoing a restoration to fit its own turret.
However there are "STILL" technically two Hudsons on the one field even today.
The stripped fuselage of A16-22 passed from Malcolm Long to Bob Eastgate at Point Cook to support the long term restoration of A16-122 / VH-AGX, which had suffered a nose up at Horn Island damaging the bomb aiming nose area. This is also a Mk IVA converted back to 1820s and Mk III configuration.
These two airframes (the fuselage of A16-22, and the un-restored but complete A16-122), were later swapped to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook and are in storage on site, hence the situation that existed at Moorabbin in the late 1990's is replicated and maintained at Point Cook today.
Of course later this year in March 2014, the Temora example A16-112 will be displaying at Point Cook,while A16-22 and A16-122 sleep in storage elsewhere on the base, but technically we will have "3" Hudsons on the one field.
Both aircraft are in undercover storage, these photos date from the period of Bob Eastgates ownership.
While A16-122 is in need of nose surgery, hopefully A16-22 only acts as a reference for manufacturing new parts rather than being consumed by the restoration, as this is a very historic mark I Hudson, with a long and active service career in the RAAF.
I dont believe there is any other significant Hudson Mk I examples surviving anywhere in the world?, and while it will never be capable of restoration back to a complete aircraft, a fuselage display is quite possible. of course then Australia has 3 complete Mark III/IVA Hudsons, the UK has 1 former RAAF mark IVA example (A16-199), NZ has 4x Mark III/IVA Hudsons and now Canada has 2, including one Mark II I believe, ignoring some nice wrecks surviving in the bush.
Although Steve Searle was listed as having acquired a Hudson in the USA this was understood to be a Lodestar or other later version?, and I am not aware of any Hudsons surviving in the USA.
All images are from the ADF-Serials photo gallery
http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/Regards
Mark Pilkington
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