A pointy Hudson project - What the??

[Dave Homewood]

I found these two amazing photos in the late Bob Lawn's collection. They are RNZAF Official (so now credited to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand) and this conversion according to the stamp took place at Unit 12, Ohakea, with the first photo dated 11 March 1944 and the second two days later on the 13th of March.

Why would they have been experimenting with this? Was it to do with the C-63 Hudson Transport conversion programme that was then ongoing?

[baz62]

Supersonic Hudson conversion? Ok maybe not.
Is it me or is the fuselage damaged behind the join line? Wondering if something damaged the nose and they are doing a temporary fix before ferrying it to a Repair Depot. Woodborne maybe?

[Dave Homewood]

I too wondered if it had been damaged.

[angelsonefive]

There appears to be some rippling of the skin just aft of the " repaired" area.
The underside of the nose, though, appears to be almost undamaged.
An aircraft taxiing into the Hudson head-on and damaging the upper part of the nose with its prop?
And I wonder what the story is with the sketch (of what appears to be a pranged Corsair) taped to the side.

[Bruce]

In the last photo there appears to be the remains of a number on the forward bomb aimers panel. seems to be 206?

Checking the adf serials web page produces 4 possibles - NZ2060, 2063, 2068 and 2069

2061, 62, 64, 65, 66 were based in the islands or Whenuapai, and most were written of in crashes or went missing without trace.
2067 was based at Nelson.
2060 and 2063 both served at Ohakea with various units. 2068 and 2069 were based mainly at Whenuapai and were converted to C63s - so could also possibly fit the scenario...

I tend to think its 60 or 63, and the work is indeed a temporary fit to allow ferry to a repair station. It doesnt seem to be a "mock up" as build quality looks quite good. the nose cone in the last picture has been covered with doped fabric, and the edges where the wood joins the metal have also been sealed. In wartime, when things like mod approvals werent taken to seriously, it would have been a realistic solution - it looks airworthy!
Some form of taxi accident is quite possible - there were certainly plenty of those mishaps at Ohakea!

[angelsonefive]

Given that the aircraft in question appears to have been damaged I had a quick look at the accident reports in the NZ Archives for minor accidents to Hudsons at Ohakea and found the following suspects :

30/7/42 NZ2009 taxied into a drain.
20/5/43 NZ2046 structural damage.
20/7/43 P40 NZ3067 and NZ2047 collision on ground.
19/5/43 NZ2048 structural damage in flight.
9/9/43 NZ2002 and P40 NZ3015 collision on ground.
9/10/43 NZ2084 and NZ2036 taxi accident.
2/10/43 NZ2001 collided with hangar. ( Hangar failed to give way.)
1/12/43 NZ2044 struck by tractor.
7/2/44 Ventura NZ4563 and NZ2042 collided parking.
26/2/44 NZ2063 damaged in flight.

[Dave Homewood]

Good work chaps. It is NZ2063. I checked the original - prior to your leads above I had not spotted either the serial number or the cartoon, I was looking at the timber and fabric.

Here cropped from the original is the serial, 2063 - so it must have hit something hard in the air to do this?? I wonder what it was.


And I have skewed the cartoon around in Photoshop. Came out good but sadly the words cannot be read.

[Dave Homewood]

www.adf-serials.com/nz-serials/ states that NZ2063 went "To No.3 BR Squadron Ohakea 08 February 1944"

I have a copy of No. 3 (BR) Squadron's Operations Record Book which states:

HUDSON 2063 F/O Wilson, F/Sgt Bradley, W/O Temm - A/S and Escort - Time Up 15.48hrs - Time Down 20:19hrs - This aircraft relieved 2035 and escorted ship till dusk , then returned to base.

There is no mention of any damage or collision. That's odd. However it doesn't show up again after that date in the ORB and within days they convert to PV-1 Venturas.

adf.serials says however it went to "No.13 SU/4 BR Squadron Nausori, Fiji 26 March 1944" so the repair was pretty quick for such substantial damage seen above.

[angelsonefive]

It was a substantial impact, as is evident from the obvious buckling of the skin.
There is no mention of another aircraft in the title of the accident report.
What else could have caused such damage in flight, I wonder.
Could a birdstrike have caused such disruption ?
A collision with a towed target ?

And nothing in the Squadron ORB....

[Dave Homewood]

Perhaps a wire strike? Or tree strike/mast strike?

It is indeed odd that nothing was recorded in the ORB, as if it didn't happen during the operations that day.

Perhaps it was anti-aircraft fire from the ship, as the navy are renowned for being trigger happy towards any aircraft that approached them. The ship they were escorting was the USS James B. Francis. I cannot find what type of vessel it was.

[Dave Homewood]

Can anyone here pop along to the National Archives and photograph the accident report for us please?

[shorty]

Given the cartoon could a possible scenario be that a Corsair was involved in the incident?
As the artist has drawn a US star on the wing (and on the fuselage?) perhaps a US one? That could be if it happened in the islands but why do all that work at Ohakea?
Maybe one of ours wherea damaged wing was replaced with one "acquired" from US stocks?

Edit;
Brain in neutral! couldn't be one of ours on 26-2-44 we didin't have them at that date.

[ErrolC]

Jul 24, 2010 14:10:23 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Perhaps it was anti-aircraft fire from the ship, as the navy are renowned for being trigger happy towards any aircraft that approached them. The ship they were escorting was the USS James B. Francis. I cannot find what type of vessel it was.

Presumably the Liberty ship SS James B. Francis
www.bookrags.com/wiki/List_of_Liberty_ships:_J

She is mentioned taking US marines from Wellington to Pearl Harbour in 1944.
www.2marine.com/FollowPDFs/FollowMeJan-Feb2003b.pdf

[Dave Homewood]

Shorty, it was based at Ohakea with No. 3 (BR) Squadron who were there from 8th of February 1944, reforming after the squadron had leave, till May 1944. The Hudson was escorting the USS James B. Francis in NZ waters, probably into/out of Wellington Harbour. So there's no possibility that an American Corsair was involved. However maybe a Corsair was the culprit, are there any accident reports for a Corsair matching that date?

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Errol, I was writing when you posted. That will be it then. Unlikely AA fire then I guess.

[Dave Homewood]

No, the only Ohakea related collisions involving a Corsair as far as accident reports go in the National Archives were in 1945 and on the ground. Hmmm.

[shorty]

Our first Corsair NZ 5201 wasn't BOC until 23-3-44 at Santo so that rules out one of ours.

Could be I was barking up the wrong tree.

[Dave Homewood]

That too is a very good point. I think the cartoon is a red heering.

[Dave Homewood]

I am bumping this thread as I am still very curious as to what this hudson hit, alledgedl in the air.

[buffnut453]

Looking at the cartoon, I wonder if it actually represents the "ingenuity" of the unit that completed the repair (ie "we'll steal anything that isn't nailed down...and even then, we'll give it a good try!"). It looks like a team of guys trying to repair or, perhaps, "liberate" components from a damaged Corsair.