487SQN Ventura mid-upper turret.

[corsair67]

I have just started reading "The Gestapo Hunters" by Mark Lax & Leon Kane-Maguire about 464 (RAAF) Sqn and it's role alongside 21 (RAF) and 487 (RNZAF) Sqns within 140 Wing.

There are some great photos of the Venturas, and I have noticed that quite a number of them seem to have the same mid-upper turret as the Hudson, and not the much more squat (and no doubt less drag inducting!) Martin type that the RNZAF Venturas in the Pacific had.

Does anyone know the reason for this i.e. did they come out of the factory like this, or was it an RAF adaptation?

[Dave Homewood]

These were factory produced Ventura Mk 1's I believe. It was the same Boulon Paul turret as the Hudson, a British type. The later turrets as seen on RNZAF Pacific models were US Glenn Martin turrets.

[corsair67]

Thanks Dave, I knew you'd come up with the goods!

[Dave Homewood]

Here's a Ventura Mk 1 with the taller turret
www.xs4all.nl/~fbonne/warbirds/ww2pics/ww2lockpv1-0.jpg

There are technical details of the variants here
www.xs4all.nl/~fbonne/warbirds/ww2htmls/lockpv1.html

[corsair67]

Apparently one of the New Zealand crewmen was credited with giving the Ventura it's nickname - The Pig!

[Dave Homewood]

I've never heard it referred to as The Pig before. Not a surprising nickname, however once they have a few things sorted out like the fueld system, they proved to be valuable and popular aircraft in the Pacific campaign.

I did ask George Gudsell, famous Hudson pilot, what he thought of the Ventura. He said he'd only flown it once and hated it. He reckoned the people who flew them into combat were brave as he'd never have wanted to do it himself. He thought the Hudson was far superior. He should know, he did fly the Hudson in combat and survived.