RNZAF Hudson in Fiji 1948

[chinapilot]

Found this in the Nat.Library,



Prob well known to some but hadn't seen this scheme before.

Caption is;


'Lockheed Hudson air sea rescue aircraft NZ2063, Fiji'

[Dave Homewood]

The RNZAF had three Hudsons and a couple of Venturas specifically for Air Sea Rescue from 1946 till 1948 I think it was. Some of the Hudsons carried whaler type SAR boats under the fuseleage. The roundel was an international symbol of SAR, under some agreement, and was dark blue with a yellow cross. The band on the fuselage was a yellow-orange colour, as were the cowls.

They had one Hudson at Wigram, and one at Whenuapai with one sometimes at Norfolk Island, although the latter may have been the same Whenuapai aircraft. I don't know if the Venturas were in this service at the same time or if they replaced the Hudsons.

NZ2063 was the Whenuapai-based aircraft I believe.

[davidd]

Dave,
The PV-1 Ventura was only in service until the beginning of June 1946, so the Hudsons (and Catalinas, Dakotas, Mosquitos, Ansons, Harvards, etc) shared ASR duties for the next few years, depending on the location of the unfortunate ships/boats/aircraft at their time of distress. The obligation to maintain the Air-Sea rescue capability was accepted by the NZ government from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) and was intended mainly for the safety of all persons travelling in aircraft through New Zealand's area of special responsibility. Under this same obligation, the RNZAF also finally returned the two surviving 63 foot Maiami crash boats from (the New Hebrides? where they had been lying abandoned since about 1946) and these turned up in New Zealand in about 1949 aboard a large British heavy-lift vessel. These two boats were duly overhauled and returned to service as W246 and 247 (caution, numbers from memory!), with one based at Lauthala Bay and the other at Hobsonville. They remained in service until they late 1950s to best of my knowledge, by which time they were totally obsolete (they were very early model Maiamis, with the troublesome V-drives).
The ASR Hudson based at Norfolk Island was moved to Fiji (Nausori) in January 1947. The ASR Hudsons were all supposed to be fitted with a lifeboat. Of course the aircraft were swapped around between the different locations depending on their technical inspections, about every three months or so. Likewise the crews were relieved at regular intervals. One of the last NZ PV-1s to fly overseas was the one which flew to Norfolk Island in January 1946, to change over the ASR crew of the Hudson located there.
David D

[chinapilot]

Davidd - Interesting, thanks.
Sounds like it was a nice little number. Guess they were available for maritime Search and Rescue too.

[pjw4118]

I have photos of RNZAF Mosquitoes in Nadi taken 1950 odd and wonder if Hudsons flew up with them as ASR escort?







This photo is from Sonny Despard taken August 1950 'the second trial mobility exercise to Nadi'

[Dave Homewood]

Hudsons were retired by 1950 when that No. 75 Squadron exercise took place. The Mossies returned there in 1951 too.

By the way, his name is Martial "Sonny" Gaspard by the way, not Despard.

[agalbraith]

Great Mossie pics by the way....any more?

Ok, back to Hudsons

Cheers
Anthony

[davidd]

I think the Mosquitos had a Catalina as well as a Dakota as a sort of escort - I was only reading about this deployments a couple of days ago somewhere. The Dakota was also transporting the technical personnel who were to maintain the Mossies in Fiji. A good view of the airfield in Fiji too - looks very much like Nandi too, with those rugged hills at rear.
David D

[pjw4118]

Yes , the airfield is Nadi.
Sorry Dave about the spelling, mental block,,,,it seems to happen more often these days.
Anthony , theres good Mossie pictures on a thread under post war RNZAF.

With Fiji , I have a series of wartime pictures I must post as there were two strips at Nadi connected by a long taxiway and I have never been able to locate one of them , two visits, two searches, no finda