Standard armament comprised 2 x 7.7mm Browning machine guns fitted to a dorsal turret. An additional 2 x 7.7mm arrangement was had in the nose section to protect from oncoming attacks. The bombload was another limited quality about the aircraft - limited to 750lb of conventional drop munitions that included depth charges when in the maritime role.
The following Hudson Mk.III, numbering 428 total built, featured a retractable ventral gun position. The Hudson Mk.IIIA was a Lend-Lease version of the A-29/A-29A and added another 800 aircraft to the series.
Lockheed knew the Hudson militarized mark internally as the "Model 414". The initial American version was the "A-28" carrying 2 x R-1830-45 engines of 1,050 horsepower. The A-28A saw its interior reworked to serve as a troop transport and the Royal Air Force (RAF) took delivery of 450 of these.
The A-29 mark followed powered by 2 x R-1830-87 series engines of 1,200 horsepower. Some 416 were produced for the RAF but 153 of these were requisitioned by the USAAF (as the RA-29) and twenty of these were shipped to the USN (to operate as the PBO-1). The A-29A were converted into troop carriers and 384 were shipped to the RAF. The A-29B mark were 24 A-29 aircraft reworked into photographic surveillance platforms.
The AT-18 was a gunnery trainer form and carried 2 x R-1820-87 series engines. Some 217 of the mark were produced. The follow-up AT-18A was a navigational trainer and lost its dorsal turret emplacement. Eighty-three of this mark were produced.
The Hudson was not an outright star performer for its operators but it persevered in the early-war years in a variety of over-battlefield roles that tested the design to its limits. It operated as a light bomber, reconnaissance platform, submarine/ship hunter, trainer (gunnery and navigational) and transport. It was the first British-based (British Isles) Allied aircraft of the war to claim an enemy in aerial warfare and also became the first Allied aircraft to mount an attack in the Pacific Theater (the latter by the Australians). During combat the aircraft was well-regarded by its crews and enemies alike for its fighter-like control which more than caused fits for enemy fighter pilots attempting to take this compact bomber down.
The British clearly were the primary operators of this aircraft with dozens of squadrons committed to the type during the war years (1939-1945). Australia followed with a dozen of their own squadrons as did Canada with six squadrons. New Zealand also shared in operation of the aircraft and it stocked some eight squadrons of their own. The Chinese Nationalist Air Force was also handed the type to fight the Japanese and South Africa was another Commonwealth operator.
In the post-war period, Australia, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom all operated the Hudson across the civilian market for a time.
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