Hudsons sinking Japanese ship in Malaya before Pearl Harbor

[daveT]

"as many as 1,100 casualties unexpectedly"
Wow. They got off to a bad start.

 

[oldcrowcv63]

And it barely slowed them down...

 

[Wildcat]

Do you know how long they were they trained for, and was it in Australia?
Did they have special training in anti-ship or night Ops?

Thanks for the info!

I don't think they would have had any special training compared to other RAAF GR/Bomber squadrons. Before they were equipped with Hudsons,1 sqn flew Anson's on martime patrol duties so I would imagine the crews were trained in anti-shipping activities. RAAF bomber crews in the Pacific were all well trained for night ops, as the RAAF followed RAF doctrine of nighttime bombardment. Night raids were conducted right up to the end of the war in a variety of medium and heavy bomber types, a good example is the late 43 early 44 time frame of the big American raids on Rabaul. The Americans were bombing by day while RAAF beauforts flew not only night raids but also night time torpedo strikes against shipping at Rabaul - kinda like the round the clock raids in Europe but on a much smller scale.