lockheed lodestar II or Lockheed Hudson VI

[nickbert_81]

Hi,

lockheed lodestar II or Lockheed Hudson VI

My grandfather was in the 117 squadron and they flew both types of these aircraft

These pictures were in his personal collection - which are they?

Regards

Nick

 

[nuuumannn]

Hi Nickbert, top one's a Hudson, bottom one's a Lodestar. Looks like these pics were taken in the North African desert. The Hudson has an American star which means it could have been taken around the time of the Torch landings, as British aircraft often had US markings applied. It also has no armament; no turret in the dorsal position or a gun in the underside hatch, so it was most likely being used as a transport. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Shortround6]

The Lodestar had a longer fuselage ( by 5'5"?) allowing two more rows of seats. Most if not all of this extra length was behind the wing (?). so telling on from the other is hard from some angles. Hudsons as built had transparent panels in the nose for the bomb aimer, and a large dorsal turret near the tail. As converted for transport duty the turret was removed and the hole plated over. Nose might be left alone. painted or covered in metal panels. Since the Hudson was a converted ( at the factory) Super Electra airliner and a number of Super Electras also served as military transports it gets a bit harder without serial numbers to tell them apart. The Super Electras, Hudsons and Lodestars could have either 9 cylinder radials or 14 cylinder radials depending on model so that is not much help either.

 

[A4K]

Yep, Grant (Nuumannn) is right, Hudson top, Lodestar below.

Another ID feature for Shortround's list is the canopy (covered in first photo admittedly) - fully glazed cockpit in the Hudson, front and side windows only in the Lodestar/ Ventura/ Harpoon.