HUDSON HATCHBACK
| Mike Wood has supplied
the following photograph of Hudson VH-AGG outside the Mascot hangar in 1955. Note
what appears to be a large removable hatch aft of the trailing edge of the wing.
The outline of this hatch is also discernable in the second picture of VH-AGG
which was supplied by the late Bob Wills. This hatch is evidently an extension
of the normal Hudson emergency exit aperture. It is tempting to imagine that this
hatch might have been installed to facilitate the loading of cargo when the aeroplane
was operated in PNG by Guinea Air Traders as VH-BLA, prior to its service with
Adastra. However, the conversion drawings for VH-BLA survive in the National Archives
of Australia, but these make no mention of such a modification. The probable reason
for this is that the hatch was installed prior to the aeroplane's civil conversion.
Indeed, examination of the military history of Hudson A16-219 reveals that the
aircraft was converted to an air ambulance by Australian National Airways at Parafield
in March 1944. Quite clearly, this hatch was part of the air ambulance modification
and was intended to facilitate the loading of stretchers. Postscript 29th March 2003: This revelation prompted a search of the Adastra Hudson fleet for other air ambulances. It will be noted from the history of VH-AGO that she too was converted to an air ambulance by ANA at Parafield (in August 1944). Closer examination of available photos of the starboard side of VH-AGO reveals that this aeroplane also had the large hatch. It would appear that of all the Adastra Hudsons, only VH-AGG and VH-AGO had this feature. |
