
Lockheed A-29 Hudson
Lockheed Hudson airplane model. Although Lend-Lease Hudsons were assigned USAAF attack-series designations A-28 and A-29 and were given USAAF serial numbers, very few of these aircraft actually served with the USAAF. Most examples went directly to the RAF, the RAAF, or the RNZAF. Only 153 A-29-LOs-equipped with a single flexible 0.50-inch machine gun in an open position replacing the Boulton Paul dorsal turret of the standard aircraft-were retained by the USAAF. Although the USAAF A-29s were distributed among a number of Bombardment and Anti-Submarine Squadrons on both US coasts at the beginning of American involvement in the war, the A-29-LO was considered as only an interim type, pending the availability of more modern aircraft. Nevertheless, they did participate in some early combat-in fact, a USAAF A-29 became the first USAAF aircraft to destroy an enemy submarine, when it sank U-701 on July 7, 1942. The A-29s were soon superseded by later aircraft and were relegated to crew traini