'Bill' Hudson, 82 Squadron

Before the Second World War, Lionel Vivien Hudson, known as 'Bill, was a journalist with The Sydney Sun newspaper in Australia but by 1941 he was a sergeant pilot with 11 Squadron. On 29 July 1944 he arrived at RAF Yelahanka in India as an Acting Wing Commander, taking command of No. 82 Squadron. Bill was tasked with converting the squadron from the Vultee Vengeance dive-bomber to intruder Mosquitos. His views on his rapid promotion were clear. ‘It was fairly easy to get rank those days as long as you stayed alive and your crimes were undetected. Frankly, I never considered myself as genuine “officer material”.’ 

No. 82 Squadron crest

The conversion to Mosquitos could be quite challenging. Indeed, on 9 September at RAF Ranchi, Bill’s own departure did not go to plan! ‘The port engine failed near the end of my take-off run. I aborted and was careering across the airfield out of control when a crowd of Indian labourers loomed up dead ahead. I yanked up the undercarriage and we screamed to a sudden stop in a cloud of dust only yards short of where the Indians were working on a new runway.’

No. 82 Squadron was declared operational in December 1944 and transferred to RAF Kumbhigram in Assam. On 19 December, Bill decided to lead from the front and fly 82’s first Mosquito op – his only Mosquito op. With his wingman accompanying him, once over hostile territory, the two aircraft dropped quickly and flattened out just above the treetops for a low-level rhubarb, seeking opportunity targets. Bill recalled, ‘We were flirting with the earth a whisper above coconut-tree height, now lifting a wing to check a jungle village, now zooming down over glistening paddy fields, now swerving to miss a gleaming white Buddhist temple.’ Bill drifted too low and his propellor tips touched the Irrawaddy River, ‘Then there was a jolting crash, a jarring note, and a freezing of the music inside my stomach. Incredibly we were still airborne and climbing, but my serene and purring Mosquito of a moment before was now vibrating madly. The tips of the port airscrew were curled back and the Merlin motor looked as though it would shake itself out of its bed.’ Their Mosquito crashed into the jungle. Bill and his observer, Jack Shortis, escaped from the wreckage but were soon captured by enemy forces. After some days, they arrived at the infamous Rangoon Jail, where they were incarcerated until liberation in May 1945.

Bill Hudson, after he was released from Rangoon Jail in May 1945

After the war, Bill returned to journalism and moved into broadcasting. In 1987 he wrote the book ‘The Rats of Rangoon’ about his experiences as a POW.