My great uncle was lost in a Hudson during the battle of Narvik. RIP Adam King and his comrades.

I'm glad that you point out the effects of economics on design, something that many tech history fans don't really think about. One builds what one can afford.

My mother was Head Ticket Agent for United at O'Hare during WW2 and she told me they used to imagine that "someday they'll have planes that 70, 80, maybe even 100 passengers!" She lived long enough to fly on a 747.

Apparently, according to the RAF museum, one of the Hudsons was the first aircraft to score an air to air victory that took off from british soil.

"...despite the enthusiastic waiving of pieces of paper..." I swear, Rex is capable of positively Drachinifel-ish levels of sarcastic wit. Thanks for all the laughs, and a great video to boot!

Thanks for the video! Great as usual.

I'll add that Poland received 10 L-14H-05, 6 of them in April and May 1938, four in 1939.
One of those (SP-LMK), with crew commanded by Wacław Makowski flew in May 1938 from Los Angels to Warsaw. Traveled through Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brasil, French colonial possessions in Africa ( Dakar, Casablanca, Tunis) as well as Rome in Europe. This quite impressive achievement took 85 hours between 13th May and 5th June, including 11 hours over the Atlantic.
EDIT - the route was chosen to advertise the LOT capabilities in South America because due to competition the Polish airlines were trying to expand in regions where it was easier - in Europe it was the north-south route and South America was seen as a possible and promising market.

When the WW2 started all L-14H were mobilized and served as transport airplanes for special tasks, flying mainly to Sweden, Finland, Romania and Hungary. LOT L-14H crews were very experienced so manged to conduct their difficult missions without losses.

Thank you for having a real voice and awesome pictures...doing your research...good job❤

Your videos are so good, your effort and pride for your craft is clear and felt by the audience! Hope you are having a great one!

I was a passenger in Sid Marshall's Electra in 1967.

There is one LOckheed Hudson still flying at Temora in Australia. The only airworthy one.

The Electra in all her guises is one of the prettiest aircraft ever built.  In the unlikely event of me getting a pilot's license, getting hold of one would be a priority.

Thanks for the delay!  The fact that you found an error in the script and then re-wrote and re-recorded the audio says a lot about you.  It's appreciated.  There are a lot of creators around that don't care enough to bother with correct info, I'm glad that you do!

Another excellent presentation, Rex.  I've long been amused by the frequent featuring of the Hudson in Hollywood war films of the early 1940s.  Since the major studios were close to Lockheed's factory at the Burbank airport, the company apparently was always ready to lend a Hudson or two to any studio production.  According to Hollywood, the only bombers in the American inventory were Hudsons or B-17s.  DESPERATE JOURNEY, THIS IS THE ARMY, NORTHERN PURSUIT, WINGS FOR THE EAGLE ... there were others.

The grandpa who didn't do much at home, but had some nice times abroad, and inspired new minds all over the world

I stumbled upon some color 8mm film in a drawer in my mom's house a few years ago. When I took a look at it, I was surprised to see LBJ and Ladybird Johnson on the tarmac at, what I believe was Dallas Love Field, exiting a gorgeous silver Electra. I will try to find it again and share it if I can. My grandfather was an ATC at Dallas Love at the time, so I believe it is a one off homemade film, and a piece of history. Not a big fan of LBJ, but cool nonetheless.

I was somewhat amused at that photo of passengers polluting the aircraft's cabin with their smokes.  It is an improvement today that it is now banned.  Over fifty years ago my three year old daughter was excited to be on her first (BOAC) flight from Bermuda to London, but there were two men right behind us puffing away on a cigar and a pipe! It was the only time I ever saw a seat pocket barf bag in use.  When we asked the flight attendant to ask the two men not to smoke as it was making our child ill, but he apologized and said they had they had the right to smoke in flight.

Thank you for picking up this fascinating aircraft. Japan initially produce as-is licenced version at Tachikawa Aircraft company which icalled "Lo-Shiki", obviously Lo for Lockheed. Then Kawasaki developped improved version as Ki-56. Ki-56 has lengthened fuselage to incrase capsity and stability. It was told Lo-Shiki had ground-loop tendency due to nose-high attitude and stubby fuselage.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Super Electra / Hudson is that it set up Lockheed to produce two of  the most iconic maritime patrol aircraft of the Cold War: the P-2 Neptune and  P-3 Orion, with an honourable mention to the S-3 Viking.

dudes will see this and say hell yeah

Always drawn to Electras by their sleek designs.
The flaps of this one are spectacular.