Following the start of the Pacific War, No. 13 Squadron deployed two flights of Hudson light bombers to Ambon.
U-259 sank no ships in her short career, and was sunk off North Africa on 15 November 1942, during her second combat patrol, by a British Hudson bomber.
A week before the accident, Fairbairn told an Adelaide headmaster: "Hudson bombers have a rather nasty stalling characteristic .
Five Hudson bombers arrived shortly afterwards.
The squadron's Ansons were replaced by twelve Mark I Lockheed Hudson light bombers during April and May 1940.
The RNZAF took on a major part of the maritime reconnaissance task with Catalina (and later Sunderland) flying boats and Hudson bombers.
On June 11, 12 Hudson bombers from the RAF attempted to bomb Scharnhorst; they all missed their target.
The following day a reconnaissance plane from RAF Coastal Command spotted the ship, and a raid by twelve Hudson bombers took place on the 11th.
LeVier started at Lockheed ferrying Hudson bombers to Canada for delivery to the Royal Air Force.
He ferried Lockheed's Hudson bombers from Burbank, Calif., to Canada for transfer to the Royal Air Force of Britain.