On 20 August 1944 seven of the Lockheed Hudsons, which had just been replaced by Lockheed Venturas, were flown back to New Zealand from Nausori, Fiji. During the flight heavy weather was encountered and in accordance with normal practice the flight broke up. Two of the planes disappeared and were never seen again. An extensive search was carried out over the next few days by 12 long range aircraft from RNZAF Base Whenuapai near Auckland, but no sightings were made in the area where they were presumed to have gone missing. No distress signals were received either.