Fastest twin engined, 3+ seater of WW2?

[Admiral Beez]

Were there any twin-engined production aircraft with three or more crew in WW2 with speeds close to 400 mph? How fast did they get?

Per Wikipedia, the three seat Northrop P-61 Black Widow was good for 366 mph, the Douglas A-26 Invader 359 mph and the Junkers Ju 388 tops them both at 383 mph.

 

[GrauGeist]

The KI-46 was virtually untouchable with it's high speeds (375mph) and high altitude flights (35,000+ feet).

*oops* it had a crew of two, not three, my bad.

 

[Admiral Beez]

*oops* it had a crew of two, not three, my bad.

Indeed, there are lots of high speed twin seaters. But it takes good design and a lot of power to propel the drag of an aircraft made for three or more chaps to close to 400 mph. The Soviet's three-man Petlyakov Pe-2 had a top speed of 360 mph, not bad.

 

[cammerjeff]

I have read that the Ju-88S3 could also do 383 mph, and the Ju-88T3 was supposed to be good for 410 mph with GM-1

 

[dedalos]

The ju88G6 with a crew of 4 , was cloce to 600km/h. With Mw 50 and the berlin radar With its aerodynamic cover , perhaps could touch 644km/h.
Also the Do217M was around 560km/h. If production capacity had allow the use of the Db610 engine, speeds in excess of 644km/h were reasonable

 

[Dimlee]

There was He 219 field modification with 3 crew if I'm not mistaken.

 

[GrauGeist]

How about the Pe-2?

 

[Admiral Beez]

How about the Pe-2?

The Soviet's three-man Petlyakov Pe-2 had a top speed of 360 mph, not bad.

 

[GrauGeist]

Ahh...sorry, missed that one, too.

There are days that I hate this effin' phone...

 

[Dimlee]

360 mph for Pe-2 is "optimistic"...
530-540 km/h at the best and early in the war. Pe-2 with M-82 radial engines was probably the fastest with 547 km/h but produced in very small numbers and operated as a recon aircraft mostly.
There were faster modifications designed by Myasishev but they remained as prototypes only.

 

[Shortround6]

360 mph for Pe-2 is "optimistic"...

Obtainable if you could fit rocket engines

Like some other nations, there are some rather "optimistic" speeds for some Russian aircraft.

The Douglas A-20 may have been the 3rd most used twin engine combat plane in Soviet service in WW II?

 

[Vincenzo]

The Douglas A-20 may have been the 3rd most used twin engine combat plane in Soviet service in WW II?

the challengers for 2nd and 3rd are the SB and the DB-3/Il-4, their production was on the order of 5/6 thousands, the A-20 delivered were just under 3 thousands, so if number are right it's more probably that is the 4th

 

[Dimlee]

the challengers for 2nd and 3rd are the SB and the DB-3/Il-4, their production was on the order of 5/6 thousands, the A-20 delivered were just under 3 thousands, so if number are right it's more probably that is the 4th

Yes, A-20 is definitely below 3rd in numbers. Li-2 is another contender for 4th or 5th. At the end of the war there were almost as many Li-2 as Il-4 in Long-Range Aviation (Dalnyaya Aviatsija)

 

[Admiral Beez]

There was a three-seat variant of the Ar 234, Arado Ar 234 - Wikipedia.

Apparently the twin-engined, three-seat Ar 234P-5 was capable of 510 mph (820 kph). But I don't know if we can consider this a production aircraft.

 

[Just Schmidt]

According to Warplanes of the Luftwaffe, David Donald (Ed.) Aerospace Publishing Ltd., 1994 page 187 the Ju 188 S-1 with Jumo 213E-1 with GM-1 could reach 685 kmph at 11500 m (426 mph at 37730 ft), and the Ju 188T-1 700 kmph at same hight (435 mph). Forerunners of Ju388, both are said to have entered "limited production" but "neither reached the Luftwaffe in quantity".

The source for those figures is not stated.

 

[fastmongrel]

A BOAC Mosquito with a passenger in the bomb bay. Does that count or is it stretching the rules a tiny bit

 

[SaparotRob]

A BOAC Mosquito with a passenger in the bomb bay. Does that count or is it stretching the rules a tiny bit

Was it in service? If yes, then yes.

 

[Dimlee]

Not sure this one was in service, but...

 

[SaparotRob]

We have a winner!

 

[BiffF15]

Not sure this one was in service, but...
View attachment 623221

At least they got a window seat…