Best twin engine fighter, attack bomber, piston WW2 aircraft

[shrike]

Were it not for the caveat 'used after the war" I would put forward the Ju.88

[Tiger Tim]

You name it and the Beau did it from the beginning of the war to the end.

...Including donating her pre-engineered firewall forward package to the Lancaster to speed up development IIRC. That has to count for something, right?

-Tim

[Rocketeer]

The Douglas A-26 Invader must be high up the food chain. 16 forward facing .50 cals does plenty of talking.

[Tom H]

Ok I'n going start off by admitting I am heavily biased...

Every morning as I walk to my office I have to pass under the nose of a FB Mossie. Yep with 4 .303s and 4 20mm. Even has "Hairless Joe" on the nose.

So for me given the criteria it has to be the Mossie.
- Day/Night bomber
- Intruder
- Day/Night fighter
- Coastal command (some with a 57mm?/6lber? Cannon as I recall)
- Rockets, bombs

RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, USAAF and others

Served in Europe and SEA then carried on into the postwar some into the 50s/60s with the Swiss? if I remember correctly.

And the sound.......nothing like it.

Plus becasue of the press from it's missions...romantic.
Movies...633 Sqn and the odd other added to the romance
Books like "Terror in the Starboard seat" did nothing but help the cause.

Helps my office is beside the 418 "City of Edmonton' Squadron mini museum in our facility.

Ahhhhh the Mossie

Tom

[Flat 12x2]

Was Dornier's Do 335 considered the fastest piston twin in production (from a production of what--maybe a dozen?)?

Others might beg to differ, but I would say that Do.335 never reached full production. Most if not all of the circa 25 aircraft built would count as prototypes and pre-production; if some were to be counted as "production" they were so few that the type could not be considered a major enough design for comparisons being made here. None were ever used offensively in combat, though a few were seen in flight by Allied aircraft.

I think it was 10 production aircraft completed, but none ever entered operational service.
It wasn't the fastest either as the speeds quoted were without any military equipment fitted, the DH Hornet was only a couple of MPH slower at full operational weight.

[B 25 C]

B-25s. They must be in there some where.

[oz rb fan]

as much as i'd like to say the westland whirlwind....it wasnt
both the mossie and beaufighter could be up there and there are few others...a20,b25 and of course the b26 marauder .
the the axis side the bf110 series and follow ups and the he111 series and ju88 have to be up there as well along with the ki46,and j1n gekko.
but i think the twin of the war like someone else has said is the c47...it was even named as one of the biggest influences on winning the war..and as a side it also served on all sides of the war

[fritzthefox]

Most manufactured: Soviet Pe-2

Most air-to-air kills: P-38

Fastest: Me262

Longest served (and arguably most loved): C-47

Most cost-effective: Mossie

Most versatile: Ju-88

[Fearless Tower]

Fastest: Me262

Doesn't count.....OP specified 'piston'

[fritzthefox]

Well, I guess Dornier wins that one with the Pfiel, then...although the Twin Mustang had flown as a prototype before war's end.

[old iron]

Most air-to-air kills: P-38

I am going to still guess that the Me110 had more kills than the P-38. It was used in many theaters in early part of the war and in both day and night. Can anybody bring in some numbers for comparison so we can then argue whether the Americans or Germans were more prone to making overclaims?

[Ploesti]

Most air-to-air kills: P-38

I am going to still guess that the Me110 had more kills than the P-38. It was used in many theaters in early part of the war and in both day and night. Can anybody bring in some numbers for comparison so we can then argue whether the Americans or Germans were more prone to making overclaims?

I would make a bet that you are correct that the 110 had more kills than the P-38, but I would also make a bet that the Germans made many more claims with the 110 vs Americans with the P-38. I'm also wondering if the Mossie was really more cost effective than other similar twin engine aircraft.

[StudeDave]

Most manufactured: Soviet Pe-2
Most air-to-air kills: P-38
Fastest: Me262
Longest served (and arguably most loved): C-47
Most cost-effective: Mossie
Most versatile: Ju-88

You forgot "most sexy: P-61 Black Widow"

[soko121]

Although being biased towards the Beaufighter and Mossie, the Me410 packed quite a punch too, does anyone know what sort of kill ratio it had or was it mostly designated as ground attack. I think it was only Eastern and Western Fronts so not much for every theatre....

Simon

[andyman64]

ok maybe i,m a little biased here but i think the p61 black widow was the best looking of its time with the b-25 Mitchell coming in a close second , didn,t the canon nosed version of the Mitchell sink an awful lot of shipping in the pacific theater?