Douglas XT3D
The Douglas XT3D was an American three-seat torpedo bomber biplane built by Douglas Aircraft for the U.S. Navy. It first flew in 1931 (BuNo 8730) and was described as large and ugly. The design used metal with a fabric covering, folding wings, an arrestor hook for carrier operations, and fixed tailwheel landing gear. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engine and had three open cockpits: the front for a gunner/bomb aimer, the middle for the pilot, and a rear cockpit for another gunner.
The XT3D failed to meet Navy requirements in testing and was returned to Douglas. It was redesigned as the XT3D-2 with a more powerful Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-54 engine, plus wheel fairings and enclosing the two rear cockpits. Despite these changes, it still failed Navy trials and was not ordered into production.
The Navy kept the prototype for about ten years as a general-purpose aircraft, then used it as an instructional airframe in 1941.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:32 (CET).