# Cost of fw 190



## Supermarine-SpitfireMkXIV (Aug 11, 2018)

I was wondering the cost of the fw190 and also the bf109. can anyone help??



Thanks.


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## MiTasol (Aug 18, 2018)

Supermarine-SpitfireMkXIV said:


> I was wondering the cost of the fw190 and also the bf109. can anyone help??
> Thanks.



Maybe you would be better trying to find the man-hours to build these aircraft as the currency values and exchange rates make the monetary cost at that time difficult to relate to in our current currencies.

EDIT hourly rates of pay varied considerably in the USA and no doubt in every other country as well so that also effectively confuses cost to build, as does the purchasing power of that pay. EDIT

I would expect the Me109 to be high in man-hours due to the manufacturing processes used, though not as high as the Spitfire by a long shot.

I would expect the Fw190 to be comparable to American designs in man-hours due to the use of many pressed and stamped components.

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## Supermarine-SpitfireMkXIV (Aug 18, 2018)

Ok then do you know the man hours? (to anyone)


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## pinehilljoe (Aug 31, 2018)

When you see photos of the interior of German planes, you see the Germans didnt cut corners even late in the war. The harness are neatly dressed, layout is well thought out. So I don't think the man hours to build the 190 or 109 were trivial compared to other planes. Compare these photos of the Zero and 109 cockpits.


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## pbehn (Aug 31, 2018)

pinehilljoe said:


> When you see photos of the interior of German planes, you see the Germans didnt cut corners even late in the war. The harness are neatly dressed, layout is well thought out. So I don't think the man hours to build the 190 or 109 were trivial compared to other planes. Compare these photos of the Zero and 109 cockpits.
> View attachment 508061
> View attachment 508062


They weren't paying an hourly rate for labour in many cases.

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## GrauGeist (Aug 31, 2018)

Also quite a bit of difference between U.S. manufacturing and German manufacturing.

What could be accomplished by an American workman in one hour on the assembly line was far greater than his German counterpart.


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## MiTasol (Sep 2, 2018)

pinehilljoe said:


> So I don't think the man hours to build the 190 or 109 were trivial compared to other planes.



As far as I can see no-one called the German man-hours trivial.

I estimated the Fw-190 hours to be about the same as American aircraft due to the significant use of pressings and jigs. GrauGeist says this is not correct and I admit that I am only looking at the processes, not any other factors, so I expect GrauGeist is correct.

The Me/Bf 109 hours would have been much higher if they used the same processes as the 108 where everything was hand formed.

See _View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi6PdWHSVG8_
for building the 108. There are better videos on this but that was the one google found on my search


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## tomo pauk (Sep 14, 2018)

Supermarine-SpitfireMkXIV said:


> Ok then do you know the man hours? (to anyone)



The man-hour cost for the Bf 109 dropped to 4000 with the 'G' model. IIRC it took more for the Fw 190 to be produced.



MiTasol said:


> ...
> 
> I would expect the Me109 to be high in man-hours due to the manufacturing processes used, though not as high as the Spitfire by a long shot.
> 
> I would expect the Fw190 to be comparable to American designs in man-hours due to the use of many pressed and stamped components.



Spitfire was the man-hour hog when compared to Hurricane, P-36/40 or P-39, mainly due to it's wing & fuselage having many built-up ribs, in time when other (including the Bf 109 and Typhoon, as well as the other fighters mentioned just above) featured pressed, 1-piece ribs. The Bf 109 was also a much smaller A/C, that will also drive the man-hour cost down vs. Spitfire (13000 m-h by mid war?).


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