Australia got chance to get them (or at least try to get them) after fall of France in summer 1940. But as I wrote before, nobody in Australia wanted single seat fighters before Pearl Harbor (at least not officialy). RAAF insisted on two seat fighters, that is why they ordered Beaufighters.
When did Australia have a chance to obtain P-36 in mid or late 1940? Curtiss were building P-36 from May 1938 to July 1939, then February to August 1940, December 1940 as well as January, March and April 1941.
Given the expectation Australia would face naval raiding forces the RAAF wanted Beaufighters in 1939 and again in 1941, they were to fly escort to the Beauforts given the possibility the enemy naval forces would have an aircraft carrier, the over water distances involved mandated in RAF/RAAF eyes the need for a dedicated navigator. With logic like naval fighters were inferior to land based ones, Japanese fighters were more inferior again, so a heavy twin engined escort fighter would be quite effective.
November 1936 RAAF orders 40 Bristol type 149, this type was later cancelled, with Bristol reusing the type number for the Blenheim mark IV and Canada using the Bolingbroke name for its version of the Blenheim.
February 1938 order changed to 50 Beaufort, then to 90 in August.
March 1939 Lever mission submits report on 18th, recommends Australia build Beauforts. Australia made the announcement on the 24th, the same day as the British Government confirming general agreement with it. Bristol had actually received an instruction to proceed on 26 January. 180 Beaufort, first 90 to RAF, production of 20 per month in September 1941 under peace time single shift conditions. 250 Taurus engines to be imported to bridge the gap until locally supplied Taurus engines were produced.
June 1939 RAAF Beaufort order from Britain reduced by 10 to help pay for an order for 18 Beaufighters
October 1939 Australia decided to build Twin Wasp engines for Beauforts, assuming the first 50 Beauforts would have Taurus engines, the remaining 130 Twin Wasp. This would require Twin Wasp production from around late 1940/early 1941 on current airframe schedule.
December 1939, RAAF Beaufort order from Britain reduced by another 66 to pay for Hudson orders
April 1940 remaining 14 Beauforts on order from Britain cancelled, along with the Beaufighter order.
July 1940 the RAF agreed to accept all 90 of its Beaufort with Twin Wasp engines.
May 1941 54 Beaufighter ordered from Britain.
27 June 1941 RAF Australian built Beaufort contract has a note, decided that the engines for these aircraft will be obtained from the USA as Australian built engines are not suitable.
March 1943, report that production of Twin Wasp engines is being retarded due to the heavy demands for spare parts from both the RAAF and USAAF, demands that are increasing while machine tools on order from overseas for many months have not been delivered.
Over the course of WWII RAAF aircraft supply was roughly a third local, a third US and a third Britain.
"In December 1942, the
Australian War Cabinet made arrangements for the local production of the P-51D Mustang. These arrangements were finalized in November 1943, with Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation to build 690 aircraft through kits supplied by
North American Aviation (NAA).
[2] Only the first 100 unassembled aircraft were delivered, and four reportedly had the "razorback" style canopy of the P-51B/C variant. 80 of the kits were assembled under the designation
CA-17 Mustang Mk 20 with
Packard V-1710-3 Merlin engines, the remainder being used for spare parts"
Wiki has problems.
In late 1942 the decision was taken to send a mission overseas to consider what aircraft to build next in Australia, War Cabinet considered the fighter part of the report of the mission in April 1943, the recommendation was to build the Mustang, with the RAAF requiring 340 by October 1945 and 690 by July 1946. The proposed plan was to order 350 complete Mustang plus spares and tooling for an estimated 8,051,000 pounds, which would grow to around 14,804,600 pounds for 690 aircraft and spares. The first part was approved, 350 aircraft were ordered.
CA-17 Mustang, as of July 1943 the order was 350, deliveries expected to begin in June 1944. 100 kits were to be sent from the US, the order was cut to 250 in February 1946, with 80 of the kits used in some way, given how many of the parts needed discarding or rework, plus similar problems with the drawings and templates. It was February 1944 when items began arriving, October 1944 before assembly of the first kit commenced.
Some "want if" discuses what options the Australians had in the summer to fall of 1941 to try to set up a production line for fighters in Australia,
Northern or southern summer or fall? It makes a 6 month difference.
The Government didn't even want it by mid/late '43 and were aghast when Wackett wanted to produce another 200 just to keep the CAC factory running.
They only agreed to 50 to placate Wackett - keep the factory open and retain the skilled workers in preparation for the Mustang.
Accountants were shocked at the end of the war. The Boomerang programme was $2,900,000 over budget with a unit cost, plus spares, of around $42,500.
At that price, could we have just bought something? Or would postage/packing and availability with the World burning be the biggest issue?
From the late 1930's and into 1943 Australia had to take less than it wanted or build its own. Requested allocation amounts were cut or delayed with little chance of appeal. P-40s lost en route were not replaced, early Spitfires en route were diverted to the Middle East.
According to the RAAF Chiefs of Staff the initial Boomerang order in March 1942 was for 100, raised 200 in October 1942 and 250 in August 1943. Note the program for 105 CAC bombers was meant to replace the Boomerang in production in September/October 1943, after 200 Boomerangs were made, in fact it took until May 1944 for Boomerang number 200. The cancellation of the CAC bomber created problems for manpower planning.
Australian Archives MP450/1 109 Department of Aircraft production costs of locally made aircraft, in pounds, but the Wirraway and Tiger Moth costs were shared with the Department of Air and the Beaufighter, Mosquito, Mustang and Tiger Moth included costs incurred for orders for aircraft that were cancelled after the end of the war while a wartime Mustang was cheaper than one built in the late 1940's. The Vampire order was just beginning. Unsure if costs include spares.
Beaufort, 700 built 39,514,089 total cost 56,449 unit cost
Beaufighter, 364 built 19,146,712 total cost 52,601 unit cost
Lincoln, 51 built 7,988,124 total cost 156,630 unit cost (total on order 73)
Wirraway, 755 built 3,951,438 total cost 5,234 unit cost
Boomerang 250 built 4,780,922 total cost 19,124 unit cost
Wackett trainer, 200 built 390,010 total cost 1,950 unit cost
Mustang, 179 built 6,910,696 total cost 38,607 unit cost (total on order 200)
Nene Engine, 13 built 1,402,169 total cost 107,859 unit cost (total on order 156)
Tiger Moth, 1070 built 586,434 total cost 548 unit cost
DH.84 Dragon, 87 built 659,728 total cost 7,583 unit cost
Mosquito, 209 built 17,376,878 total cost 83,143 unit cost (actually 212 built)
Vampire, 4 built 893,591 total cost 223,398 unit cost (total on order 50)
Glider, 8 built 32,224 total cost 4,028 unit cost
A1196 1/502/24 pages 61 and 62. Costs approved by war cabinet, Boomerang 5,017,000 pounds for 250 aircraft and 312 engines.
A detailed break down of the Beaufort cost was 44,426 pounds, including allowances for buildings, tooling and administration, noting imported engines and propellers cost more than local builds. The 1940's exchange rate was over $3 US to 1 Australian pound. Australian decimal currency change over in the 1960's , 1 pound = 2 dollars.
Butler and Hagedorn quote a typical Lend Lease cost for a P-40M as $42,275.
When were the first large P-40 orders placed?
USAAF P-40 contract AC-12414 on 26 April 1939 for 134 P-40 serials 39-156 to 289, then 390 P-40 serials 40-292 to 681. Production from May 1940. In 1939/40 France added 100 P-40 to their P-36 order, production from June 1940.