Cost of British military aircraft and engines?

[tomo pauk]

Could anyone point me into right direction?

 

[Deleted member 68059]

I`ve got some financial stuff on German engine costs - but since its all real documents its all in Reichsmarks !

Up to you if you fancy trying to make a meaningful convertion....let me know if you do and I`ll dig it out. Its not a subject thats dear to my heart so it may take me a little time to find the right files....I can only remember that I skimmed over some pages with some engine costs...

 

[tomo pauk]

Any info is welcomed.
Though - I'm trying to find out more about the British stuff.

 

[Deleted member 68059]

In that case you ought to buy a copy of: "Industry and Air Power" by Sebastian Ritchie. Which has a lot of stuff of British engine costs.

I have a copy here - but I`m really sorry to be unhelpful but I really cant be bothered to leaf through it all evening digging figures out - if I were you just get a copy!

But just for example on page 128:

"Bristol Mercury average cost per engine £1915 (first 500) ....£1197 (3rd batch of 500)

 

[Shortround6]

The problem with some of these costs is that they are useful for comparing engine (or airframe) costs within a country (although beware of different years if more than a few apart) they are almost useless for comparing between countries as many of the countries had artificial exchange rates. German and French for example were artificially low compared to the dollar in order to discourage imports from the US and to encourage exports.
Unless you can come up with some comparables, like cost of a certain model Merlin in large numbers and the cost of a Packard equivalent.

 

[tomo pauk]

The problem with some of these costs is that they are useful for comparing engine (or airframe) costs within a country (although beware of different years if more than a few apart) they are almost useless for comparing between countries as many of the countries had artificial exchange rates.
..

This thread is about a specific country.

 

[pbehn]

In peace time the cost of a product was its cost on the market. Rolls Royce and Hawker sold engines and Hurricanes on the world market. Once war was declared the UK government controlled not only sales and products but also the labour force, the stated cost was therefore a sort of nominal value in a currency that was being bankrolled or guaranteed by the USA in a major part.

 

[Shortround6]

Sticking with just the British prices for the sleeve valve engines would certainly be interesting to compare to the poppet valve engines.
Estimates have been all over the place.

 

[fastmongrel]

Could anyone point me into right direction?

Best of luck Tomo I have spent hours trying to get some decent figures on costs and trying to compare them to other countries. This was something I came up with last year and that was like pulling teeth.

A Spitfire MkVB from the Castle Bromwich plant cost the taxpayer about £9,850. So in 1941 prices about £1 4s a pound. In 2010, the relative value of £9,825 from 1941 is £1,824,000.00 calculated by increase in retail price index plus rise in wages and material costs. So in 2010 prices about £304 per pound.

Engine £2,000 0 0
fuselage £2,500 0 0
Wings £1,800 0 0
Undercarriage £800 0 0
Guns £800 0 0
Tail £500 0 0
Propeller £350 0 0
Petrol Tanks (£65 0 0
Oil Tank £25 0 0
Compass £5 0 0
Clock £2 10s 0d
Thermometer £1 1s 0d
Sparking Plugs each 8s 0d
Fixings £1000 0 0 (rivets, screws, bolts, cables)

Don't try to compare US/UK/Ger costs or man hours - the mechanics of the calculation on opposite sides of the Atlantic and English Channel were completely different.

 

[alejandro_]

Hello Tomo, as others are saying the data are likely to be fragmented. I have also spent many hours trying to compare US/Soviet/German financial data and I would not recommend it! Anyway, this is from a discussion a few years ago:

The Mosquito dropped from £6,000 in 1941 to £4,200 in 1944, the Lancaster from £22,000 to £15,200 in the same period, despite substantial rises in wages.

 

[tomo pauk]

...
The Mosquito dropped from £6,000 in 1941 to £4,200 in 1944, the Lancaster from £22,000 to £15,200 in the same period, despite substantial rises in wages.

Thank you.
Would that be for airframe or a complete aircraft?

 

[swampyankee]

In peace time the cost of a product was its cost on the market. Rolls Royce and Hawker sold engines and Hurricanes on the world market. Once war was declared the UK government controlled not only sales and products but also the labour force, the stated cost was therefore a sort of nominal value in a currency that was being bankrolled or guaranteed by the USA in a major part.

Cost is still a way of measuring the amount of resources used for something, be it labor or tons of armor plate or kilowatt-hours of electricity. Currency is a flawed measure of the cost, but it's really the only one that's practical.

 

[pbehn]

Cost is still a way of measuring the amount of resources used for something, be it labor or tons of armor plate or kilowatt-hours of electricity. Currency is a flawed measure of the cost, but it's really the only one that's practical.

For example on the Mosquito, it used balsa, mahogany and spruce from abroad, how do de Havilland buy it and what is the price?

 

[swampyankee]

For example on the Mosquito, it used balsa, mahogany and spruce from abroad, how do de Havilland buy it and what is the price?

I don't know how it would work within the Commonwealth, but for items that needed to be bought from outside, they needed to use their foreign currency reserves, largely dollars. This is one reason the UK was pretty much an economic wreck post-WWII: it literally didn't have the money, especially dollars, to buy stuff like beef from Argentina or sugar from Brazil.

 

[Shortround6]

Well something seems to way off even on the examples given.

A Spitfire MkVB from the Castle Bromwich plant cost the taxpayer about £9,850

The Mosquito dropped from £6,000 in 1941

Engine £2,000 0 0

Something isn't adding up very well????

 

[loreng59]

I have been working on this for a while and it is hard, nor consistent:

Hind 1937 £4,150
Battle 1937 £11,250
Blenheim 1937 £13,500
Hampden 1939 £20,000
Wellington 1939 £18,500
Virginia 1924 £13,300
Heyford 1934 £13,750
Whitley 1937 £30,000
Halifax 1939 £42,000
Mosquito 1941 £18,000
Fury 1934 £3,900
Gladiator 1937 £5,300
Spitfire 1939 £8,000
Defiant 1939 £10,500
Lancaster 1943 £58,974

Engines:
Merlin 1941 £5,640
Merlin 1942 £2,484
Merlin 1945 £1,180

 

[tomo pauk]

I have been working on this for a while and it is hard, nor consistent:

<snip>

Thank you. Are the A/C prices for complete A/C?

 

[loreng59]

Tony:

Unfortunately, I did not note that and most of my books are packed, but as I recall most of those are without engines.

I have a fair list of the World War 1 aircraft engines, but World War 2 not so much

 

[loreng59]

Here I have found how many man-hours various British aircraft took to construct
Airframe structure weight (lbs) Average man-hours (thousands) lb. structure weight per 1,000 man-hours

FIGHTERS
Spitfire 2,055 15.2 135
Hurricane 2,468 10.3 240
Whirlwind 3,461 26.6 130
Tornado 3,600 15.5 233

BOMBERS
Battle 4,466 24 186
Whitley 9,557 52 184
Wellington 10,117 38 266
Manchester 15,650 52.1 300
Halifax 16,157 76 213
Stirling 26,630 75 314

 

[Hop]

There's a list of the average cost of British bombers in: https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/664/2/adt-NU20050104.11440202whole.pdf