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Look around the forum, it's posted somewhereHas anyone a table of manhours evolution for the principal planes along the war, and also the aircraft prices?
And don't forget that there were ongoing and constant modifications being made to the aircraft during production. Many of these were designed to make production easier.
Hi, FLYBOYJ and thanks. I'm new around here and what I'm looking for is a comprehensive, yet sumarized table in which one could find how many hours did take to produce the different models of, at least, the most emblematic WWII aircraft, and the evolution of total man hours along for each model along the war.Look around the forum, it's posted somewhere
The total man hours to produce an aeroplane is a very crude guide to productivity without context.
What sort of man hours, how they are organised and payed are equally important. To touch on the first, the most significant task facing the British aircraft industry by the late 1930s and into the early war years was not the acquisition of skilled labour but the absorption of unskilled labour. The British did this very well over a period extending back to the mid 1930s. Between January and October 1942 output of aircraft rose by 50% whilst the labour force increased by just 16.5%. The use of unskilled labour forced different and more productive processes on the industry and these new manufacturing processes, designed for use by unskilled labour, resulted in productivity far higher than equivalent skilled processes.
The new factories commissioned by the Air Ministry in the late re-armament period were designed to utilise an extremely high proportion of unskilled workers and these to significantly increased productivity when they cam on line in 1941/42.
Much of the unskilled labour was made up of women. Across the industry in Britain the proportion of women in the work force increased from 9.5% in 1940 to 23% in 1941, in some works it was over 30% by the end of 1931.
These women (and many men) had never worked in any kind of industry before. It is an unfortunate geographic fact that in the 1930s many unemployed men with some experience working in engineering industries were located in the North of England and the Midlands, whereas the aircraft industry was largely in the South. People were not as mobile in the 1930s as they are today. These recruits to be trained for the 'repetition work' they would do, but the factories had to to be transformed too. Layouts were reorganised, factories were extensively rejigged and tooled and production was divided into operations that could be easily learned.
This is just a few of the factors reflected in the reduction in total man hours per unit produced. It is and was a complicated business. Productivity didn't increase just because a work force had somehow got used to making a particular product!
Cheers
Steve
Edit: I have a note I made from Mensforth's 'Aircraft Production' which says that the time taken to produce a bomber centre section went from 1014 hours at the start of production to 592 hours after one year and then to 230 hours after 17 months. Unfortunately I forgot to note which bomber! I suspect it is the Lancaster. The improvement is put down to factors above, the work force taking advantage of the piece work/bonus system of payement and the longer production run.
Anyway, I think the total manhourss and cost for the different models of aircraft give a reasonable good idea of a ratio ("quality"/cost) that is not always in mind nowadays when judging these aircrafts.
I agree that man hours give a measure of productivity, but it is most useful when comparing like for like, as, for example, in the man hours to produce the same air frame or aero engine in different plants.
There are many factors that can lead to misunderstanding of such a generalised figure when comparing different plants producing different products.
It is a very useful measure in some other contexts. Man hours was the measure used to divide processes between the different participating companies in the first shadow aero engine scheme. Austin, Standard, Rover, Humber and Daimler all got to produce components which required totals of between 676 and 729 man hours. Bristol then assembled and tested each engine (250 hours).
The Air Ministry was more concerned with costs. The first 500 engines produced by the shadow industry averaged £1,915 per engine. The first 987 produced by Bristol cost an average of just £1,486 and the Ministry wanted to know where that extra £429 (nearly 30%) went
Cheers
Steve
Most from Sebastian Ritchies book on industry and air power. I will post the title, ISBN etc when I get home in a couple of days (hopefully).Again, really useful information, Stona. Where did you get those numbers?
Most from Sebastian Ritchies book on industry and air power. I will post the title, ISBN etc when I get home in a couple of days (hopefully).
There are no exceptions to these basic rules of production. There are a few added complications. Changes made in the line, such as the Germans were so fond of doing are not beneficial to output. they are greatly harmful actually. Frittering around the edges with your design wrecks your output. Lesson for the day....get your design finalised, then get your production systems organised then go hell for leather to get as many as you can made accepting minor imperfections until it becomes absolutely essential to change things. the Americans were masters at this
The review of 'The Strategic Air War Against Germany 1939-1945' from Caliver Books in the UK turned me off though so I would appreciate your further input on its value. To quote Used. 260p 64 Illustrations Pbk. Mint. Compared to its American equivalent, this is not a particularly impressive monument to 70,000 RAF and Allied lives. However, it does present a short view of the strategic bombing offensive, and serves as a valuable summary of the main events. With 12 A3 pull-out tables. (RAF MUSEUM HENDON). EndQuote I am guessing that the review may be by the RAFM.