British Aircraft costs

[ArtieBob]

I have used the search engine and cannot seem to find anything on this subject. Can anyone point me to a source for British aircraft costs, particularly of interest are the Blenheim, Beaufort and Mosquito?

Many Thanks,

Artie Bob

[DavidIsby]

The best source is most likely the Ministry of Aircraft Production "Price Books", held by the RAF Museum (there may also be a set at Kew as part of AVIA 2 but I have not checked).

The labo(u)r and subcontract cost of a Mossie was 6,000 pounds in 1941 and 4,200 pounds in 1945. Sebastian Ritchie, "A New Audit of War: The Productivity of Britain's Wartime Aircraft Industry Reconsidered", War & Society, v. 12 no. 1 (May 1994), pp. 125-147, p. 131.

[ArtieBob]

Many Thanks,

ArtieBob

[Juha]

Finns bought 9 complete Blenheim Mk Is with price of £ 14 444 per a/c on 6 Oct 1936, but that did't incl the gun turret, part of the dials, radios and bomb shackles. Afterwards Finns calculated that the £ 14 444 was only under 2/3 of the total price of one Blenheim.

Juha

[Observer1940]

According to The Times (London) January 4th 1941 the "Edinburgh Fighter Aircraft Fund" had reached "£61,968" ... "and yesterday names were chosen for the 12 aeroplanes which this money will buy."

I also seem to recall that when a town purchased a Spitfire, they had to raise £5,000.

I have heard one figure for a finished Whitley bomber being in the region of £25,000. I should be most interested to know the figure?

Mark

[Bill Walker]

The "prices" of presentation aircraft were set politically, and had little to do with the actual cost of the aircraft. I seem to recall reading some time ago that actual costs were at least twice the presentation price.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Observer1940

I also seem to recall that when a town purchased a Spitfire, they had to raise £5,000.

The sum of £5,000 for a Spitfire was the price which was set by the Spitfire Fund in 1940 which was based between the actual cost and what the public might be prepared to pay.

Actual total cost of a Spitfire Mk.I in 1940 was £9,848.19.0. The £5,000 figure was the figure used during fund-raising.

Hope that helps,

Tim

[mhuxt]

Three years and an extra Merlin later, beautiful downtown Porthcawl had this to say:

[Observer1940]

Originally Posted by Bill Walker

The "prices" of presentation aircraft were set politically, and had little to do with the actual cost of the aircraft. I seem to recall reading some time ago that actual costs were at least twice the presentation price.

Bill
Several replies suggest that the public were in a way, being mislead about the cost of an aircraft?
Mark

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Observer1940

Bill
Several replies suggest that the public were in a way, being mislead about the cost of an aircraft?
Mark

Well you could argue that Mark. As you can see in my post above the actual cost of a Spitfire Mk.I was nearly twice that of the "fund price".

But then fund and presentation aircraft were often "invented" for press visits, with random airframes being given hasty artwork from the ground crews to portray a particular fund or presentation aircraft.

Such is war and the issue of public morale.

Cheers,

Tim