UK vs US aircraft costs

[PMN1]

Something that has come up on another board is the difference in US vs UK costs for equipment, an example being say the UK River class Frigates at £240,000 each and their US equivalents (Colony class) at £560,000 each (and by the time you get to battleships, well..............).

Some of that increase can be accounted for by increased comforts for the crews on US built ships but that can only account for a small part of the difference.

What was the difference in price between a US built aircraft and an equivalent UK/Canadian/Australian built aircraft?

[ChrisMcD]

Hi PMN1

Good point. It is a while since I have read anything on this, but as I remember it there were a lot of cost differences.

I found a reference that the Spitfire prototype cost £14,63, and I believe that the mid war production batches were costing about £5,000 for the airframe, whereas the Hurricane was significantly cheaper

I also have a recollection that one of the problems with the early, widespread usage of the P38 Lightning was that it was a lot more expensive that alternatives and found a qoted cost of $115,000.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/air_power/ap3.htm

The same site puts the P40 at $45,000. so maybe that is why there were so many P40's at the start of WWII