Nigel,
I was actually pondering this myself yesterday evening so I looked up the launch price for the 206A in 1967, it was $89,500.
(Source:
http://www.heli-archive.ch/en/helico...6a-jet-ranger/)
In today’s dollars that’s, $667,206.42. You have to remember that this was before the litigation explosion in the US so for Bell to offer the 505 at $1M in today’s world, with the added avionics suite and all the product liability cost is a fantastic achievement.
Regardless of whether you like the design, Bell have done extremely well commercially to offer a fully certified 5-place helicopter at this price point. FACT.
Of course they could have innovated more and provided a more complex machine, but it would have cost more and to get into the market these days you have to compete with the R66.
I haven’t flown the 505 yet (I would like to), but love the 206 and have spent some time in the 505 mock ups and found it much more appealing in the flesh than on screen. It’s big and feels like a proper helicopter.
CRAN