Originally Posted by Jetex_Jim
The introduction of multinational projects finally forced the UK aircraft industry to stop relying on craftsmen to fill the gaps left by lack of tooling and incomplete engineering drawings. Other nations had learned this decades earlier.
Quote:
The German Messerschmidt 109 took about 4,000 man hours to manufacture compared to 14,000 man hours for a Spitfire.
That’s quite an unfair comparison really as….
At the more for the time, traditional construction of the Hurricane only took about 5,000 man hours to build, and the Spit was the first stressed skin monoque fighter UK industry had designed for production – and Mitchell was more used to designing flying boats and hand built racing seaplanes rather than fighters for mass production.
And the 4,000 hrs build (closer to 5-6,000 really from what I've read) for the 109 came at a very high cost to it’s pilots due to it’s very narrow track undercarriage which was a direct result of the design compromise Willy Messerschmitt took to get that light weight/low cost and low man hours build figure per airframe as he put the main u/c attachment points on the fuselage to simplify construction, assembly and wing structure. The result was a very narrow wheelbase and rather weird angles on the wheels themselves which was certainley one the big factors in it's reputation for being a pig to take-off/land and ground handle.