What did an airworthy P51 D cost in 1970?
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re the 'stored ' B17s . Not heartbreaking at all . One can look at them and say with pride that they won the war for us or alternatively better in a scrap yard than dropping bombs.
Like the B52s etc today a monument to Americas amazing capacity to mass produce even complex things .at quite extra ordinary rates , Liberty ships almost daily , B17s /24s thousands and thousands
DC3s , largest number ever made for a commercial aircraft? Sherman tanks, inferior to the panzers but not when its five versus one. Looking back with hindsight the factories of America (inc dockyards ) pretty much won WW2
Like the B52s etc today a monument to Americas amazing capacity to mass produce even complex things .at quite extra ordinary rates , Liberty ships almost daily , B17s /24s thousands and thousands
DC3s , largest number ever made for a commercial aircraft? Sherman tanks, inferior to the panzers but not when its five versus one. Looking back with hindsight the factories of America (inc dockyards ) pretty much won WW2
Last edited by Sailvi767; 9th Nov 2023 at 13:23.
Will Martin originally was not going to fly any of the warbirds himself but due to difficulties finding reliable pilots for the ferry trips he eventually taught himself to fly them and flew many back personally.I think it took him 2 years to complete the contract for various reasons,definitely an unusual book
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I've plucked my copy from the bookshelf for my bedtime reading when current tome is finished. Incidentally, it's "So I Bought an Airforce", my memory added in an errant "myself"!
Two of them made their way to the UK, one as G-SUSY with Charles Church, now in Germany, and the well known N1051S/Sunny VIII with Spencer Flack, destroyed in an airshow crash after it returned to the US. Some of them have been lost subsequently and at least two were sold on by third parties, returning South of the Border to the Bolivian AF in 1966!
Two of them made their way to the UK, one as G-SUSY with Charles Church, now in Germany, and the well known N1051S/Sunny VIII with Spencer Flack, destroyed in an airshow crash after it returned to the US. Some of them have been lost subsequently and at least two were sold on by third parties, returning South of the Border to the Bolivian AF in 1966!
Are there two questions being answered here?
1) How much did it cost the US Government to purchase a P51?
2) How much has it cost since?
I would be interested in the answer to 1 and a comparison with say an F35 (the modern day equivalent) . The answer to 2 I guess is "How much you are willing to pay?".
Didn't the CAF swap jet aircraft for P51's in the 80's? So you could say the exchange rate is one Jet aircraft. My dad said there was a time when you could buy a surplus Spitfire just for the tailwheel.
The reason I'm interested to the comparison with the F35 is if we (the UK etc) could actually afford to have a war on the scale of WW2 today? But that is a digression.
1) How much did it cost the US Government to purchase a P51?
2) How much has it cost since?
I would be interested in the answer to 1 and a comparison with say an F35 (the modern day equivalent) . The answer to 2 I guess is "How much you are willing to pay?".
Didn't the CAF swap jet aircraft for P51's in the 80's? So you could say the exchange rate is one Jet aircraft. My dad said there was a time when you could buy a surplus Spitfire just for the tailwheel.
The reason I'm interested to the comparison with the F35 is if we (the UK etc) could actually afford to have a war on the scale of WW2 today? But that is a digression.
The `Latin American Aviation Historical Society` website has a lot about ferrying Mustangs and Jugs to S America...
It cost the British $14,746,964.35 for the initial 320 aircraft which includes 20% for spares, crating spares $96,231.35, crating $675 per aircraft. ie $46,084.26 per aircraft. Did not include radio or armament
Without the spares and crating charges an aircraft cost $37,590.45
Without the spares and crating charges an aircraft cost $37,590.45
It is a very interesting read - am enjoying it more at the 2nd reading
- just over half way through as of yesterday afternoon !