BlackSeptember1918 Posted 14 August , 2004 Share Posted 14 August , 2004 Hi I have been trying to find out what the cost was of each SE5a manufactured during the Great War ?...Anyone got any idea's . Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 14 August , 2004 Share Posted 14 August , 2004 Phil While not a direct answer to your question, I can find the figures for a Sopwith Camel, which might be an indication of the cost of the comparable SE5a: F.1 Airframe* = ₤874.10.0 2F.1 Airframe* = ₤825.0.0 130hp Clerget engine = ₤907.10.0 110hp Le Rhone engine = ₤771.10.0 100 hp Gnome engine = ₤696.0.0 150hp BR1 engine = ₤643.10.0 * = less engine, instruments and guns. I suppose the airframe costs of the two types would be similar, but I've no idea about the prices of an Hispano-Suiza or a Wolseley Viper. I hope this helps. Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSeptember1918 Posted 15 August , 2004 Author Share Posted 15 August , 2004 Gareth That does help heaps thanks mate !. As always you take the time to answer everones questions , and just wanted to let you know we appreciate it . Thankyou again !!. Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 Phil I kept looking for information on the SE5a. Airframe = ₤1063.10.0 200hp Hispano-Suiza (French) = ₤1004.0.0 200hp Wolseley Viper = ₤814.0.0. Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 This is very interesting - any idea how this equates to modern values? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 Signals Not me, I have enough trouble converting modern Australian dollars into other currencies. On the same theme, the cheapest major production British aircraft of the War seems to have been the Sopwith Pup at ₤710.18.0, with an 80hp Le Rhone adding ₤620.0.0. At the other end of the scale, a Handley Page V/1500 cost ₤12500.0.0 and its four RR Eagle VIII engines would have been ₤1622.10.0 each. Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 This is very interesting - any idea how this equates to modern values? langleybaston1418 quotes work done by a university which suggests that £1 in WW1 is equal to £40 today. But when I've tried to use this 'rule' for comparitive prices on cigarettes, bread and beer etc, I never get any satisfactory results. I think a WW1 £1 should be valued at £80 or even £100. But David has proved me wrong on more than one occassion, so...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 Here is a site that converts UK currency in any year to today's rate (well - as in 2002 anyway). http://eh.net/hmit/ppowerbp/ If you enter £1 as of 1914, it gives £54.03 but for 1918 it comes up with £24.83! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 It may be of interest to note that I have seen accounts of the sales of government surplus items after the war including SE5A aircraft for the princely sum of £10 each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 15 August , 2004 Share Posted 15 August , 2004 It may be of interest to note that I have seen accounts of the sales of government surplus items after the war including SE5A aircraft for the princely sum of £10 each. Martin ... if only they had some left ... Thanks to all who rpelied on the r.o.e. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killratio Posted 17 August , 2004 Share Posted 17 August , 2004 Phil, I’ll send you the details of all of the aircraft costs if you like? One big problem is that the costs are always quoted “without instruments or guns” for the airframe. I have never had any luck tracing what the instruments or airborne versions of the guns cost..let alone the CC or similar gear. Re rates of relative value. The strict “inflationary” calculation is not at all difficult. The problem is that relative VALUES change. To illustrate, an engagement ring here was always held to be about a fortnight’s wages worth (although why in your right mind you would…...ah, never mind) That has not changed but a car used to be a year’s worth, now it is more like 6 months. Cigarettes and the like have a varying impost of government charges etc over the years. There are supply and demand factors and considerations of fashion or popularity which also affect all non-essential items. Price Elasticity of Demand, Needs Hierarchy and a dozen other technical terms which boil down to "what people want and what they are prepared/able to pay, changes over time". All this makes it extremely difficult to compare. A Scout aircraft in 1917 was very much less in terms of VALUE than a Fighter in 2004. There were a lot more of them but even the cost of all of them would not compare to a fraction of the Fighter force needed today. best regards Darryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 17 August , 2004 Share Posted 17 August , 2004 Darryl Just to go off on a slight tangent from this topic, the term 'airframe', to describe an aeroplane without an engine and accessories, was coined by Wing Commander Roderick Hill while he commanded No 70 Sqn RAF when it was serving in Iraq in 1926. Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killratio Posted 17 August , 2004 Share Posted 17 August , 2004 Gareth, Interestingly enough, the term is used in the War in the Air, Official History from whence my information comes. I know Raleigh did his part around 1922 but the rest was not complete until about ’33. So presumably Jones or his minions adopted the term after 1926. It does show how these anachronisms can creep in….witness “Brisfit” vs “Biff”, “Jamb” vs “Jam” etc. (I haven’t got WitA to hand, so maybe my memory is not accurate. I would have sworn it said airframe, though .) Cheers Darryl Oh..and I have been asked by my good lady wife to point out that I spent a month's wages on her ring.....so she must have been worth more than average .) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 17 August , 2004 Share Posted 17 August , 2004 Darryl The term 'Airframe' is indeed used in the Appendices to 'The War in the Air'. My source for the origin of the term is AVM Arthur Gould Lee's 'Fly Past'. Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killratio Posted 17 August , 2004 Share Posted 17 August , 2004 Ah, My memory is not as bad as I thought. Now if I could just find my car keys....... Darryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSeptember1918 Posted 22 August , 2004 Author Share Posted 22 August , 2004 I haven't been on for a while so sorry for the slow reply . Thanks for that extra info Gareth . I actually thought the stationary engines would have been more exspensive , which was very interesting ! . Darryl , thanks for the kind offer of the costs imfo mate , but this is sort of a one off thing . I just have to submit a root cause failure project for a course I had to do , and I thought I may as well do it on something I enjoyed , instead of something boring to me . I toyed with the idea of doing it on the DrI top wing failures , but I think that would have taken me more time than I was hoping ( or had free ) to spend on it . RT ...How are you going old mate !!. Haven't seemed to have had the pleasure of reading one of your posts for ages ...I have been off the computer for a while , so maybe it's just me thats been absent . I finally purchased Winged Victory and Sag/Rising and have been devouring them . Oh and I almost started drooling when imagineing 10 GBP SE5a 's !!!.... Thanks mates ...catch'ya . Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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