Average Cost of One Lancaster Operational Sortie
The following is an approximate cost to the British economy based on 1943 prices to build, arm, supply ground and air crew for a Lancaster Bomber for one (1) operational bombing sortie.
- Lancaster cost £42,000.00 to purchase. (This assumes minimal profits being made by the manufacture.)
- Lancaster required 5,000 tons of hard aluminum or the equivalent of 11 million sauce pans.
- Lancaster required the equivalent manufacturing capability required to build 40 basic automobiles of the period.
- Lancaster absorbed the equivalent manholes as it takes to build one mile (1.61 Km’s) of a modern highway (motorway).
- Lancaster carried the equivalent radio and radar equipment to fabricate one million domestic radios of the period.
Each member of a Lancaster crew cost £10,000.00 to train. The average cost for a Lancaster was therefore £70,000 or £80,000 if the crew consisted of 8 crew members.
To fuel, bomb, arm and service a single Lancaster required an additional £13,000.00. This also includes an allowance for the cost to training the ground crews.
Thus the average cost to the British economy for EACH Lancaster bombing sortie was on average £100,000.00
|
