[ARC5] 1940 Light Aircraft Radio Prices

[Neil Barnett]

Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 4.38 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] 1940 Light Aircraft Radio Prices


>I have the contract figures for what the Govt paid for the Command 
> Equipment. Just off the top of my head, I believe an AN/ARC-5 receiver 
> was costing the U.S. about $363 each. According to the Bureau of Labor 
> Statistics that would be $4,228 today

In 1938 the price of a brand new Ford V8 Deluxe was
$700 US dollars, or 355 NZ pounds. I once owned one.
Even allowing for inflation in the late-30's early-40's I can't
believe that a receiver that wasn't very sophisticated by
1940's standards would cost almost half the price of a car.
In 1965 when I started buying ARC-5 radios, I heard a
figure of 70 for the contract price of the transmitter, but I
can't now recall whether that was in US dollars or NZ
pounds. If the latter, that would convert to about $140 US.

Maybe the figure of $363 was for the entire transmitter,
receiver, modulator combo.

73 de Neil ZL1ANM