[Milsurplus] B25 Aircraft Maintenance Manual - Radio System

[Scott Johnson]

I would say the ARC-58 in today's dollars would be more like $250K.  The 
chemically milled subassembly frames were tremendously expensive, and it 
was extremely labor intensive to build. By contrast, the little ARC-210 
VHF/UHF transceiver used in many current aircraft is almost $100K fully 
installed.  It is very difficult to scale these costs, but imagine 
building an ART-13 today!

Scott

Mike Morrow wrote:
>> The bulk of B-25s were the later H and J models (1000 of the H type and 4318
>> of the J type) that entered service in 1943 and continued in production to
>> the end of the war. By that time I would imagine the BC-610 had been
>> superseded by an ART-13.
>>     
>
> I think you mean that the AN/ART-13 replaced the BC-375.  (SCR-287)
>
> That aside, I'd doubt many WWII B-25 aircraft ever had an AN/ART-13 installed before most were scrapped.  I think Pacific Theatre B-29 aircraft were some of the few late-war aircraft fortunate to have the AN/ARC-8 invariably installed.  
>
> The AN/ART-13 was a tremedously expensive unit.  Walt Hudgins reported in ER that it had a WWII price tag of more than $14,000 each.  I have my doubts about that, which would equate to $150,000 today, but no doubt there would be no rush to backfit them into ETO aircraft that already had a servicable liason set in place.
>
> BTW, the Collins AN/ARC-58 HF SSB set that was the mainstay of long range communications for USAF SAC aircraft through much of the Cold War after 1958 had a system cost of about $100,000 in today's dollars, so maybe Walt's price quote is not that unrealistic.
>
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