7
$\begingroup$

I am interested in historic fuel prices;

How much did Avgas cost in 1940?

$\endgroup$
7
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ What country and what area you are asking for? Fuel prices can vary greatly within a single city. You can look here to see prices for last 30 years in the US. $\endgroup$
    – Farhan
    May 21, 2015 at 15:36
  • $\begingroup$ Possible Duplicate: Where I can get historical jet fuels prices? $\endgroup$
    – Farhan
    May 21, 2015 at 15:36
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Farhan - I thought it might be a duplicate too after reading the title, but the question asks for a specific number, pertaining to AvGas rather than kerosene, in a specific year (and one that goes much farther back than what's available thru EIA, unfortunately). If anything, it might be off topic here and a better fit for SE.History. $\endgroup$
    – habu
    May 21, 2015 at 15:38
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Was it even called Avgas in 1940? 100/130 is essentially an ultra-high-octane version of pre-1975 leaded gasoline, and as of 1940 it was only used in highly-supercharged military engines; most civvie aircraft of the day ran on more or less the same stuff that went into cars. $\endgroup$
    – KeithS
    May 21, 2015 at 19:33
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This is what History would call a counter-factual question. AVGAS did not exist in 1940, which makes the question non-answerable. OP, please edit it. (You might ask "How must would AVGAS have cost..." or "How much was high octane...") $\endgroup$
    – CGCampbell
    May 25, 2015 at 12:27

1 Answer 1

4
$\begingroup$

100 octane fuel was the best possible aviation fuel at that time,introduced in April 1940 .By December 1942, production of 100 octane gasoline had risen to 5.5 million gallons/day; by June 1943, it was approaching 10 million gallons/day; and, by VE-Day, May 7,1945, production exceeded 20 million gallons/day. Avgas was introduced near 1970s. And, then it is very difficult to find exact price for that . But, the at that time the price of car fuel and aviation fuel were not very different. So, you can estimate it to be at 10-12 cents/gallon range. One other way to estimate the cost is by using the inflation adjusters, the current price for 100LL is about $5.5 . So, by using this calculator, it would have cost nearly 10 cents/gallon. (In 1940, Dollar and Pound were nearly same in value.) So, the final answer should be about 10 cents/gallon.

$\endgroup$
6
  • $\begingroup$ What locale does this answer apply to? $\endgroup$ May 25, 2015 at 8:34
  • $\begingroup$ That's northern US, where average price of 100LL is $5.5 .. $\endgroup$
    – anshabhi
    May 25, 2015 at 9:22
  • $\begingroup$ Do you really mean "0.10 cents/gallon"? That's one tenth of a penny per gallon, which seems a little low, even for the "good old days." Or do you mean 10 cents = $0.10 per gallon? $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J
    May 25, 2015 at 21:30
  • $\begingroup$ Not really..!! It was a silly typographical mistake.. $\endgroup$
    – anshabhi
    May 26, 2015 at 4:39
  • $\begingroup$ Terrific- thank you for your responses! $\endgroup$
    – user8572
    May 26, 2015 at 12:24

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .