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Cost of Cubs, Costs of Flying

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BarnCub

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I purchased a 1938 GE fan near Blakesburg this year.

After returning to Texas I found an old GE advertisement. Check out the prices in the ad below, Category 49X491. That converts to $497 in today's dollars.

For kicks, because I had the calculator up at www.usinflationcalculator.com, I thought I'd see how Barn Cub's 1946 price converts. Meacham Aircraft Sales got $2,252 for Barn Cub in 1946. That's only $27,041 today. I found this fascinating because a new Legend Cub is $125,000 - base price, while a Honeywell "Turbo Force" fan at Walmart is 16 bucks.

Today a Cub costs FIVE times what it did in 1946, respectively. While a fan is thirty-one times cheaper.

I paid $15 for my 75-year-old fan in great working condition. A good buy considering I could turn an easy hundred dollar profit. But how did the 1938 proud new fan owner fare? Well, to them I paid $.91 for their $29.95 investment. GE's creepy looking ice-ladened elf leprechaun shouldn't be so happy.

And for those of you considering the cost of fuel, Barn Cub was parked in 1950 after flying 197 hours. By my fourth top-off in 2012 I had already put more money in that little 12-gallon tank than Charles Moseley did while flying all 197 hours.

Scratching your head while mulling over the costs of flying and the future of aviation? I can tell you how to save a little...by far the easiest way...don't crash.

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