hmmmmmm.... let's see... from memory:
It was 2.5 million British pounds.
In those days, a pound was worth, what, $2.50?
So we're talking about $6,250,000 worth of gold...
And gold back then was worth about $30 per ounce?
So we're talking about roughly 200,000 ounces,
over 8 tons,
which at today's price of, say, $1,000 per ounce,
is about $200,000,000 worth of gold.
Not a war-winning sum, to be sure.
But possibly enough to pique the interest of engineers from a large aircraft producing company -- even in today's inflated terms.
http://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/exchangepound/result.php
one pound was worth $4.89 in 1938. The reporter must have rounded to $5 to come up with $12,500,000. Actual value was $12,225,000.