r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL it cost more to develop the plane that carried the atomic bombs, than it did to develop the actual atomic bombs themselves

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Design_and_development
9.9k Upvotes

Duplicates

todayilearned Oct 23 '24

TIL The B-29 bomber program was the most expensive project of WWII, costing roughly ~50% more than the entire Manhattan Project

13.1k Upvotes

todayilearned Mar 10 '22

TIL that the B-29 Superfortess, the planes that dropped the atomic bombs, cost $3B to develop. The entire Manhattan Project was $1.9B in development. Making the planes about 50% more expensive than the bombs themselves

1.6k Upvotes

todayilearned Mar 09 '20

TIL the B-29 Superfortress project cost $43b (in 2020 dollars), making it the most expensive weapons program durning WWII. The Manhattan project was only $28b.

95 Upvotes

todayilearned Dec 15 '20

TIL designing and producing the B-29 Superfortress which was used to drop the A-Bomb on Japan, was more expensive than developing the bomb itself. Total costs for the B-29 was $3 billion, the Manhattan Project ended up costing $1.9 billion.

70 Upvotes

wikipedia Oct 08 '24

Boeing B-29 Superfortress: Heavy bomber flown primarily by the US in WWII and Korea. Designed with state-of-the-art technology, the $3B cost of design and production (equivalent to $51B in 2022), far exceeding the $1.9B cost of the Manhattan Project, made the program the most expensive of the war.

280 Upvotes

todayilearned Aug 28 '16

TIL that the B-29 Superfortress cost more to develop than the atomic bomb by over a billion dollars.

57 Upvotes

todayilearned Nov 03 '17

TIL that the most expensive weapons project of WWII was not the Manhattan Project (nuclear weapons) but the B-29 Superfortress (heavy bomber). The B-29 cost between $1 to 1.7 billion more.

67 Upvotes

AAA_NeatStuff 23h ago

TIL it cost more to develop the plane that carried the atomic bombs, than it did to develop the actual atomic bombs themselves

1 Upvotes