Cost of B-29 Superfortress

[eaglestar78]

A B-29 A or B model cost between $750,000 and $1 million USD in 1944-45

[Takao]

That would either be somewhat high or very early in the program. IIRC, the average "fly-away" cost for a B-29 was around $639,000-$640,000 USD.

[Sizemore]

A B-29 A or B model cost between $750,000 and $1 million USD in 1944-45

Wow. R&D was 3 billion in 1940 dollars, I believe.

[Machinga]

http://www.amazon.com/Hog-Wild-1945-Sov ... 1618633848

[eaglestar78]

The R&D for the B-29 program was the same as the Manhatten Project for the A- bomb $2 Billion USD in 1945

[phylo_roadking]

...the Manhatten Project for the A- bomb $2 Billion USD in 1945

Actually....$1,889,604,000. Of that, under 10% was R&D! The rest, over 90% of the cost, was for building plants and producing the fissionable materials

I wonder what the cost of the B-29 project would be if you factored in the cost of building and equiping the four main assembly factories; a pair of Boeing operated plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, a Bell plant at Marietta, Georgia ("Bell-Atlanta"), and a Martin plant at Omaha, Nebraska ("Martin-Omaha")?

[phylo_roadking]

$750,000

Hmm....an Avro Lancaster cost in the region of $141,050 - so that's five Lancs for the cost of a Superfortress.

Interesting...

[eaglestar78]

The U.S Army Waco CG-4A glider program cost $500 million in 1945 USD
Unit cost per glider $17-18k