Question:  Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr. is a recipient of the Medal of Honor which he earned aboard a heavy bomber whose design exceeded the cost of what?

 It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and featured state of the art technology.  Including design and production, it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between $1 and 1.7 billion.  Innovations introduced included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled, tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that directed four remote machine gun turrets that could be operated by a single gunner and a fire-control officer. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing, which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War.  A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote.  The name "Superfortress" continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress.  Designed for the high-altitude strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions.  One of the B-29's final roles during World War II was carrying out the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. <SEP> The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).  Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications.  Although Boeing lost the contract (to the Douglas B-18 Bolo) because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation.  From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the B-24 and the multirole Ju 88. <SEP> "Kampfgeschwader" 40 (KG 40) was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the World War II Luftwaffe.  It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor" maritime patrol bombers.  The unit suffered from the poor serviceability and low production rates of the Fw 200 bombers, and from repeated diversion of its long-haul capability aircraft to undertake transport duties in various theatres, especially for the airlift operations to supply encircled forces in the Battle of Stalingrad.  Later in the war, KG 40 became one of several Luftwaffe bomber wings to use the Heinkel He 177A heavy bomber. <SEP>  He earned the award as a staff sergeant and radio operator aboard a B-29 Superfortress in the Asia-Pacific theater. Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr., (May 8, 1921 – January 16, 2002) was a United States Army Air Forces airman and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.  During a 1945 bombing mission over Koriyama, Japan, a white phosphorus bomb prematurely ignited in his aircraft and seriously wounded him.  As smoke filled the plane, he picked up the burning device and carried it through the aircraft to the cockpit where he tossed it out a window.  Although he suffered severe burns, he successfully saved his plane and all crew members aboard by disposing of the incendiary/smoke-generating bomb.