It was all just one day's pay for all of them, but...

 
 

A worker at the Hanford Engineering Works plant had come up with the idea for workers to donate money for a warplane to be built, and the United States Army had advised that the money go to constructing the famed B-17 Flying Fortress. 

 

Over a month, the payroll office collected a day's pay for around 51,000 employees (imagine payday at that place!) to finance the aircraft. 

Read the rest here - it's a cool story.