I crawled through a B-17 and a B-24 once and like you I was astonished at how remarkably cramped it was inside both planes, especially the B-17. I’m 5 foot 8 and there was no place in the B-17 where I could stand up straight. Only in the bomb-bay area of the B-24 could I stand up straight.
“I crawled through a B-17 and a B-24 once and like you I was astonished at how remarkably cramped it was inside both planes...”
Warplanes have been built for combat, not comfort.
Today’s large bombers allow no greater space for the crews.
The B-52H (last variant still on status, out of a total of seven operational versions) weighs 488,000 pounds and spans 185 feet. But the sole spot in the crew compartment where an average person can stand upright is at the base of the ladder leading from the lower deck to the upper deck. And that person’s head will be above level with the upper deckplates.
The B-1B weighs 477,000 pounds and its span is less than that of a B-52. The walkway between its two pairs of seats is narrower than the seats themselves. An average person can just barely stand upright. And unless the entry ladder is retracted, the only spot where one may stand is less than 2 ft by 2 ft.
The B-2A (377,000 pounds, span similar to B-52) encloses just enough extra room to unfold a lawn-furniture lounger. That’s only because the third crew station was removed just as production began.
Just about every other cubic foot of interior space in each one of those airframes is taken up by munitions, fuel, and equipment.