“The B-52 was plenty roomy compared to fighters and the small civilian aircraft that I was familiar with...the end of the Vietnam War led to the removal of B-52s from McCoy...I vaguely recall local news coverage to the effect that the open house for long-secret areas like the nuclear bunkers and front line aircraft at McCoy was a way for SAC to say goodbye...My closest comparison is as a teen poking into and crawling around inside an old Navion airframe...I was armed with a can of insect spray, a flashlight, a small hand broom, and a rag. Somehow, I never got stung — and my father still owns the Navion...” [Rockingham, post 55]
Your description of wasp-nest hunting captivated. Bug spray was an inspiration; could have used it while poking about derelict airframes and museum artifacts. Now I’m mildly chagrined I never thought of it.
My apologies - I cannot recall where I dug up the termination year of 1968 for bomb wing basing at McCoy. Later searches date it to 1974.
Fret not about dates. Realignment and closure activities are inherently chaotic and muddled. A truth I forgot: all the more embarrassing, as I served on the merger team when Strategic Air Command stood down in spring 1992. And my Society of SAC life member number is only a couple places beyond the seniority cutoff for “founding members.” The times were neither fun nor pretty.
Bombers have crew spaces of larger dimensions only in comparison to light aircraft, and fighters. Fighters are routinely back on the ground before a bomber crew accomplishes all the mandated system checks - even on a training sortie.
My guess is that you’d judge the B-52H crew compartment less congenial if you’d been aboard one of our special sorties. Up to nine people were assigned: six primary crew plus an extra for each station (usually instructors) - with all the requisite flying gear, survival gear, flight publications, and documentation. I chanced to be on board when our crew set a time/distance record in early 1980, for the H model. Moderately taxing.
I knew that Orlando still had B-52s after 1968 because I remember the terrible crash in a local neighborhood had occurred in 1972. Supposedly, that crash and local covetousness for full use of McCoy helped to influence SAC's decision to close most of their base operation there. Orlando's rapid growth as a tourist destination would have been impossible without full civilian and commercial use of McCoy.