verbatim record and no accusations were made, there seems to be enough inference present to cause one to suspect that the board was aware of the PBM's nickname as "the flying gas tank." As such, it is possible that the PBM-5 was destroyed by an explosion resulting from either (a) violation of the no smoking regulations in the aircraft or (b) a stray electrical spark in the lower aircraft hull that may have ignited AvGas fumes in the bilges. Land pollution The Navy buried its solid waste southeast of the base, on private land, from 1942 to 1947. The dump was estimated at up to , of which may be eligible for a federal government funding cleanup. Discarded material probably included munitions and practice bombs. Contractors bought the land, naming it "South Patrick Shores". They constructed housing on it from 1956 to 1961. Homeowners had no mandatory solid waste removal until 1982. Residents reported health complaints starting in about the 1990s, and again in 2018. Responding to these complaints, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated the site to determine whether a cleanup was necessary. Transition NAS Banana River closed in September 1947 after a gradual deactivation and was placed in a caretaker status. In September 1948 the facility was transferred to the U.S. Air Force. Several of NAS Banana River's original structures, including runway segments, certain hangars, support buildings, seaplane parking areas and seaplane ramps into the Banana River remain part of modern-day Patrick Space Force Base. United States Air Force use NAS Banana River was transferred to the United States Air Force on 1 September 1948 and renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on 10 June 1949. The installation was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in August 1950. From 1966 to 1975, the Space Coast was the second most visited spot by VIPs, after Washington, DC, a result of the Space Program. A protocol officer was assigned to Patrick to coordinate these visits, about 3 weekly consisting of 10 to 150 people. In 1971, the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) was established at Patrick AFB. Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were home stationed at Patrick AFB as part of the 71st Rescue Squadron (71 RQS). The 71 RQS subsequently relocated to Moody AFB, Georgia in 1997. The 9/11 attacks prompted the Air Force to close the heavily used four-lane State