Just a guess but we usually had an annual generation exercise and a fly-off. It would have been the whole wing. Are you sure it was 1973?
I remember one in I think '72 where the 'master' planner organised the taxi plan. As the aircraft were in two dispersals and parked in two lines nose to nose it had to be carefully orchestrated. One dispersal had to taxi through the other dispersal to reach the runway.
Plan 1 was for the aircraft at the southern end to go first turning to the south with subsequent aircraft feeding in left and right.
AL1 had the northern end going first and turning to the north !!!!!!!!!!!