(Rus)  Most air crews considered the interior of the Manchester's fuselage far better than that of the Halifax and Stirling. The Lancaster fuselage was basically the same as the Manchester's. This view of the cockpit of Manchester L7288/EM:H shows the dual controls and fold-down seat used by the flight engineer (an aircrew category introduced in March 1941) during take-off and landing. However, both Manchester and Lancaster found little favour with pilots in a bale-out emergency. Escape via the hatch in the cockpit 'roof carried a risk of being swept into the mid-upper turret or tailfins, while the small nose hatch was a long way forward. Despite being the thirteenth production Manchester, L7288 endured through operational service and training until scrapped in May 1943. (IWM CH3880)