I discussed the Museum's Lancaster in image 30322 and don't need to cover that in detail again. This is a Lancaster Mark VII, one of the 1945 models, though it's dressed up as a Lancaster Mk I which had been lost in December of 1944.

One distinction is what we see here. The Mk I used quad .303 guns in its rear and dorsal turrets. By 1945 it was realised that the defences needed a bit more punching power against the heavier armour in later German fighters and so they were swapped out for dual .50 cal guns.

You can count the guns here and see the difference for yourself.

The tail turret in a Lancaster is not a work site that would rate highly in OH & S assessments. The rear turret was too small to wear a parachute in. To bail out, you needed to align the turret with the aircraft, but since the turret was hydraulically powered if it was damaged (or you were) your chances of being able to get out and back into the plane were greatly reduced because the turret could not be moved by hand.

Next you had to get yourself unhooked from your intercom and heating connections.

Then you had to climb over some of the tail structure and find your parachute. Then you had to put it on, and make your way to the parachute exit, then jump out into the strong relative wind and risk getting blasted back into the tail.

All this presupposes that the tail of the plane is relatively intact and free of fire.

And guys actually climbed into these turrets knowing all of this and did their job anyway.

"Admiration" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Addendum: My personal opinion is that Facebook is a sociopathic organisation that steals other peoples' intellectual property (including the images in this gallery) despite being explicitly denied permission to do so.