Re ejection sequencing - this short paragraph copied from a T4 BOI report...
The Navigator decided to eject as the a/c yawed right and pulled his seat pan firing handle,he then saw the hatch bolts detonate and experienced a normal ejection sequence...
It was not unknown for an experienced canberra nav to 'bang out' without waiting to be ordered so.
The very dapper Max M was a staff navigator with 231 OCU - in B2 WJ674 on night assymetric training,on approach into cottesmore the student pilot lost control - and as he felt the a/c roll and buffet... Max told the pilot to eject and then ejected himself.
He landed near 'The Fox' on the A1 and popped in for a drink,he had seen the pilots 'chute stream and thought he was safe,however - sadly the pilot did not survive.
Would max have had time to manually blow the hatch and then eject ??
It was a relatively slow ejection sequence on the canberra,and I believe that the nav hatch was blown during certain emergencies for 2 reasons ... (1) [as already mentioned] to aid ground egress...and (2) to make any subsequent ejection faster !
rgds LR