Have checked Winkle Brown's ' Wings On My Sleeve ' - no mention of the Whirlwind.
In my bible, ' Test Pilots - The History of British Test Flying 1903-1984 ' by Don Middleton, it is mentioned that Harald Penrose did a lot of the development flying.
I hope I am right in thinking he is still with us and about to give a talk or two (forget where ) ?
No mention of the canopy mechanism of course, but one interesting feature was that the exhausts led through the fuel tanks !
Pilots and senior design staff made it clear what they thought of this but were overriden, and sure enough one day an exhaust melted through a fuel tank, without igniting it...
It did however burn through an aileron rod, leaving H.P. to fly back with full opposite aileron on & just rudder for turns - he made it OK, but I doubt being vindicated put him in much of a better mood !