Danny,
Dad is registered here, but whether I can induce him to post is yet another story
Briefly, he and his observer (Bob Pritchard) were picked up after bobbing around for 24 hours and greeted with the stock saying: "For you, the war is over".
Taken by train through Italy to Mulhberg where he joined the other RAF prisoners in Stalag Luft IVb. He wanted to escape and changed places with a fusilier in order to get out on work parties, which gave him the opportunity. He was recaptured the first time, then a later escape saw him and many others walk through Germany to the American front line troops. They were far too busy to look after dodgy escapees such as Dad who had a soldier's ID!
After many years as a Met copper (Inspector) he took a chance and joined the RAAF, starting on the same day that I joined the RN at BRNC.
Re your query about crawling forward, yes. There is plenty of room to move forward from the observer's area and stand behind the pilot's seat, but access to the front is very limited as you must climb over the back of the pilot's seat to get into the cockpit. Whilst we managed to get Dad up to the front hatch, it was beyond him to actually get into the seat. As he mentioned at the time the Beau was
much larger than he remembered, and at 20 years old it was so much easier to leap up the first step than using a step ladder last Tuesday!