Bomber:

At the extreme tail-end of the fuselage, the rear gunner, often known as tail-end Charlie’s, sat in the
precarious position situated at the tail turret - to get there you would have to enter a small hatch in
the rear of the aircraft. Depending on the size of the rear gunner, the area was so constrained that
the gunner would often hang his parachute on a hook inside the fuselage, near the turret doors. The
rear gunner’s position was not heated, much more exposed than the rest of the aircraft where those
in the cockpit might have taken some warmth from the heat of the engines - the gunners had to
wear electrically heated suits to prevent hypothermia and frostbite. While it might seem an
insignificant system, the Lancaster’s heating ducts, fed by hot air from the engine nacelles, were
among the aircraft’s worst mechanisms. The radio operator and pilot were nicely accommodated, the
bombardier was sauteed, and the navigator and gunners froze. There were times when tail gunners
with open turrets were too frostbitten to operate their triggers.

The rear gunner would have known that their position often put them first in line for elimination by
the enemy fighter planes, who tended to attack from the rear and under the belly of the bomber, so
that they could attack without fear of being shot at. According to Yorkshire Air Museum, 20,000 rear
gunners lost their lives during WWII.