Wow, more neat British iron. what was the deal with the offset 'pit, anyway? Visibility?
I was never quite sure myself. I think it's mainly a matter of room. The navigator's position is in the nose of the PR.9 & it all looks a bit cramped. I haven't seen inside one but apparently only the pilot's position is fitted with an ejector seat although this might be different on the ones still in service. I don't know why they didn't use a tandem seating arrangement with a longer canopy like the current RAF types. Charlie will know more about it than me. Other marks of Canberra have a much wider conventional canopy with side by side seating.
The DH Sea Vixen was very similar but I believe the navigator sat beside & below the pilot within the main fuselage.
PS. I'm just wondering if this might have something to do with better visibilty of the radar screens within the enclosed fuselage rather than under the transparent canopy. The PR.9 first entered service back in 1960 when electronic equipment was much more primitive than it is now.