I asked a friend of mine, Dennis Over, who was a rear gunner in 227 squadron for his opinion about the phrase “the sting”, this is his reply:

I have not come across the description “Sting”. His description of the situation begs a couple of questions.
If he had his head held down protected by his hands & was in the standard FN rear turret then his head would have been almost touching his control column grips. His reference to the term sting may have been part of the frequently used term, “sting in the tail”, the sting being the triggers on the control column.

I am assuming that he had his turret in the normal landing or emergency position on the port beam. bracing himself against the side of the turret under which circumstances his head would have been very near the rear of the stbd. Brownings.

Max