At the Controls: The Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum Book of Cockpits

This is perhaps the finest collection of cockpit photographs in existence. The Museum (NASM) holds the world's premier collection of historic aircraft, but visitors to the museum must maintain a respectful distance. In At the Controls, NASM photographers Eric Long and Mark Avino use creative lighting techniques and an extremely wide-angle lens mounted on a short-bodied, large-format architectural camera to duplicate the sensation of actually being at the controls inside the cockpit of 45 legendary aircraft. The reader experiences a pilot's-eye view of the cockpit.

Among the 45 featured aircraft are these history-making planes:

• Wright Brothers 1903 Flyer
• Bleriot Type XI
• Fokker D.VII
• Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis
• Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VII
• Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8
• Ilyushin IL-2 Shturmovik
• Messerschmitt Me 262
• Boeing B-29 Enola Gay
• Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse
• Project Apollo Lunar Module
• Space Shuttle Columbia

Eric F. Long is a senior photographer for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Smithsonian Institution. This is his second book.

Mark Avino is chief photographer for the National Air and Space Museum.

Tom Alison manages all aspects of care for the National Aviation and Space Collections at the Smithsonian Insitute.

Dana Bell is the author of 17 books on aviation and an expert on aircraft markings.