Creature comforts were non-existent. The only thing that separated the pilot from the hostile environment at 30,000 feet was a thin sheet of aluminium and glass, and for many, the cold steel that surrounded them became a fiery coffin.

The Second World War represented a classic period in the development and perfection of the propeller driven aircraft. The cockpits and aircraft featured in this book, designed and built during the crisis of war, were marvels of technology and ingenuity. 'Cockpits' shows us what we cannot see. The cluttered claustrophobic cockpit was not designed for comfort. Riding behind an ear-shattering engine, with the power of a locomotive, proved to be an exhilarating and frightening experience. In contrast to the romantic image of the pilot, the cockpit was a cold and lonely place.

. . . Photographer Dan Patterson has photographed the cockpits of 37 preserved or restored combatants, principally British, American and German, with a handful of Japanese and a solitary Russian, the Yak-3. . . The cockpit photographs are superb: large format, carefully and atmospherically lit by a craftsman . . . and reproduced so well that you can not only read every tiny placard, but see where a mechanic's screwdriver slipped when tightening up an access panel. . . Cockpit will satisfy that natural curiosity of pilots by providing a look under the canopies of many aircraft that are not generally accessible. . . Cockpit is probably as close as most of us will ever get to 'flying' these aircraft. - PILOT

At last, a book that modellers of Second World War fighters and bombers have been asking for, for years . . . I feel this is an excellent and long-verdue book, which at £24.95 works out less than 70p per cockpit, and should prove useful to anyone modelling in 1/48 scale and larger scales. - IPMS MAGAZINE