National Air and Space Museum - In the Cockpit 2: Inside History-Making Aircraft of World War II

SI 200912321 Courtesy of R. A. Bob Hoover

A s we enter our third book of cockpit interiors, we do so with large megabyte digital capture replacing large format film. This is due in part to the difficulty of getting film processed, the demise of Polaroid Instant proofing film, and to some degree, the difficulty of working with a film camera inside the cockpit. We advanced from shooting 4 x 5 films to working on the same Cambo Wide DS camera format, but adapted for a Phase One P-45 digital back, producing a 112 megabyte file size. The camera is supplied with a 24mm XL lens and center grade filter, giving the equivalent coverage of a 17mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Digital enabled us to view the image immediately on a laptop to check composition, lighting and focus. Due to the lack of a dedicated system, the camera and lens operated separately from the digital back, which needed a prestart before capturing an image. This required extra-long cabling attached to and from the computer and digital back and a cable release to the camera. The computer would not fire the camera, thus the shutter had to be manually cocked and fired. This could be accomplished by the person at the computer, or by someone inside the plane.

The digital files are shot in a RAW format. This allowed us the capabilities of working from one file to maintain shadow and highlight detail. It is to some degree like bracketing exposures on film. I prefer lighting as if we were shooting film, believing that digital manipulation should be a last resort. There are two downsides to digital. First, it is virtually impossible to enlarge a cropped area within a file to reproduction quality. Second, there is the issue of archiving the digital file. With film, it can be viewed years from now to determine what it is. With digital capture, it remains to be seen what media the image will be stored on and how it will eventually be viewed by future generations.

E RIC F. L ONG

PHOTOGRAPHER MARK A. AVINO, USING A LAPTOP TO CAPTURE THE EXPOSURE DIRECTLY FROM THE CAMERA, THEN CHECKS FOR DENSITY AND SHARPNESS.
SI 200931374

W orld War II occurred as aeronautical technology was undergoing a significant transformation. Though many new technologies, such as jet and rocket propulsion, radar, and helicopters were emerging before the outbreak of war, the unprecedented flow of government funds for research, development, testing, and production resulted in a dizzying transformation of the pilots environment in just a few years. The following pages reveal a wide range of complexity and ingenuity as seen on 34 aircraft operated by the major combatants during World War II. These aircraft reside today in the collection of the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum. Some examples, such as the Aichi Seiran, have seen at least a decade of meticulous restoration to overcome the ravages of time. Others, such as the Bell Kingcobra, have weathered the years well with no intervention whatsoever. The Kyushu Shinden illustrates another group that is in desperate need of restoration and looks it. While several aircraft, like the Enola Gay , have been restored to a specific wartime moment (August 6, 1945), the Northrop Black Widow and Martin Mariner represent aircraft that continued their service well beyond the war years and whose cockpits reflect postwar modifications.

Many of the aircraft seen herein are on display, either at the Smithsonians flagship museum complex on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., or at the spectacular Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located in Chantilly, Virginia. A number of the aircraft are in storage awaiting restoration at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Several examples are on loan to other museums around the nation. These aircraft represent only a portion of the extensive World War II collection at the National Air and Space Museum. Some examples were excluded because of their inclusion in the previous volume of In the Cockpit or because of condition or lack of accessibility.

For many years, we have had the privilege to work around the exteriors of these aircraft. Preparing this book has given us a new appreciation for those who designed, built, and flew these incredible machines. We hope that beyond enjoying the sheer artistry of Eric and Marks photographs, you will come away with just a little more understanding of what it was like to fly in those turbulent times.

R OGER D. C ONNOR AND C HRISTOPHER T. M OORE