In the age of touchscreens, I love this close-up of a MiG-29 joystick, all dented and battered by thousands of flight hours, and God only knows how many missile launches and bomb drops. Form follows function taken to the extreme.

Quite different from the smoothness of last-generation combat aircraft controls, like Eurofighter Typhoon. Dark Roasted Blend has a great collection of cockpit shots, from all planes to rockets to steam engines. [Геннадий via Dark Roasted Blend]