We all remember our dreams of flight as a kid, when we took the sheet of lined filler paper and made our first attempt at a paper airplane with it.  Unfortunately many of us failed to take into account such concepts as center of gravity and the fast that there were two huge holes in the wing for the binder rings!

Artist Jason Sweet of Freaks and Geeks Tattoo Studio of Fullerton, CA playfully placed a permanent picture of a paper plane on a passionate person — how’s that for alliteration!

For a detailed photo, click on the link below or the image above.

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Some might call them the “Cessna” of the modern warbird community, but the P-51 Mustang still holds a special place in many peoples hearts.  From the WWII veteran that saw the “Little Friend” protecting him just outside his gun position on a B-17 to the wide eyed kid who built plastic models of the “Cadillac of the Sky” — the P-51 will always be one of the most beloved warbirds out there.

In tribute to the P-51, artist Sage O’Connell from Urban Art Tattoo in Mesa, AZ (right around the corner from us!) tattooed this beautiful representation in black and gray on a passionate P-51 enthusiast!

Click the link below or the picture above for a larger photo.

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World War II aircraft imagery works great when combined with the old school style of tattooing.  The thick lines and bold colors along with exciting action of antique planes fighting each other makes for a great tattoo scene!  The larger the piece, the better the execution we say — lots of room to add lots of detail!

And that’s just what artist Mike Schweigert of Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, NJ did here with a classic scene that could be taken from the pulp comics of the 40’s — a Grumman F6F Hellcat chasing after a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero over the Pacific!  It’s huge on the ribs!  We give the wearer lots of credit for sitting through such a piece on a painful spot!

For a larger shot, please click on the link below or the photo above!

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Over the past few months we’ve come across various styles of tattoo art depicting aircraft and aviation themes, but this is one of the few that I have seen with a certain “propaganda poster” feel to it — very bold artwork and colors featuring the Supermarine Spitfire, one of the most famous RAF fighters of WWII.

Artist Stephanie Tamez of New York Adorned in New York, NY is really showing a unique side of tattoo art with this piece!

For a larger image, please click the link below or the image above.

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When I first saw this tattoo posted, I thought that Aviation Blogger extraordinaire Stephen Force of Airspeed may have had a portrait of his “hero” look from a recent ride with the Thunderbirds permanantly added…

But alas, it was a chap from England who had this classic fighter pilot image added it his dermis.  Kudos to the folks at Sharpside Tattoo Studio, Seaford Sussex, England for the tattoo!

And if you are interested in flying blogs, check out Airspeed!

For a larger image, click on the link below or the image above!

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It was great to come across some new material in web searches this week, especially this great NASA Space Shuttle tattoo surrounding an existing tattoo. This great color piece was done by by Scot “Spyder” Kumo at Animated Canvas Custom Tattoo in Columbia, SC.

It’s a great tribute to the reusable space vehicle that’s slated for retirement in 2010 and eventually replaced by the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) capsule as part of the Constellation program.

For a more detailed and larger photo, please click through the link below (or click on the image above). 

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We get our share of P-51 Mustangs here, but this is the first modified P-51 air racer we’ve seen so far.  Seems particularly fitting as we are merely a month away from the Reno Championship Air Races where modified P-51s, Seafurys, and Bearcats fight for the Unlimited Gold!  This colorful armpiece was crafted by artist Kip Delaney of Victory Tattoo in Chico, CA.

By the way, FYI for you readers out there — we’ve changed our RSS feed, so make sure you fetch and link the new feed address to your news reader — the link is here.

Click on the link below to see a full-size image!

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Harley Davidson riders get tattoos of the company logo all the time, so how strange is it REALLY for a pilot to get the logo of his favorite airplane manufacturer tattooed on his body?

Aero-TV.net asks the question… and finds just such a person!

Make sure to check out Aero-TV.net for great aviation features… and Mooney for some great planes.

In the three months that Tattoos In Flight has been in operation, today’s feature is the first time a General Aviation airplane has appeared.  Illustrated here is a Piper PA-28R Arrow flying above the clouds. We checked the N-Number to see if the owner had his plane tattooed on him, but the registration shown here is for an Embraer 145 Regional Jet.  But still, artist Jim Judeikis of Saints and Sinners Tattoos of Baltimore, MD still did a great job with the tattoo.

For a more detailed shot, please click the link below or the photo above.

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The B-17 Flying Fortress is quite possibly the most recognizable aircraft of World War II and certainly was the most famous due in part to it’s role in the wartime documentary film “Memphis Belle” by William Wyler, documenting the first crew of the war to successfully complete 25 missions.

As a result, a great number of aviation tattoos today feature the famed Flying Fortress and today we feature another. This particulat tattoo was done by artist Audi at Midnight Moon Tattoo in Chichester, NH.

Click on the link below to see a larger version or click the image.

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