Tattoos in Flight is an ongoing gallery of flight and aviation-related tattoos collected from around the web — displaying the passion for flight that the wearers exhibit. We feature the the worlds most skilled artists who excel in the craft and subject matter, allowing aviation enthusiasts to make more informed decisions in choosing an artist.

Archive for September, 2008

North American P-51 Mustang Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Douglas SBD Dauntless WWII World War II Fighter Bomber Sleeve Aviation Aviator Pilot Flying Flight Tattoos In Flight Oddball Studios Jason LeisgeThe commitment required for large scale tattoo work is certainly commendable — the amount of time it takes along with the pain and cost over multiple sessions makes the completed piece not only a triumph of art, but also a triumph over various hurdles along the way.  A full sleeve project is one of these large scale projects and is one of the most visible you can get — making it important to get the right artwork from the right artist!

That’s the case in this fantastic sleeve featuring all different sorts of World War II fighter and bomber aircraft.  You can see famous planes like the P-51 Mustang, B-17 Flying Fortress, P-47 Thunderbolt, and SBD Dauntless here.

The awesome sleeve was created by artist Jason Leisge of Oddball Studios in Portland, OR.

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

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space shuttle nasa orbiter launch astronaut space program flight aviation flying pilot commander tattoos in flight josh woods black 13 tattooWe’re always on the lookout for the elusive spacecraft tattoo for Space Saturday but seem to have trouble finding appropriate tattoos to feature. We’ve seen a few tattoos of the Space Shuttle, but nothing from Apollo, Gemini, or Mercury — anyone?

Luckily we were fortunate to find this fantastic tattoo of the Space Shuttle this week and thought the colorful execution and depiction of light was nothing short of spectacular. Credit goes to artist Josh Woods of Black 13 Tattoo in Nashville, TN.

Please click on the link below or the image above for a larger image!

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Douglas DC-3 C-47 Skytrain Gooney Bird Transport Airliner Nose Art WWII Pilot Airplane Flying Tattoos In Flight Shawn Willmorth Hive Tattoo and PiercingToday we’re glad to feature one of the worlds most adored and beloved airplanes — the Douglas DC-3.  Also known as the C-47 Skytrain and the “Gooney Bird”, the rugged DC-3 was one of the first successful passenger airliners as well as a popular transport and paratroop aircraft during World War II.  This particular tattoo shows a DC-3 as a C-47 with a bit of WWII-vintage nose art adorning the ample forward fuselage.

The colorful tattoo along with the propeller and wings was created by artist Shawn Willmorth at The Hive Tattoo & Piercing in Moses Lake, WA.

See a larger shot of the tattoo by clicking on the link below or the image above.

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Fairchild 22 Menasco Powered Classic Parasol Antique Aircraft Airplane Plane Pilot Aviation Aviator Tattoos In Flight Flying Oddball Studios Jeffery TarinelliThe aircraft designs of the 1930’s are considered to be some of the most classic and attractive aircraft ever produced in the 100 years of powered flight. Manufacturers and models like Waco, Boeing, Travel Air, and Fairchild provided the basis for the American sport flying community.  Pictured here is a unique tattoo featuring a Fairchild 22 C7B parasol-wing sport plane.  First flown in 1931, the 22 was a two-person sportplane powered, in the C7B version, by a 125 hp Menasco C-4 inline engine.

This highly detailed and fantastic tattoo was created by Jeffery Tarinelli at Oddball Studios in Portland, OR.  Oddball Studios has quite a few aviation tattoos in their portfolio, so we’ll be seeing more from them over the coming weeks!

Click on the link below or the image above for a larger version of the photo.

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North American B-25 Mitchell WWII Bomber RAF Bomb Run Flying Tattoos In Flight Mark Lazio Ground Zero TattooOne of the challenges of tattooing aircraft is the fact that airplanes are composed of straight lines and the human body is inherently curved. On top of that, when taking a photo of the completed piece, it’s hard to capture the tattoo in two dimensions when it exists in three dimensions.

With those challenges in mind, this tattoo of a Royal Air Force North American B-25D Mitchell done in black and gray shows some amazing attention to detail. It was expertly executed by Mark Lazio of Ground Zero Tattoo in Riverside, CA.

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

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vintage aviatrix old school propeller sean o'neill tattoos in flightHarkening from the style of tattoo popularized during World War II, today we have a old school style tattoo featuring an aviatrix, a propeller, and an aircraft of the era (perhaps a Howard DGA or Lockheed Vega). 

The colorful tattoo was created by Sean O’Neill of The Tattoo Room in Simi Valley, CA.

Click on the image above or the link below for a larger version of the photo!

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North American P-51 Mustang Airplane WWII Fighter Pilot Tattoos In Flight Flying John MontgomeryAnother quick P-51 Mustang tattoo for today — this time a colorful stylized head-on shot on the inner bicep created by John Montgomery of the Tattoo Syndicate in San Bernardino, CA

Click on the link below or the image above for a bigger shot of the tattoo.

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North American P-51 Mustang Messerschmitt ME-262 WWII Aircraft Fighter Airplane Tattoos in Flight Mark LazioA colorful sleeve project for today that needed two photos to properly document. Yet again we can see that the North American P-51 Mustang continues to be one of the most popular aviation tattoo subjects out there. 

This particular tattoo project was created by Mark Lazio of Ground Zero Tattoo in Riverside, CA.

Please click on the link below to see a larger version of the photo and the second photo in the series. 

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twitter_logo We’ve been using Twitter for a few months through our editors account and it’s been a great way to promote the site - so we decided to get our own account for the site! 

Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/tattoosinflight

And if you follow us, we’ll follow you… :-)

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Boeing PT-17 Stearman Kaydet WWII Airplane Trainer Biplane Tattoos In Flight Thomas Graham Supergenius Tattoo

Finally!  I found a tattoo of my favorite plane — the Boeing Stearman PT-17 Kaydet.  The “Stearman” was usually the first plane a cadet got his hands on in flight training during WWII, and it made a great many pilots.  After the war many Stearmans saw service as crop dusters and sport planes and today many Stearmans are still flying as a reasonably priced warbird collectable!

This tattoo was beautifully done by Thomas Graham of Supergenius Tattoo in the Boeing birthplace, Seattle, WA.

Please click on the link below or the image above to see a larger image!

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