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Calf Combat Collage: WWII Air Battle Tattoo

Posted on March 21, 2009

Illustrated here is a very colorful collage of a World War II dogfight over the Pacific between two US Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats and two Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters. Reminiscent of the fantastic paintings and illustrations on the boxtops of plastic models in the 50’s and 60’s, this tattoo is very similar — close quarters fighting, billowy clouds and plumes of flames streaming off the “bad guy”.

However, unlike those paintings, this tattoo features a lovely pin-up at the center. The inspiration for many pieces of “nose art” on bombers and fighters, the pin-up and the magazines they came from were as much a part of a servicemans boot locker as… his boots!

The tattoo was created by Lea Vendetta of Dave and Lea Tattoo, currently in Key West, FL at Paradise Tattoo but will be around the Ft. Lauderdale area in 2009.

As a side note, I had the brief opportunity to meet Lea and her husband Dave Archer by chance on a boat trip to the Dry Tortugas National Historic Park from Key West. At the time I was visiting family down there and they both were vacationing there. After years of seeing their work and photos in magazines, I easily recognized them and made sure to say hello. Pretty cool odds when you consider only about 200 people visit that island park daily!

Please click on the image above or the link below for two larger images.

Click the above image for the full-size photo.

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