I completely realize that we have featured this fantastic black and gray back tattoo honoring famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart before, but in honor of the opening weekend of the movie Amelia by Mira Nair and featuring Hilary Swank, we decided to bring it back!  It was an early post of ours and perhaps not everyone has had the chance to see this fantastic tattoo.

(click the image for the full post & a larger photo)

While Amelia Earhart was certainly one of the most famous female aviators due to her celebrity and of course her mysterious disappearance, there are a great many more women who have bravely taken to the skies despite the considerable challenges they faced.  Some of the notable aviatrixes on our list include:

- Harriet Quimby – First Licensed American Female Pilot
- Bessie Coleman – First African-American licensed pilot (male or female)
- Beryl Markham – First woman to fly Atlantic Ocean East to West
- Jackie Cochran – Record breaking female air race pilot & entrepreneur.
- Pancho Barnes – First female movie and stunt pilot in film
- Amy Johnson – First woman to fly solo from England to Australia
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh - 1st woman to fly great circle route, NYC to China
- Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) – First US military female pilots
- Valentina Tereshkova – First woman in space, USSR Cosmonaut
- Sally Ride – First US woman astronaut

Their own accomplishments should never be overlooked – and their pioneering spirit paved the way for many more since.  Our editor even has a portrait tattoo of Jackie Cochran as part of his Bendix Trophy piece in honor of her win in 1937.

This fantastic tattoo of Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed 10A Electra featured here today was created by artist Collin Delgado of Baraka Naga Art Company in Seattle, WA. The tattoo took ten hours over three sessions to complete.

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

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To celebrate the first anniversary of Tattoos In Flight, I thought it would be fitting to post the first successful powered aircraft, the 1903 Flyer built and first flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright from the dunes at Kitty Hawk, NC on December 17, 1903.  The brothers from Dayton, OH owned a bicycle shop, The Wright Cycle Company, by trade, but were consummate inventors and began experimenting with aeronautics at the turn of the century.

The brothers built and conducted glider experiments at Kitty Hawk from 1900 through 1902 and tested various designs and means of control… including turning control via the concept of wing warping.  These elements were incorporated into the 1903 Flyer along with the ingenious and light four-cylinder inline, gravity-fed engine engineered and constructed by their shop mechanic Charlie Taylor in only six-weeks.

Wilbur Wright was the first to attempt flying the aircraft on December 14th 1903, resulting in a three-second attempt where the aircraft stalled after takeoff and was slightly damaged as it hit the ground.

After the machine was repaired, Orville made the next attempt.  Against a freezing headwind gusting to 27 mph, Orville set down the takeoff rail and made the first controllable flight of a heavier-than-air craft… a 12 second flight covering 120 feet.  Two more flights that day by Wilbur and Orville respectively, covered 175 and 200 feet. The fourth flight of the day by Wilbur covered the longest distance… 852 feet over 59 seconds.  Unfortunately the aircraft was significantly damaged by a gust of wind as it was being taken back from the fourth flight and the aircraft never flew again.

The aircraft was shipped back to Dayton and was eventually restored years later by Orville before it toured to various locations in the U.S. and eventually was placed on display at a British museum – and eventually was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution as of 1948 after a long-standing conflict over the Wright claim as first in flight and a similar claim of Samuel Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1896 to 1906, who unsuccessfully attempted flight in October and December of 1903 using his own craft, the Aerodrome.  For more information on this odd controversy, follow this link.

In honor of this historic aircraft and historic flight, this beautiful black and gray inner arm tattoo was created by tattoo artist Hoffa at Ascension Tattoo in Orlando, FL.  Ironically Hoffa is also from Dayton, OH himself.

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

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