Greetings everyone… we’re back from our little summertime hiatus here at Tattoos In Flight, ready for another great year of great aviation tattoos from around the world!  Drop us a line at tattoosinflight@gmail.com if you have any good stuff to share!

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair continues the trend of being one of the most popular tattooed airplanes in today’s post.  With it’s famous inverted gull wings to provide ground clearance for the massive Hamilton Standard propeller with a diameter of 13 feet, 4 inches attached to the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine.

With the combination of advanced aerodynamics, one powerful engine and a large prop, the F4U Corsair became the first U.S. fighter aircraft to exceed 400 mph in flight, with the XF4U-1 reaching 405 mph on October 1st, 1940 on a flight from Stratford, CT to Hartford, CT.

The Corsair remained one of the fastest fighters used during WWII, though it’s full usefulness as a carrier-based fighter was never fully realized as the aircraft remained a tricky aircraft to operate on and off aircraft carriers. 

The Corsair was a long-serving design as well.  Along with use throughout World War II, the Corsair flew in the Korean War as a night fighter and even flew in the early days of the Vietnam War before U.S. entry during the First Indochina War in use by the French Navy’s Aéronavale.

This fantastic and colorful rib tattoo was created by artist Cecil Porter of Hollywood, CA.  Cecil works from a private studio at Under The Gun Tattoo on Melrose Ave. in Hollywood. This particular tattoo won Best Tattoo of the Day at the Body Art Expo in Pomona, CA in January 2009.

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

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The term “pin-up girl” first came into mention in popular culture in 1941 and became even more popular in the years immediately after.  The provocative drawing and photo spreads found in magazines of the glamorous models, movie stars, and starlets of the time were popular with the soldiers, sailors, airmen and grunts fighting in World War II.  At bases, on ships, or in camps far removed from the dazzle of Hollywood, these images that were plastered to the insides of footlockers, tacked up on bunks, and taped up on the walls of the barracks were sometimes the only images of a woman these guys would see for months.  It kept their blood pumping and reminded them of what was waiting for them when they got home.

Pin-up girls even found their way onto some of the chariots that took the guys into battle… as pieces of “nose art” on the bombers they’d pilot over enemy territory.  Famous recreations of pin-ups from artists Alberto Vargas and George Petty among others found their way onto the aluminum skinned noses of countless B-17’s, B-24’s, P-51’s, and B-26’s along with many other planes from the smallest liaison plane to the largest cargo transports. Sadly, many of these artworks were lost when thousands of the bombers and fighters were scrapped at the end of the war.  Luckily some panels were saved by some savvy-eyed scrappers and now hang in a gallery at the American Airpower Heritage Museum of the Commemorative Air Force in Midland, TX.

This awesome piece of pin-up girl perfection in front of a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair U.S. Navy fighter was created by artist Frank LaNatra of Eternal Ink Custom Tattoo Studio in Davie, FL.

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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!

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The iconic sharkteeth of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) Curtiss P-40 Warhawks are some of the most famous markings ever to be found on an aircraft.  The large oil cooler scoop on the front of the plane and large nose was nearly perfect for the snarling mouth.

This inner arm tattoo shows that famous snarl to great effect!  It was tattooed by Hawk Chait while he was at Incognito Tattoo — but Hawk currently tattoos at Oxygen Tattoo Studio in Bend, OR.

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

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Our editor went off to Orlando for the National Business Aviation Association convention with his aviation artwork concealed under his suit — so we might be a bit late in getting new tattoos out for the next few days.  But for some fun before the weekend, here’s a bit of a bombshell with a background of B-17s from artist Tim Harris of Hope Gallery Tattoo in New Haven, CT. 

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Today 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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