How It's Made: From Plane to PlaneTag

When you consider the rich history of each grounded plane, it’s tragic to see them breaking down piece by piece in the boneyard, their vibrant skin succumbing to the harsh sun. When we see a decommissioned military aircraft, commercial plane, and particularly vintage aircraft, we see so much more than just metal and parts. We see the stories of their time in flight, the passengers they connected to the world, the pilots who guided them through the skies, and often, the critical missions they took on during wartime. It’s the respect we have for each of their stories, and your personal experiences with these aircraft, that drives us to give them new life and reintroduce them to aviation fans worldwide.

Constantly on the hunt, we scour the globe for vintage, military and commercial aircraft to salvage from dry desert boneyards, overgrown forest lots, and forgotten storage hangers. Through our extensive contacts throughout the world of aviation, we find famous planes hidden under tarps, war heroes in darkened corners of lots, and iconic fuselage stacked in rows. It’s an honor to be able to bring these planes back out into the light and give them a chance to shine again.

Once we’ve salvaged a plane to add to our collection, we select and hand cut manageable sections from the fuselage, taking the original skin, paint, patina, and original body wear with us back to our workshop to begin crafting the most authentic piece of the aircraft we can possibly deliver. When you hold a PlaneTag, you’re holding an original piece from the plane exterior that flew through the clouds.

When we choose sections to cut from the skin, our goal is to capture the stunning colors and graphics of the aircraft we commemorate, and much negotiation goes into securing the most eye-catching, iconic sections of the fuselage livery.

After years of service followed by sitting in wait, our aircraft skin must be cleaned of interior materials, exterior grime, polished, sanded, and the edges de-burred for a smooth feel in your hand. Our fine-tuned process means we are able to strip away time to reveal the pure state of the plane, keeping the authentic patina of the aircraft to deliver a true piece of untouched history to you.

After cutting down the large fuselage sections we work with smaller pieces to hand-stamp each and every PlaneTag from the skin, creating the iconic oval shaped memento that can be found with travelers and aviation fans all around the world.

From our years of working with aviation materials we have perfected the tools and processes to create a detailed piece that’s comfortable to hold and use without taming the natural spirit of the metal.

Since each piece is hand selected, cut, and stamp, we craft each PlaneTag to be truly one-of-a-kind. Although you’ll be sharing the aircraft with aviation fans around the globe, your piece will look like no other, and will be assigned a number in the series.

We use laser etching systems of the highest available grade to individually burn our custom spec designs into each PlaneTag. Where art and science meet, the process of taking our custom front plate designs to the laser room is a series of complex calculations to ensure the placement is perfect. Another level of planning is added when our customers request custom messaging on the back plate.

Every PlaneTag is laser-etched with the aircraft’s make, model, tail number, spec outline, and numbered as a limited edition. Each design is custom-made to highlight the important specifications of every aircraft in our collection.

After final inspection they are hand-attached to their descriptive card, complete with brief aircraft history, and ready to join your collection or accompany you on your travels.

Our customers all over the world have their own way of honoring our aircraft collection. Some see them as practical pieces and use them as luggage tags, keychains, or even their dog’s collar ID. But even more of our customers build a collection with inventive ways to display their PlaneTags in their homes of offices, such as homemade boxes, displays, or our official PlaneTags Rack. However you choose to bring aviation history into your life, we’re honored to fly with you.