Warbird Information Exchange

I never knew that. It makes sense.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I bet I know who got it.
But, ask me no secrets and I'll tell you no lies

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

C'mon Rob


If your not gonna tell us who got it and the specifics of the sale. That's fine I can respect a mans wishes for privacy.

But you gotta atleast give us the low down of the bird's history, as you know it. Perhaps Jack might be able to dig up some pictures of it or it's previous squadrons.



This is the last Corsair Walt has right?

Also he has one fuselage to a P-82 right? Any guesses as (when it's inevitably sold) to what someone would do with it? Are there and restorations that could possibly incorporate it? Would it be possible to cobble it with a Mustang wing and tail assemby or it way too different?

I think would make for a great museum "get'in and sit" display.



Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Walter's last P-82 is the NACA test bed is it not? That is one that should be parked for a museum. As for using P-51 parts in the restoration, I don't think much of it will work. The p-82 was a different aircraft all together, not what alot of people think as two Mustangs joined together.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

MD--

Walt's remaining P-82 is what is left of the second XP-82, 44-83887, consisting basically of the port fuselage (I have heard there may be one or more wing panels as well). Walt's ex-NACA test EF-82E, 46-256/NACA 133, was a complete airframe; it is the one now with C&P Aviation in Minnesota for restoration to fly. Correct about the impracticability of trying to use P-51 parts...they are very different airframes. What I'd do to turn the XP fuselage into a static display would be to add a mockup outer wing panel and half the inner wing/stab...mounted against a mirror. (The prop installed would even appear "handed" in mirror image!)

I've mixed emotions about the FG-1D moving on...I don't doubt it's going to a good home, but it must be wrenching for Walt to lose another of his rescued treasures. I hope the new owner bears in mind that without Walt, there'd be no BuNo 88026 to acquire...Oh, and 88026 is not quite the last Corsair at Walt's; there are bits of at least one other there still.

The B-36? Anything is theoretically possible with enough cash and time and effort. But...well, 42-23271 is best seen now as maybe a salvageable static-display cockpit section. And that's not Walt's fault: a largely-magnesium airframe, parked outdoors in Ohio for two decades then cut up for scrap...even Walt's herculean effort to rescue what was left could not result in any sort of potential flyer, not in that case. Yet another tip of the hat to the gent from Newbury anyway! Thanks again, Mr Soplata.

S.

I'm glad that the FG is going to a good home, but sad at the same time. That was pretty much our last hope of getting an Akron Goodyear built Corsair at MAPS...


Anyone with a spare, unwanted FG-1D sitting around, just let me know and I'll be glad to take it off your hands!

Jim thanks for posting. Your aerial photo shows the B-25 I would think would be the next good flying prospect, if sold.

I wish there was some way that the FG-1D would have went to MAPS since it had Goodyear history.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I agree again they are not my airplanes, and Mr Soplata is well able to do with them as he pleases, but it would have been nice to see the Corsair on permanent loan or some other arrangement with MAPS

What I would like to know is how one would get a Corsair out of that pile of beautiful airplanes?

_________________
Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Probalbly a Farmall............maybe a Allis Chalmers

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

This particular Corsair flew with VMF-422 "Flying Buccaneers" squadron during the last three months of the Pacific War. VMF-422 was based on Ie Shima Island about three miles off the coast of Okinawa and carried out strikes against the Japanese mainland and the surrounding islands. Three months of ground attack sorties no doubt added up to some quality combat time for the plane. I'd love to see the log books, but I doubt they've survived with the plane.

If Jack or anyone else has any shots of VMF-422 during the last days of the war, I'd love to see if their aircraft carried any unique markings.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Was most of the Air to Air action over by this time?

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Someday there'll have to be a reunion of all the (sprung) Soplata birds.

Dan

Shay--

Walt did have a couple inventive tugs...the one I remember best looked like a much-shortened HD truck frame with dual wheels on the rear axle, and the complete hood and radiator grille (and, I'm guessing, the engine as well) of a Ford Model A! Some of the recovery vehicles were pretty neat also, the really memorable one being a 40s White school bus that had been cut down into a flatbed of sorts, ending up parked with its final recovery--much of the fuselage of a Neptune--still in place atop the erstwhile floor of the bus. (I'd like to get that and turn it into an airshow RV-cum-mini-museum...)

Dan--

That idea is music to my ears, hope someone does it someday once more of the ex-Soplata airframes are operational again. Of course there are at least two of the airframes which are slated NOT to fly again--the F2G (in ND, eventually for the Crawford in Cleveland) and the P-80A (at NMNA, Pensacola). Still...those could be trucked in...if the Pebble Beach Concours could airfreight in two of the six extant Bugatti Royales from France for the weekend of their Royale reunion back in '86, a couple old aluminum airframes shouldn't be an insuperable challenge cross-country in the USA...

BTW, anyone know what became of two of the earliest ex-Walt airframes: an American Eagle biplane he sold as far back as the Fifties (said by Walt himself still to have been flying in California in the early 70s) and P-51 (hulk) N69X that passed to Brian O'Farrell in Florida in the late 70s? Interestingly, at least back in the day, Walt approved heartily of classic biplanes being flown, but not Warbirds...I well remember him going nuts with delight when he visited Mt.Hope to survey the Victor nose in early '87 and Moe Servos showed up in his red Staggerwing and began beating up the flightline...Walt filmed Moe's surprise visit with an ancient camcorder he'd brought that looked more like a World War I machinegun!

And yes, the other Mitchell (44-86708, still in 50s USAF paint) would be the next likely project after the FG-1D. "BD-708" was in much better shape than "Wild Cargo" had been...and the latter is now flying again. But let's let Walt enjoy his Mitchell--and the rest--as long as he likes! After all, he's why they're still anywhere...

S.