Warbird Information Exchange

Well Tom to be honest with you and myself. I'm not sure I would be the optimal man for the job of the writing the book. I would in fact waste no effort in pitching the idea to Mr. Soplata. I think a lot of good would be served by having a book like this being published. I'll seriously consider, over the next couple of days, contacting Mr. Soplata. And at that point I'll type up a proposal for both Walter and a few different publishers. Will have to generate interest with both parties before any project can begin. Well not necessarily in today day and age. Kinda excited about the whole thing, but there are some drawbacks. From my understanding Walt is atleast 80ish. At that age I'm not sure he would be willing to go through all the effort. And of course there always the obsticles you can't account for. One bump in the road that crossed my mind was the pictures issue. I would like a book like this, if it were to be done, to have a lot of pictures going indepth on each aircraft. Well I know some were taken awhile back that got him in trouble with the EPA. What if a area of Walter's property was cleaned up, keeping the farm feeling in mind and prepared for photo taking. And each aircraft would be tractored out and cleaned up and washed up, without loosing their raw feeling. Meaning not to tear up the paint. Of course some would need to be mocked up and assembled, but that's what Walt wants anyways. Well like I said I'll give it some serious thought. Will be more convienent when i move back to OH in July so we'll see. Well TTFN. And Oh Tom it's all water to me unless the bottle's got a worm taking up residence in it.

Shay

Shay/Tom et al--

Thanx for some more discussion on what's always been one of my favourite Warbird topics: the Wonderful World of Walt!

As to his willingly being a subject for a book...I think there might have been the possibility of that, say, in the seventies, but Walt now carefully avoids publicity. For instance, he now insists his aircraft not be photographed; but when I visited there in the early eighties Walt didn't seem to give a rip that I was shooting pix (in fact several of my photos have Walt in them). Of course it helped that at the time I was simply a teenage kid mad keen on old airplanes. I remember going bugeyed at the sight of the F2G ("Oh wow! You've still got that!"), and Walt's grinning "Well of course" reaction. An ogre, he sure wasn't.

As to a museum...Walt's never really had the desire to operate a museum, least of all at his current age (he would be in his mid-80s now) and in the current climate of regulations and litigiousness (recall that the Polar museum at Anoka MN shut down a few years back for insurance reasons...because they were attracting TOO MANY visitors!). I do think that an excellent "tribute" museum could indeed be assembled from some of the "second-tier" stuff at Newbury: several of the cockpits; perhaps the P-63; the "bits" FG-1A and P-82; the XBT-12; the F7U, et cetera. But that would have to be accomplished with the acquisition of those items when Walt is no longer with us.

As to documentation of the Soplata collection itself, WIXer Mike Henniger a while ago assembled an excellent reference listing which is available through the WIX Downloads section of this site. Mike's list gets updated as new info surfaces. Many of the anecdotes have been preserved too, in articles (like the newspaper profile later published in Bob Hull's "A Season Of Eagles") or correspondence--or in online exchanges like this one. I did not know of the existence of a tape recorded interview...would LOVE to hear that someday!

Currently I'm working on a 1:72 diorama of part of Walt's place, based on photos I took there in 1982. When that is finished I'll find some way to get pix of it online and linked to the modeling forum on WIX.

Cheers

S.

an area of walt's property cleaned up?? thats like saying lets find a spot on the moon with no craters!!! to clean it up without a bull dozer is beyond labor intensive. i admire your enthusiasm & would love to be proved wrong on his accepting a book offer, but i think it is futile at best. you have no idea what his place looks like, & who ever called it a farm better talk to a good eye doctor!! there isn't a barn, ear of corn or chicken on the place.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I phoned him one day, trying to get the story on how and where he came into owning my BT-13 but he wouldn't come to the phone. I talked to his wife for a few moments and she remembered the airplane and the guy that had bought it from them originally, but she couldn't provide any details about where he had gotten it from. Unfortunately, without his cooperation, I likely may never know the history of the airplane between 1944 when the RFC disposed of it, and when Walt got it.

UNLESS anybody here knows... :-)

Dan

The B-25 that said "WILD CARGO" on the nose was at Steve Detch's at Air Acres in Woodstock, GA about 6 years ago. He's restoring it and it should be ready to fly or have flown by now. I'd love to see Steve fly it out of that little grass strip

Mark H

Hey, post #1! Welcome to WIX.

The "WILD CARGO" Mitchell, ex C.C. Wilson and later Walt Soplata, now belongs to Jerry Yagen in VA, but is still being restored in Georgia. Do you happen to know what parts of a second B-25 from Walt's place was recovered by/for Mr Detch? There were said to have been two recovered, but in fact one of the two intact B-25s Walt had in the 80s is still at Newbury...

S.

Steve -

Where in GA is that B-25 being restored?

There was definitely a B-25 still at Walt's place when I was there in '02. Parked right next to the Cutlass and the Skyraider.

The list in the downloads section...

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... loads.html

...points to Atlanta, or at least that was where the owner was when the B-25 was obtained from Mr. Soplata. WD4 refers to Alpharetta, GA as well.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

randy, he has 2 b-25 mitchells. 1 where you mentioned & 1 center near neptune fuselage just kiddy corner to the corsair. regards, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Hi Tom--

Well this is interesting. When I visited Walt eons ago he did indeed have two intact (more or less) Mitchells: "BD-708" in front of the shed next to the Neptune "slices" atop the old bus; and "Wild Cargo", known to have been recovered long ago for Steven Detch and now owned by Jerry Yagen, between the XAD and the P-80 (also since removed, to Pensacola). However Mr Detch had been said to have recovered TWO B-25s from Walt's; and at least three B-25 serials have been associated with Walt.

The obvious question (knowing that you've been at Walt's recently) is...What two B-25s are still at Newbury, and how complete are they? I do know "BD-708" was still there and quite complete in 2002...but what of another one I apparently never saw at all? (Or of the reported second Detch one?)

Cheers

S.

steve, hello, thanks for all the alberta clippers this winter!! i'm freezing my glutious maximumus off!!! thank god for your canadian whiskey or i wouldn't survive without the anti freeze!! on to walt..... i do not have the serial numbers or designation numbers of the b-25's but they are in relatively good shape. i was under the the 1 near the cutlass & it had a bomb bay door collapse from items stored inside, probably a weight shift. walt thought it was vandals. the one near the neptune is not reachable without a tetnus shot or jet pack!! to much debris to get close. when were you out their?? there is so much scrap, crap, & refuse that there is plenty more that can't be seen & probably long lost & forgotten by walt as well. all the best, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Hi Tom--

Yeah, it's wintrier than normal here too (we're on about the same latitude here as southern Oregon!) So much for global warming, eh...

Re Walt, actually both your descriptions would have fit the "better" of the two Mitchells I saw at Newbury. "BD-708" in her faded USAF finish was between the F7U (which was right beside the 25's starboard tailplane) and the FG and XAD (which she was facing, across a small gap). More recent pix I've seen show the FG pushed closer to that 25. The newer shots also show the "WILD CARGO" 25 and the P-80 are both gone (which we knew); those two had been beyond the F7U.

I visited Walt's, as I said, eons ago--specifically 1982 and 1984. Have seen Walt twice more since--in March 1987 when he came to CWH to buy the nose from the HP Victor the RAF had left there, and again at the 87 or 88 Hamilton airshow.

I think you said you'd visited Walt last November...how's he keeping? Got kind of a soft spot for the old guy. A real one-of-a-kind person.

Cheers

S.

It sounds like you guys are concluding that only two Mitchells have been on the Soplata estate. If anyone comes up with any other info, feel free to let me know, and I will update the Soplata list appropriately.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

there are definetely 2 now. one i was under & bomb bay doors were opened. that's by the cutlass at far end of property. the other is center by the corsair & all you can really see is the forward fuselage due to clutter, & you couldn't get to it now without stitches if you tried.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Aaaahhhh.... OK so we can count three Soplata Mitchells. Maybe not all there at the same time, but a total of three in Mr. Soplata's possession over time. The list list does have three Mitchells, and no ID on the third. Also it is not the most up-to-date list as my notes indicate revisions. So here is what we have on the Soplata Mitchells...

Mitchell #1
=======

Model: TB-25N
S/N: 44-30129 USAAF
C/N: 108-33404
Owner: Gerald Yagen / The Fighter Factory
Codes: "8", "WILD CARGO"
History: B-25J-25/27-NC (1944) 44-30129 USAAF, redesignated TB-25N, stored at Davis Monthan AFB (1957-1958), SOS, N7947C (circa 1958/6/16), crashed at Lumpkin Field near Cincinnati after landing gear failed to extend (1963/2), to Walter Soplata (1964/9), to Steven Detch in Alpharetta GA (1990/12), to Gerry Yagen/Fighter Factory (1997/12)
Notes: Damaged. Ex C.Wilson. Sold to owner in Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1992. Still in Georgia under rebuild, but now owned by Gerald Yagen in Suffolk, Virginia. ID also quoted as "44-30121".

Mitchell #2
=======

Model: B-25J-30/32-NC
S/N: 44-86708 USAAF
C/N: 108-47462
Owner: Soplata, Walter
Codes: "BD-708", "708"
S/N: B-25J-30/32-NC, sttored as Davis Monthan AFB (1958/1959), N3682G (1959/8), to Walter Soplata (by 1980)
Notes: USAF livery with code "BD-708" applied to the airframe. This code maybe be incorrect, or incorrectly noted here, but it is confirmed with photo evidence there is a "708" marked on the nose. This was to go to Steve Detch in Appharetta GA in 1997 but was not collected.
*NEW NOTES: Bomb bay doors are open. Located by the F7U Cutlass at far end of property and the FG. More recent pictures show the FG pushed closer.

Mitchell #3
=======

Model: B-25J-30/32-NC
S/N: 44-31121 USAAF
C/N: 108-37196
Owner: Soplata, Walter
History: B-25J (1944), to Walter Soplata (by 1985), to Steven A. Detch (1990)
Notes: Once noted as sold to Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1992, but was not sold and was stall at Walts as of 2002. Joe Baugher's USAAF list has this as in Atlanta. Steven Rister's webpage and the Warbird Registry have this one is now a "hulk" and is now owned by Steve Detch. Warbirds Directory 4th Edition has this one going to Steven A. Detch in Alpharetta Georria in 1990 and still being there by at least 1991.
*NEW NOTES: Located near Corsair amongst much ragged edge metal clutter. You couldn't get to it without needing stitches and a tenis shot afterwards if you tried.

From the notes above it looks like all three were to go to Mr. Detch. Does that sound correct?

Does everyone agree with this info especially the new notes? If so I will update the file and email it to Scott for posting in the uploads section.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.