Warbird Information Exchange

Any news on the Soplata Collection? I have heard rumors that it has been mostly sold off.

Thanks

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-Thomas Reilly

The Warbird Watcher
http://warbirdwatcher.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Warb ... 3861560352

After seeing your post Thomas, I spoke with a Soplata family member and as of 11:30 am E.S.T on 02/08/15 nothing has been sold or moved. The collection is still on the Soplata property, in fact the family member I spoke with also said " they" purchased a house 2 doors down from Walters that has 5 acres and some of the collection was situated on 1 of those 5 acres. And I was also told that there had been an offer made for all the engines but the family declined the offer and after doing so somehow the E.P.A. became involved! I was granted permission by the family member to post this information and nothing else. Yes I do have quite a bit of knowledge of the situation with the collection but guaranteed the family I would not share any of it until such time they felt was appropriate to do so. I've posted the following words on here before and I'll do it again now. When the time comes (and it will) to share what's on the property people will be amazed! But once again we will all have to wait because nothing is going on with the collection. Hopefully this puts another Soplata rumor to rest.

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

Thanks for the straight goods Cooper.
That is always appreciated.
Hopefully the wishes of the family will be respected.

Andy

Rotten gold diggers!

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us-aircraft.com "History and Modeling Page"
http://www.us-aircraft.com
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My main aviation interests are:
-ww2 in the Pacific, in particular 1941-1942.
-The underdogs, and lessor known aircraft and histories.
-The Cold War.
-Collecting aircraft parts and Memorabilia.

Nathan I agree 100%, unfortunately there have been a few for their own greed have ruined it for the rest of us. Case in point; the guy who trespassed on the property, took pictures, submitted the story to an online U.K. site stating he " just happened upon the abandoned, forgotten collection"! Once that was brought to the families attention within hours the story was removed. From what I've been told there have been many people who have approached or made offers for parts/ pieces with which the family also declined. I will always appreciate the times where I was allowed to enter the property, and believe me anyone else would as well!

_________________
A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

I wouldn't mind buying a part or two from them if that ever came to be. But if there was anything I wanted to happen, I would want the family to keep everything. Maybe they could start a dang museum with it. Otherwise all I see is people that only see $$$ signs and not have any preservation in mind for the collection. Worse is if someone comes in and claims that it's "theirs" like say our wonderfull full of freedom government. Remember what happens to people that find lost shipwreck treasure.....everyone comes in and wants a piece, leaving little left if any to the original founders.

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us-aircraft.com "History and Modeling Page"
http://www.us-aircraft.com
-------------------------------------------------------
My main aviation interests are:
-ww2 in the Pacific, in particular 1941-1942.
-The underdogs, and lessor known aircraft and histories.
-The Cold War.
-Collecting aircraft parts and Memorabilia.

Cooper--

Absolutely, re touring Walt's place back in the day. I visited Walt's twice in the early 80s, going nuts with excitement at the sight of the F2G racer the first time (and probably permanently getting into Walt's good graces by so doing!). Corresponded with Walt a bit afterward too, including communications that led to his acquisition of about a third of an Avro CF-100 (in 1983) and the nose of a Victor tanker (in 1987). I last conversed with him at Mt.Hope airport, where the Victor nose was, the day he came by the museum to buy the nose.

Re a "Soplata Memorial Museum", I've long thought that was a good idea...in fact my subconscious once thought so to to the degree I had a thoroughly surreal dream about the place (involving, inter alia, a Sea Fury parked, wings folded, in a stairwell in the pouring rain!). I later wrote up some ideas for an actual museum display, theoretically using a huge hangar then standing in nearby Chagrin Falls as a facility; at that time Walt still had the XP-82 parts at Newbury, and one of my ideas involved standing that fuselage, restored, against a mirrored wall in order to "complete" the aircraft visually; another idea involved a Cleveland air race exhibit using the FG-1A and P-63 (the F2G had gone to Crawfords by then), and another a series of interactive cockpit displays. Of course the XP-82 is on her way to being complete again for real now...but even with some of the "plums" long gone from Newbury, a truly impressive museum display could certainly still be built up from what is still at the farm.

S.

What people know about that's still their would make an impressive museum, what's their that people don't know about would make for an AWESOME museum!

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

What ever they need to help continue Walt's Legacy have them contact me.
I would love to help them and Walt in any way.
Met Walt once, and he impressed me. I shared some O-2A stories with him.
Let me know how I can help.

Why is the family turning down offers? I hope these airplanes are someday saved and some returned to flight.

Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

Wouldn't call anyone making offers to the family "gold diggers" unless certain individuals are constantly harassing the family, or planning to buy at scrap prices to sell at above market price.

We all want the best deal when purchasing artifacts/items, and unless you make it known you're interested in buying, someone else will get it before you.




First problem is he likely never cataloged every thing he got, so most of it was just put where it fit. Which is also unfortunate because they have been out in the elements all this time, so many things that were really nice when he got them, have now turned to scrap. So the family has to go through everything and figure out values.

Another problem is that his collection likely has to go through a bunch of legal stuff to decides who owns what (this can turn nasty between family members). Unless he made a will stating who gets what, or what is to be done with his collection, it will likely be months to years before anything is put up for sale or sold.

My biggest concern would be anything to do with the EPA getting involved. I can see nothing good coming out of that. Hope the collection survives somehow.

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

The biggest reason is in the past when Walter sold something, part of the agreement was that because the aircraft was so rare that they would never take to the air again. We all know how that turned out. Everyone can "armchair quarterback" but the aircraft that remain have been out in the elements for quite a long time but are in far better condition than other birds that have been salvaged.

_________________
A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

Yes, a scary thought.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

One would think that if the Feds make any issues, the family will be able to get as much volunteer help as they need to move things or store things. The collection could probably be a candidate for the Historic Register.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903