Walter Soplata's Collection

I'm pretty sure that in an old issue of Air CLassics that there was a picture of N69X atop a pile of scrap in a junkyard somewhere. It had had it's wings torched off after a belly landing or something but the fuselage looked pretty good. That would be "pre-Walt" I guess. I'm glad he saved it for another time. The man deserves some kind of real preservation award.

Dan

[T J Johansen]

I'm pretty sure that in an old issue of Air CLassics that there was a picture of N69X atop a pile of scrap in a junkyard somewhere. It had had it's wings torched off after a belly landing or something but the fuselage looked pretty good. That would be "pre-Walt" I guess. I'm glad he saved it for another time. The man deserves some kind of real preservation award.

Dan

Although not sure I seem to remember the photo being in sister journal Warbirds International as I do have it somewhere. The 51 was owned by race car driver Jim Hall at the time of the crash.

T J

[p51]

What gets me is the notion that some millionaire can just saunter over there, write a check, and act like it's his own personal hobby shop.
Or even worse, that people like many of us, who don't have any money or connections for preservation, have anything to say about it either way.
I think, "Hunting Warbirds" made a good point, in that without this man, the planes wouldn't even be around to even speculate over! I can't say I blame the man for putting out the "go away" sign. I'd get danred tired of slaw-jawed self-labelled, "aviation experts" telling him what he should do with his own stuff.
I guess I've gotten jaded about the whole thing, that no matter what you do and whatever you have, there's a pack of jackals just waiting for you to croak so they can descend upon you.
Sheesh, I've even had people approach my wife and (since we have no kids right now) ask what plans there are for my WW2 military collection, and I'm only 35 and in great health! They're lucky they got away with their lives. You think I'm tough on this?

[tom d. friedman]

yowza gang!! back from 10 days r&r in florida. yes on dick oliver's f-11 blue angel wreckage, but only really consists of a wing. yes on the twin mustang, but you can hardly tell it's a twin other than original data tag stamp. the 1st f-82 was sold by walt some years ago. regards, tom

http://photobucket.com/albums/y12/stear ... uster2.jpg

The ex-Soplata BT-13 USAAF 41-9642 finally came out of storage and got moved into the hangar this past week. Many thanks to fellow WIXer Tony Jarvis for all the help.

(he didn't even drink all my beer!) :-)

Dan

[SocialChaos]

First of all, I am kinda new here, I happen to live about 3-4 miles up Rt 87 from Mr Soplata, and have sadly not had the chance to meet him in person. But after discovering what he has while looking for strange and interesting stuff in the area on the net, I have researched into quite a bit about what he has there.

Also, from meeting people who live in the area around his "Farm" I was in fact sent some pictures of the aircraft that were taken mid summer by someone who lives near there.

And from what I have gathered, through very very sparse records accessible online, as well as the limited information on what he has in there. I believe there may only be one B-25 left at the Farm. From what I was told, it was near "Two other complete planes" which I have been able
to Identify as the F7U Cutlass and the A-1 Skyraider.

I am willing to share these pictures for the fact of the history in each one of these planes, though it does bother me that I cannot guarantee if the kids who got them trespassed or not.



The B-25




The F7U



The A-1 Skyraider

[tom d. friedman]

you are correct, the planes in the pics you provided are all in close proximity to each other on the east end of the property. the b-25 was loaded with junk & was vandalized or broken into a while back prior to 2003. the bomb bay doors were pried open for access by the scumbags who didn't get anything.

[B17news]

He reminds me of a guy named Rick Kirk from my previous days in the car world. He had the neatest stuff in the world, but didn't want anyone nosing around looking at it.

B

[Tillerman]

He reminds me of a guy named Rick Kirk from my previous days in the car world. He had the neatest stuff in the world, but didn't want anyone nosing around looking at it.

B

And that reminds me of the book of Herbert W. Hesselmann, a German author and (erotic) photographer who, many years ago, discovered an intruiging eccentric man living on a secluded estate somewhere in France. In the barns he kept an unbelievable collection of automobiles from roughly the 30's to the 50's. All of them unrestored and slowly decaying. Kind of Soplata, but with cars instead of aircraft. He kept everyone away from his estate and had no intention of restoring them.

Hesselmann wrote a book about the collection, with beautiful and tasteful photographs: 'Sleeping Beauties'. He never disclosed the identity of the owner and the location of the estate, but since the book was published the hunt was open, and I understand that some, if not all, of the cars are now in the custody of collectors who are restoring them.
Some pictures of this collection:
http://www.hesselmann-foto.de/aktuell/index_en.htm (Click on sleeping beauties and keep the other one for later tonight )
http://tinyurl.com/2oetck (click on Mehr Bilder ansehen ).

I understand that the majority of people want to see these gems restored back to their former glory, but I for myself really like the atmosphere which is depicted in such untouched-for-years collections. It's the ultimate time-capsule.

Sorry for going off-topic, but these kind of collections are -in my opinion- the best there are.

Back to aircraft then - Tillerman.

[Shedwork]

The old car in a barn story hey?

http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/

Be nice to find the equivalent aircraft barn!

Cheers

Mark

[P51Mstg]

Car in the barn story is true and happens. I found my AS350 Helicopter sitting in a barn in Ohio.

Mark H

[Obergrafeter]

I found my Staggerwing in a boat storage barn in the early 90s'

[gary1954]

I would like to have a barn in which to find my stored airplane

[Jerry O'Neill]

I've found old Jeeps in barns, but I would really like to find an old airplane in MY hangar!
Jerry

[Chris Brame]

A friend of my uncle has a BT-13 dismantled in his barn, but he's going to restore it "someday"...

As far as cars go, here's my friend's latest barn find - it was in Jack Palance's barn: