unpublished, detailed soplata pics circa 2003

[tom d. friedman]

good luck. the family doesn't want to be bothered as they have been besieged for 1, 2 it's all tied up in probate court, 3 the epa has issues, 4 the irs too. more alphabet soup than you can possibly stomach. you'll just have to be patient.

[tom d. friedman]

the victor forward fuselage / cockpit is right smack next to the house at the path. the dc -7 forward fuselage is from the ortner air service, 5 minutes from my house, the largest non scheduled air freight company east of the Mississippi river to the 70's. ford motor co. owes a lot to the ortners as they flew vital parts to Detroit when production lines were to be shut down w/ out them. the hand w/ a shackle is a nuke bomb shackle proudly showed by walt. the b-36 wings made of magnesium came up to my "adams apple" at 5 foot 9 inches tall. legend has it that there is a p-47 fuselage stowed in the b- 36 fuselage. to many briars / pricker bushes to get a peak to wade through.

[Chris Brame]

Legend has it that there is a P-47 fuselage stowed in the B-36 fuselage. Too many briars/pricker bushes to get a peek to wade through.

I remember hearing about that one from Earl Reinert - wasn't it just a bare fuselage that was on the production line when the war ended, and never had a serial number? Possibly from the last P-47N-25-RE batch that was cancelled, in which case it would have been serialed somewhere from 44-89451 to 44-89683.

[cooper9411]

If memory serves correct the P-47 fuselage was sitting on the ground back in 2012.

[Woodsy Airfield]

Snake45 - According to Bruce Orriss's book entitled Museum And Display Aircraft Of The United States, 1976, it lists the Soplata Collection's aircraft to that point in time. He lists 2 Skyraiders - the XBT2D-1 and an AD-5N, BuNo 165273. The cockpit section of this aircraft was obtained from Selfridge AFB after Skyraider had made a forced landing along shore line of Lake St Claire, Michigan. The aircraft caught on fire and as far as I know it was all that Walt recovered.
As I recall, the P-47N fuselage was the last 'Bolt' off Evansville production line and Orriss indicates serial number unk. I don't think that P-47 was ever in B-36 - unless that was a recent event. I believe it rested next to either C-82 or HSS along with B-57 Fuselage - but that was years ago...
Tom and CherryBomber have done a great service in revealing these photos - very much appreciated...

[sandiego89]

Boy that Victor cockpit XL191 went downhill real fast!

Perhaps, but 191 had been in a serious crash landing at Hamilton. It was scrapped and Walter eventually got the remains of the nose section. There were no hatches over the cokpit, and it had been crudely cut off from the lower fuselage. Yes it went downhill in open storage, but it was by no means pristine to start with. Some pics here: http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=55298

[Warbirdnerd]

Does he have another Skyraider, an AD-6? I've heard both that he does, and he doesn't. If he does, do we know the BuNo of it?

The registry lists the partial AD-6 airframe as Bu135273. I can't remember if I've seen any photos of it on previous Soplota treads...
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a1regist ... 35273.html

[Woodsy Airfield]

Warbirdnerd - Yep - AD-6 BuNo 165273 number is too recent to be correct anyway. I recall the remains as being painted white, unfortunetly I don't have any pics defining it....

[peter]

Correct Sadniego. Hatches were recovered for use more likely.. A friend has one of her ejection seats.. Shame CWH didnt want to keep it as a display.

[tom d. friedman]

Snake45 - According to Bruce Orriss's book entitled Museum And Display Aircraft Of The United States, 1976, it lists the Soplata Collection's aircraft to that point in time. He lists 2 Skyraiders - the XBT2D-1 and an AD-5N, BuNo 165273. The cockpit section of this aircraft was obtained from Selfridge AFB after Skyraider had made a forced landing along shore line of Lake St Claire, Michigan. The aircraft caught on fire and as far as I know it was all that Walt recovered.
As I recall, the P-47N fuselage was the last 'Bolt' off Evansville production line and Orriss indicates serial number unk. I don't think that P-47 was ever in B-36 - unless that was a recent event. I believe it rested next to either C-82 or HSS along with B-57 Fuselage - but that was years ago...
Tom and CherryBomber have done a great service in revealing these photos - very much appreciated...

thanks leon!! according to walt the Michigan skyraider unfortunately involved a crew fatality.

[Sasquatch]

Victor XL191 on 21 September 1985 at Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Any of us who wanted to, got to climb inside.
She had a non-fatal crash next year at Hamilton.

ha ha ha...note the dude on the right angling to get a better view of the fair young maiden. I'da done the same thing!

-'Squatch

[Snake45]

AD-5N, BuNo 165273...

Hmmmmm...that's not even close to an AD-5 BuNo....

[Hemsford]

My model airplane club, The Propbusters, visited Mr. Soplata's place in 1973 or 74. I don't remember too much about the visit besides climbing into the cockpit of the B-25 that was right behind the Cutlass. THAT I'll never forget I mean, it's one thing to visit a museum and see mint planes carefully protected in their roped off spaces, but on the Soplata grounds you could go up and touch them. They weren't shiny and new and whole, but they seemed more real because of that.

[phil65]

"My model airplane club, The Propbusters, visited Mr. Soplata's place in 1973 or 74. I don't remember too much about the visit besides climbing into the cockpit of the B-25 that was right behind the Cutlass. THAT I'll never forget I mean, it's one thing to visit a museum and see mint planes carefully protected in their roped off spaces, but on the Soplata grounds you could go up and touch them. They weren't shiny and new and whole, but they seemed more real because of that."


Amen brother, Amen

Wecome,
Phil

[Hemsford]

Thanks for the welcome Phil.

I guess this link may have been posted before, but if not, here's a great article by Mr. Soplata's son about bringing a B-25 home the hard way.

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-f ... 09/?page=1