Found Airplane Stories

[johnnyrace]

With the recent conversations about found airplanes in a field or barn I figure a few of you that have not seen these photos will appreciate this link to many photos of the Soplata airplanes that were in his yard in Ohio.

http://svsm.org/gallery/soplata87/SO_87001

[sierra fox]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Find of the year right there, Thanks

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

With the recent conversations about found airplanes in a field or barn I figure a few of you that have not seen these photos will appreciate this link to many photos of the Soplata airplanes that were in his yard in Ohio.

http://svsm.org/gallery/soplata87/SO_87001

That's pretty damned amazing!

[wolfee]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

This was brought up a couple of years ago here... Very cool stuff, and a very memorable story in Air and Space mag.

Here is the other thread with a link to the Air and Space article.


http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showt...hlight=soplata

[kiwiracefan]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Oh man what a yard.... what happened to the cleland F2G, the P-82, F7U and oh man that is unreal to see the B-36 Fuse...

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Oh man what a yard.... what happened to the cleland F2G, the P-82, F7U and oh man that is unreal to see the B-36 Fuse...

Not completely sure but I think Robert Odegaard has the F2G and it's nearly flying... again, not totally sure on which AC Robert has and if it's the other (second or third) Cleland F2G or any of them but...

[Race5]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Not completely sure but I think Robert Odegaard has the F2G and it's nearly flying... again, not totally sure on which AC Robert has and if it's the other (second or third) Cleland F2G or any of them but...

Odgearrd's first F2G (Race 57) and his new F2G project (Race 74) came out of Walter's place. The P-82 is in Oregon being restored to airworthy. He had one other P-82 fuselage that is at Tom Reilly's shop being used as patterns for another flyer.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Odgearrd's first F2G (Race 57) and his new F2G project (Race 74) came out of Walter's place. The P-82 is in Oregon being restored to airworthy. He had one other P-82 fuselage that is at Tom Reilly's shop being used as patterns for another flyer.

Well, I don't think that's correct. Race 57 had actually been bounced around the warbird world for many years, and I can remember as far back as the late '70's with them talking about getting it flying--not necessarily as the racer, but just as an F2G. I know the late Harry Doan had the airframe for many years, then I think it went to Lone Star after his death. I don't recall that aircraft ever being in Soplata's posession.

Race 74, which won the '47 Thompson, was saved by Soplata and had been on his farm since the early 1950's.

Race 94, the white one that had the clipped wings and the fences, tail stinger, etc., was actually scrapped in Ohio in about 1954. It had deteriorated in the elements, and again if I remember correctly, had been used as a fire-fighting hulk by the airport/county. I think only the propeller and engine survived...and they should be in the Crawford Museum in Cleveland.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

That's no scrapyard. That's a field of dreams...

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

That's no scrapyard. That's a field of dreams...

I absolutly agree.

Will

[AERRACE]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

I agree, this collection of photos is incredible. The story of how the photographer(s) gained access to Mr. Soplata's compond I bet would be interesting in itself. The Air & Space article mentioned in a previous post was not only the first look inside Walter's collection to appear in a major publication, but the first article I've read in the last 40 years or so to paint him in a favorable light. Those past articles about the "reclusive crackpot" all missed the point, that Mr. Soplata and his family had saved many rare airframes from the scrampman, obtaining some from entities that should have not but them up for disposal in the first place. But then, perspectives were far different back in the 50's and 60's. I would hope that today for example, the the MUSAF would have found a home for their original display B-36 rather than simply cut it up. That sad hacked-up hulk that Walter saved is the oldest B-36 in existence, it is in fact the third prototype, the original YB-36 which was the first built with that distictive bubble canopy.
Other rarities include the XAD-1 Skyraider, the second oldest surviving AD, the F2G, of course, the F-82, the crated P-47N inside the B-36's fuselage and my personal favorite the F7U-3. Given that these fabulous photos are 23 years old one can only hope that the evident "minimal" deterioration over the previous 40 years has not excelerated significantly over the past two decades. Again hopefully the recent movements out of Mr Soplata's collection to restorers who can give these planes the TLC they deserve will continue until all of them that can be restored are.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

I agree, this collection of photos is incredible. The story of how the photographer(s) gained access to Mr. Soplata's compond I bet would be interesting in itself. The Air & Space article mentioned in a previous post was not only the first look inside Walter's collection to appear in a major publication, but the first article I've read in the last 40 years or so to paint him in a favorable light. Those past articles about the "reclusive crackpot" all missed the point, that Mr. Soplata and his family had saved many rare airframes from the scrampman, obtaining some from entities that should have not but them up for disposal in the first place. But then, perspectives were far different back in the 50's and 60's. I would hope that today for example, the the MUSAF would have found a home for their original display B-36 rather than simply cut it up. That sad hacked-up hulk that Walter saved is the oldest B-36 in existence, it is in fact the third prototype, the original YB-36 which was the first built with that distictive bubble canopy.
Other rarities include the XAD-1 Skyraider, the second oldest surviving AD, the F2G, of course, the F-82, the crated P-47N inside the B-36's fuselage and my personal favorite the F7U-3. Given that these fabulous photos are 23 years old one can only hope that the evident "minimal" deterioration over the previous 40 years has not excelerated significantly over the past two decades. Again hopefully the recent movements out of Mr Soplata's collection to restorers who can give these planes the TLC they deserve will continue until all of them that can be restored are.

Hacker has been out there in person, chased off by Mr. Soplata, and then (once they started talking) invited into the 'backyard'. An amazing place and an amazing story to hear him tell.

[johnnyrace]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Makes me want to spend the rest of my days looking at every coordinate on google earth in hopes of finding something in a back yard !!!...On another note, I had a friend I used to visit in the late 80s / early 90s that lived in Concord, North Carolina and he showed me a guys yard that had a P-40 fuselage...Anyone out there know what happened to this airplane?

[Randy Haskin]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Here's my Soplata Farm visit report from back in 2002, reposted from WIX:

Soplata is basically a junk collector who also has an affinity for airplanes. He purchased his aircraft as scrap back in the 50s and 60s.

There are some informative posts right here on WIX about him, including Mike Henniger's compilation of the Soplata airframes (taken from numerous sources).

Here's a post I made to USEnet rec.aviation.military back several years ago when I visited Mr. Soplata.

Subject: Walter Soplata Colection Visit Report
From: Randall Haskin
Date: Mon Jul 01 07:44:48 2002


I had a chance to visit the Walt Soplata farm this past week...a very interesting experience.

For those who don't know about the Soplata Farm, Mr. Soplata is a junk collector who also happens to share an affinity for airplanes. The results of his 50-years of saving airplanes from the scrap heap and smelter are resting next to his house in Newbury, Ohio, along with all the other junk he collects like cars, books and magazines, trucks, old computer and electronics, and other scrap. It is not a museum -- the airplanes are not there for display, but are the personal collection of Mr. Soplata. The airplanes are all in derelict condition -- wrecked, in pieces, and rotting away exposed to the midwest US weather. He purchased these airplanes over the years as his own hobby, and in many cases, has saved some one-of-a-kind airplanes from destruction when nobody else (especially the US military) cared about them.

First of all, I was glad that someone had posted directions on how to find his place here on USEnet, otherwise I *never* would have found it. It is buried away from sight off a dirt road. When I got there, I was amazed by the sight from the dirt road in front of his house...what a junkpile! I'd seen photos of the Soplata farm on other webpages (http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...rt1/Fea182.htm), so I had a general idea of what to expect when I got there. What I didn't know, however, was what would actually be there, since I'd heard of at least two airplanes from there being sold off and restored (http://www.airrace.com/corsair74.htm). In addition, I'd read here on r.a.m. that Mr. Soplata was possibly dead.

Anyhow, I walked up to his house and knocked, but nobody answered. I heard of others visiting Walt's farm and just walking through things without asking, so I thought I'd go see what I could without being too intrusive.

Even right there at the house, and I was amazed with what was there. On his front lawn was a wingless T-6...in front of his door, a T-33 fuselage and the cockpit to a Victor...in the driveway the cockpit to a DC-7. I started strolling up the path through the junkpile, passing on the right side a B-52 fuselage on it's side, a Howard DG-A fuselage, a BT-13 fuselage, and a complete F-86F. On the left side of the path were a T-28 fuselage, what looked to be an AT-11 (I could just see the bombardier nose) and a Boeing commercial airliner cockpit. I spotted what I initially believed was a P-51H, but on closer inspection, it turned out to be the left fuselage of the XP-82 (44-83887). I snapped a few photos, then left the main path to the right and waded through the tall grass toward a complete FG-1Corsair with the wings folded. Next to the Corsair was one of the Skyraider prototypes (XBT2D-1, BuNo 09103). Also scattered around were a complete B-25J, a F7U Cutlass jet, and a P-47N fuselage. Further to the west was a C-82 fuselage and a Sikorsky helo of some kind stuffed amongst the trees.

It was at this point that Mr. Soplata walked out to find me...he is still alive and well and "working" on his collection. Initially he was not happy that I was out looking at his junk, and was *really* not happy that I was taking pictures! Apparently Mr. Soplata has had some problems with people visiting his farm and the IRS thinking he "runs a museum". So, he asked me to stop taking pictures, and to not publish the photos in any publications, which might encourage more people to come visit his airplanes. He asked me to leave, so I apologized to him and I followed him back out to my car on the dirt driveway. On the way, however, he asked me who I was and why I was there. During the course of our conversation, he must have realized I was an airplane enthusiast just like him because soon he was leading me on a guided tour of his collection and talking away about every single airplane!

Anyone who meets Mr. Soplata may get the impression that he's a doddering old man. It's true that he doesn't come across as the brightest individual, but after spending an afternoon talking with him about his hobby and his airplanes, I realize that he's really just old and eccentric. He has an amazing memory when it comes to aviation, and especially recalling specifics about his airplanes. Every airplane we'd walk up to, he'd give me a detailed history of where he got it, how much he paid for it, and even specific service histories of the airframes he had. It's very evident that he cares about his airplanes -- he does what he can to protect them from the weather by covering up cockpits and canopies, and building small shelters over some. He even talked quite a bit about how he was going to "put them all back together", which is obviously an overly ambitious project for an elderly man given the condition of some of the airplanes.

We talked about people buying airplanes from him -- I tried to talk him into selling me his T-6 or his BT-13 -- and he indicated that he didn't like to sell off his airplanes. "It's my hobby," he said, "and I paid for these with my own money." He said that people have come to him many times and offered to buy individual items or even the whole collection. "There's a guy in Texas who wanted to buy everything, and he even offered to build me a house down there just so I could still live next to my airplanes!" Another collector offered him $3 million for everything "and maybe I should have taken him up on it, I dunno." Recently he has sold off a P-82 Twin Mustang and an F2G Corsair, "so I could pay off the IRS," he said. He's especially against having any of his airplanes fly again -- he mentioned several times how angry he was that rare warbirds that have been restored to flying condition and are flown on the airshow circuit get destroyed in crashes. Apparently there was a stipulation with the sale of the F2G Corsair racer that it never be flown again. Other than that, he has no intentions of selling much of anything as long as he's alive.

When he dies, however, he says "everything will be for sale in Trade-a-Plane" with the money going to support his children. He mentioned who he planned to be the executor of his will and who will arrange the sale, but I don't remember who it was.

So, Mr. Soplata spent the rest of the afternoon showing me the rest of his collection, including his famous YB-36 which is sitting there cut up into many pieces. I also saw a complete TBM Avenger, F-86E, F-84, T-50, and Fleetwing (which he says is the only one still in existence). There were also fuselages for a Canberra, an F-105, a few T-28s, another TBM....there are just too many to list from memory.

All in all it was a very interesting visit. I sincerely hope that these aircraft find their way to a museum or into better care before they're gone.

This is the Google Earth view of the Soplata Farm:



Here are the few photos I did get of the Soplata Farm:

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Found Airplane Stories

Pretty rough for the most part but a lot of good stuff there.. Wonder who the "guy in Texas" was?

Thanks for sharing...