Unknown warbirds in the U.S. - Could they exist?

[AirJimL2]

The discussion of the "missing" Mustangs brings up a question I've always wondered about...does anyone think there are unknown fighter or bomber warbirds hidden or in storage in the U.S. that aren't publically known? (Somewhat complete airframes...not parts, wreaks, or dataplates.) Is this even possible in this day and age? (Heck, we even have a listing of Walter Soplata’s holdings right here on WIX.) I would lean toward no way...but I wonder about everyone's opinions. Kinda like that purported MAPS donation of a Buffalo, P-38, and P-40 that had been in storage since the war. I immediately discounted it as a hoax because IMO no one could keep a collection like that hidden. Even planes that aren’t seen much are listed on the Registry, with the WW bibles, etc.

Opinions?

Jim

[HarvardIV]

Hi Jim:

My friend in the San Fransisco area CAF has a friend who has a Tigercat in a barn in Northern California. Those are all the details I know. I would think about it and say "yes" to your question, because there could someone who would just put a plane in a barn at the end of WW2, and not care about it.

Just imagine someone who doesn't even care about old planes, and just puts the plane in storage. It could happen.

[Robbie Stuart]

I had a close friend years ago that said he had a P-40 project stored in Alabama, where I don't know. The guy had some severe personel issues & unfortunatly took his own life. We were quite close & I knew there were some things with him that were B.S., but just when you thought that he was really floating you a big line on something he produce pay dirt. The year before he died he sort of distanced his self from friends & his life became more of a mystery. He was very much a Warbird type guy & heavly involved in one of the major organization's. After his death I found out about a lot of false claims about his background he had made, like I said the poor guy had some issues, but I have always wondered about the P-40. At one time we were actively looking for a secure location to rent & relocate it here to Atlanta. I just can't help but think there was something to that story. Guess I will never know.
Regards
Robbie

[HarvardIV]

Hey Robbie:

Stating the obvious; You ought to talk to some people who knew him a little more, and ask them whaer he had the P-40.

[a26invader]

Jim, interesting subject! I'm sure there's something to it. At least that's what I want to believe... it ads a little mystery to our hobby.

During my last visit in Seattle I was told a story about a complete P-61 sitting in a barn somewhere. Allegedly it had been aquired during the Sixties for some bug-spraying conversion programme. However this never materialized, and the aircraft was put in a barn and never heard of since. Probably bogus, but I like the idea.

[L. Thompson]

Never say never but always reserve 90% doubt when rumor chasing.

They are out there. The drug trafficers sometimes get them in "deals" in overdue payments, widows of reclusive long-time owners sometimes have things hidden away, and others have major proof of ownership (bill of sale) type issues. There is probably another much lesser scale Soplata-type individual out there we just have not crossed paths with yet. His collecting may have ended in the early 60's or earlier, but when he did drag them home he did it with style. That has certainly proved the case with antique autos and antique aircraft. It is harder obviously with warbirds because their size and dissassembly requirements make them much harder to hide away.

I suspect a few long stored and previously unknown warbirds will surface in the next five years that will blow our socks off.

[bdk]

I suspect a few long stored and previously unknown warbirds will surface in the next five years that will blow our socks off.

I'm sure there are plenty of long abandoned T-6 and Stearman projects in barns and garages all over the place. A friend of mine saw a Stearman in a neighbors garage in a residential area that had been there languishing for years since the owner lost interest. Might be a P-51 or two around somewhere as well. Not all these aircraft were put on the register after they were surplused.

I think there's still some stuff stashed away out there. There was a story about a derelict B-17 carcass in the midwest somewhere that was sitting on a guy's farm until it got cut up and smelted down by a somebody with a portable smelter - and this was in the mid eighties - and a B-17 would be a little tough to hide you would think. A couple of years ago a J-2 Cub fell out of a barn just five or six miles from where I live, and it had been in there for about fourty years! Remember the PT-22's that surfaced in a shed in LA just a couple of years ago?

Keep looking!

Dan

Last edited by Dan Jones on Tue May 17, 2005 7:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

[HarvardIV]

If you really want to do some serious homework, you could probably do what an Australian or Canadian fellow mentioned a few months back on the board. He must have been Canadian, but he said that he tracked down quite a few Bollingbrokes in Canada in this way.

Obviously, you can track down the bills of sale from the military after WW2, and track each plane surplused until you narrow it down to a few missing planes.

[tom d. friedman]

don't rule out something unknown at soplata's place!! he's got crates, & a few truck trailors with what god only knows what's in them, & who knows when the contents have last seen the light of day, as they are locked. there is so much stuff out their that i doubt he even can remember it all. regards, tom

[Chris Brame]

... don't forget Earl Reinert's Buffalo and my uncle's friend's two BT-13s (one regular, one Viceroy)...

[Phil Earthey]

Was lucky to see the Tigercat that HarvardIV mentioned about four years ago when I was aeroplane hunting in the area. Stored at the back of a barn on a duster strip not far from Chico if I recall correctly.

Ex. USN bird, not a firebomber. A heck of a lot of damage, but the wings and tail were good and fairly straight. Fuselage was burned and cut, but all the important parts were there.

It left for a new home shortly after I saw it, lost track of where it is now.

Phil

[Phil Earthey]

The Tigercat I inspected was certainly no ex. tanker. The accident which led to it's survival, ironically enough, happened way back in the early 50s. A totally different aeroplane, and one which has never appeared in the Warbirds Directory.

[Phil Earthey]

Have checked my records and it's BuNo 80359, the first F7F-3

Hey Rob, couly you PM me your contact number please???

Thanks,

P

[RickH]

What happened to the Corsair that was given to a midwestern town. It was flown after arrival at the local airstrip by a former Army pilot and then taxied down the road to the town where it was used as a memorial ? I saw an article on it years ago but never knew what happened to it.