Warbird Information Exchange

I was honored to meet Mr Walter Soplata today, and I toured his amazing collection. I heard about 3 hours of his stories of recovering his aircraft. It was just amazing.

Very cool man. He is a legend.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Document all you remember. Sounds like an amazing experience!

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

I'd love to hear more.

I met Mr Soplata and got a tour from him about 6 or 7 years ago...a great afternoon.

Great news, Tom!

Sorry about the crossed wires, I have already corrected the issue.

It was nice talking to you.

Saludos,


Tulio

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Why take the best part of life out of your life, when you can have life with the best part of your life in your life?

I am one of them 'futbol' people.

Will the previous owner has pics of this double cabin sample

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Press "1" for English.
Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.

Sooooo, how am I going to know to press 1 or 2, if I do not speak English????

Now that would certainly be a DVD worth purchasing...if Mr Soplata were to ever agree to sit down on camera and just talk so that all of us would be better able to appreciate what he has done.

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

tom, how did you wangle the privledge?? did you see the stuff under his house?? such as the c-46 flight deck or the f-100 flight simulator?? i would amagine it's quite a bit better cleaned up since some of his recent sales

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

That's all we get
Throw us a bone

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Don't touch my junk!!

Mr Soplata mush be a master at working in hydraulic jacks and cribbing planes apart and together. I was amazed at how he moved them with his 2 wheel trailer, truck and converted school bus. I saw little damage from the moves.

He told the story of bringing home his Neptune. Apparetly there was a story i the paper about him recently, and when the OSHP pulled him over, they let him go to avoid bad publicity. Walt's eye really twinkled when telling that story. The Cutlass is amazing, that thing is huge!

I was there at the collection to get 3 ATC RADAR sets from the Youngstown ATC center. we moved 3 weighing 300+ lbs, then toured the place. Mr. Soplata has kindly donated an airframe to MAPS. I will post pics and the airframe a little later when I get final permission tomake the offical announcement.

What amazed me is he still knows each airframe, when and where he got it. He speaks as one who really loves aviation, and the aircraft lifting man to God. I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast. He can tell you what the smalest piece is to, and there are more small pieces than I could count.

He appeared in good health, and kept up with us youngin's while we examined the treasures. I am just sick about the way the tax man is treating him. This guy just tried to save planes, not make a mint. He just happened to save some of the most valuable and rare in the world. Someone really needs to get on the ball and write a book.

1 word:

AMAZING

tom , since soplata's place has been emptied to a degree, did you have an opportunity to get close to the b-36 fuselage??? i'm curious as to what is inside of it. when i was their in 2003 i couldn't get to it . i heard there was a p-47 stuffed in it.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I saw the B-36, but too much brush to get back. There is a P-47 there.
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