Warbird Information Exchange

Ok, the thread about Super Corsair #57 was great and there were a lot of awesome pictures posted. Who has good ones of #74? Now I'm talking old ones, but also any recent restoration shots are what I'm really curious about.

Here are a couple of mine...

PhantomAce08--

Nice shots...The one of #74 being towed across the ramp looks like it dates to the '48 Thompson when the custom airscoop on top of the cowling blew out. Dick Becker had to deadstick the beast in. Same thing happened to the scoop on Cleland's #94 in that race. Even decades later, Walt Soplata would express amazed admiration for Becker's airmanship in getting #74 down intact.

I first read of the F2Gs in the old Ed Maloney Corsair book; there and in Leslie Hunt's Veteran and Vintage Aircraft I first encountered the mythic Walt Soplata, finally managing to visit Walt's in the early 80s. Knew he had owned the F2G, but wasn't sure he still did. Glimpsed it from the front of the property, expressed delight at seeing it, and Walt was all smiles, delighted that I was delighted! For pix of #74, check the Registry, F2G BuNo 88463. The header shot is one I took on that first visit to Walt's; there are others on there as well showing #74 more recently in the care of Bob Odegaard. Hope the Crawford can get that project back on track; their planned revamp (on hold now) looked superb in the renderings I saw.

Cheers

S.

Here is a picture of 74 when I flew over Walters place in 1997

Back in 2000 I drove up to see Bob Odegaard at his shop and when I pulled in this is what I saw, the center section of #74 being blasted

74s tail section in a smaller hanger at Bobs place allready cleaned up

Here is the center section with inners painted.

Thanks for the restoration shots... are there any from more taken in the last year?

Iwas told that that is the way it sits now because the Crawford Auto museum ran ouut of money yo finish it , So Bob stopped working on it.
Dave

i'm glad my yard isn't that messy.... but something tells me if it had that stuff in it i wouldn't mind too much. (my wifes opinion might be a little different though )

what does he actually have there apart from the B25 and corsair? (i'm not up on us naval a/c)

Hi Henry--

Wow, what does Walt have...Even with a number of well-known departures (including the F2G this thread is about), here are some:

FG-1D Corsair
XAD-1 Dauntless II (Skyraider)
TBM-3N Avenger
TB-25N Mitchell
F-86L Sabre
F-86E Sabre
F-84F Thunderstreak
F7U-3 Cutlass
A-26 Invader (exec version)
T-28A Trojan
AT-11 Kansan
H-19 Chickasaw

Those are mostly-complete airframes. Less complete there is...

YB-36 Peacemaker (hulk ex-USAFM)
XBT-12 Sophomore
P-63A Kingcobra
XP-82 Twin Mustang (one fuselage and possibly outer wings)
T-28B
Beech C-45 (x3)
RF-84F
P-47D (fuselage)
C-82 (pod)
C-97 (fuselage)
DC-7 (nose)
B-52B (nose ex-USAFM)
Victor K.2 (nose)
CF-100 Mk.5C (partial fuselage)
AD-5 (partial fuselage)
HSS-1 Seabat
TBM-3 (partial fuselage)
SNJ Texan (fuselage and centre section)

...and on and on it goes. Check the WIX Downloads section of this site; Mike Henniger's Soplata collection listing there is the most comprehensive there is of Walt's famous fleet.

Cheers

Steve T

Was that the B-25 Wild Cargo in front of the F2G?

Steve

_________________
"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

Steve--

Nope, Wild Cargo was gone by then; that's Walt's other Mitchell, TB-25N 44-86708, still in its postwar USAF livery and still at Newbury at least as of a couple years ago...Wild Cargo was recovered to Georgia by Steve Detch in the early 90s, possibly along with parts of a third Mitchell, and has since been completed and flown for new owner Jerry Yagen.

Steve T

Thanks Steve T

I had seen Wild Cargo at Air Acres Airport here in Georgia, before it flew but wasn't sure on the time frames.

Steve

_________________
"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

[/quote]


My Gawd ....... What did it take to get the Super Corsair out of Walt's Junkyard Paradise? A CH-47???




It will truely be awesome to see the undemil'ed NAS Akron FG-1D BuNo. 88026..... (under the corugated sheet metal infront of the
B-25 and Skyraider).... when it finally see's the light of day outside of Walt's property.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

For MAPS!!! I promise I'll take care of it!