Walter Soplata Collection

This is an unbelievable collection! Even more amazing than the collection is how he was able to accomplish it.

http://pacaeropress.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3243121

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7722&sid=fc4718bf5220f7e0c6e1f8f5724253d2

Here's an article by his son on how he did it.

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/soplata.html?c=y&page=1

brad i had a chance to see this in detail at home and it really is awesome, some of the planes are fantastic and you would never imagine finding a B36 in a private collection. Really great to see all those aircraft. The other great thing about this is that many of them have been restored by now or are in the process of being restored. Wow!!!!!

that looks more like a collection of junk & scrap metal, rather than an airplane collection!

He had a lot of complete aircraft, most of the large bombers were taken apart at their natural breakpoints, just amazing moving those aircraft to his farm.

When he got them there, he would open up every access hatch he could and spray in some heavy oil and every so often, he would spray and some more, apparently even after sitting out in the open for decades, there was very little corrosion inside.

I just found out he passed away just a short time ago. Nobody will be able to do this again. Hopefully they find some good museums to go to.

He must have been damn rich, firstly to buy, and then transport all these aircraft!

Actually, no, he didn't have very much money, but when he was buying these aircraft among other items, there was very little demand for some of them, and no demand for others other than scrap metal, some of them could literally be picked up for a couple hundred dollars. I had read that he used some trucks and a modified schoolbus, and a lot of ingenuity.

According to some of the links you sent me many of these aircraft have been bought and are being or have already been restored. Don;t forget that these photos were taken in the 80's. Some of them have even been restored to FLYING condition!!

Yeah, I think he started collecting some of these in the 50s, early 60s at the latest. He did his best to try to protect some of them, putting some sort of cover over at least part of them. Most others out there were being turned into pots and pans around the same time.

Brian, did you get my e-mail I sent Wednesday? It was the one with the picture of the dune buggy attached, if you didn't, I will forward it to you at home.

No Brad, i did not get that mail at all.

I'd just forwarded it to your house.