Description
Book Synopsis Only in America could Walter A. Soplata, the son of penniless Czech immigrants, accomplish so much single-handedly saving historic aircraft from World War II and other periods. After a childhood spent building model airplanes while dreaming about having his own airfield, Soplata worked in a large scrapyard taking apart hundreds of warplane engines.
Shocked to see a rare engine or sometimes a complete warplane on its way to the recycling furnace, he began collecting whatever he could find and afford. He eventually collected nearly 20 complete airplanes and countless pieces of others. One of his Corsair fighters included the experimental F2G Corsair #74 that won the Cleveland National Air Races in 1947. Among other priceless airplanes he rescued was an experimental XP-82 Twin Mustang, an F-82E Twin Mustang, an X-prototype Skyraider, a stainless steel BT-12, and an F7U Cutlass--Soplata hauled the Cutlass fuselage home by stuffing it inside a junked school bus for its 600-mi
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. No Place Like Home
- 2. Airplane Siblings
- 3. Sky King
- 4. Scraping By
- 5. The Banana Bus
- 6. Walter the Conqueror
- 7. Heavy Metal
- 8. The Mother-In-Law
- 9. Wild Cargo
- 10. The Flying Zoo
- 11. The Little Six That Could
- 12. Wings of the Night
- 13. Treasure Hunting
- 14. On the Outside Looking Up
- 15. Chicago Clone
- 16. Plane Crazy
- 17. Delusions of Flight
- 18. Plane Folks
- 19. Along for the Ride
- 20. High Hopes
- 21. Carrying a Load Not Measured in Pounds
- 22. A Hollywood Part
- 23. As Is, Where Is—The Fate of the Hunted
- 24. "Your Place"
- 25. In the Grip of Obsession
- 26. Mother Load
- 27. Chasing the Dream
- Epilogue: Live and Let Fly
- Appendix I: Walter Soplata's Airplanes: Where Are They Now?
- Appendix II: Aviatrix Marge Hurlburt's Hidden Treasure: Air Race Corsair Lucky Gallon
- Appendix III: The Global Reach of Walter Soplata's Airplanes: Lockheed Neptune #40436
- Sources
- Bibliography
- Aircraft Make and Model Index
- General Index
