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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-mile journey.
The story of a workaholic father and his aviation-obsessed son, this book records the accomplishments of a rare bird, just like the many airplanes he saved.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
¿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
About the author
Wally Soplata spent the majority of his Air Force flying career as an Instructor Pilot (IP) teaching in T-37s, T-38s and C-141s. Following his Air Force retirement as a lieutenant colonel, he enjoyed a second flying career with a major airline flying the Boeing 727, 757, 767, 777 as well as the Douglas DC-10 and Airbus A300/A310. After retiring from airline flying as a Boeing 767 Captain, he continues flying a variety of General Aviation aircraft as a flight instructor. He lives in Collierville, Tennessee.
