This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

And up next, a story that's one of a kind.

In the early 1950s through 70s, a son of

penniless-check immigrants somehow managed to amass an arsenal of military aircraft, albeit

unfliable, in his own backyard. His name was Walter Soplata. Here to tell his story is Wally Soplata, Walter's son, and the author of The B-25 in the

backyard.

Here's our own Monte Montgomery with a story.

Our story begins in the home state of the Wright brothers, Ohio.

Here's Wally Soplata on the eccentric airplane collector that was his father. Even as a young boy, I realized my father was different.

As a result, the way we lived was different.

But though we had airplanes parked near our house, it wasn't anything I paid much attention to in my earlier years.

The planes didn't fly or do anything.

Days, months, sometimes years would go by,

the planes doing nothing sitting in the same spot.

For many reasons, this is an improbable story

that never would have happened in the hands of any other person than the gifted eccentric who was my father.

The Great Depression financially devastated his family when my father was six years old.

And things only got worse when dad's abusive and

alcoholic father abandoned him and his family when he was eight years old. Later,

to help support a struggling family, dad was forced to go to work at an early age and

thus was unable to attend high school. Despite such harsh and difficult times, there was

...