We had a military (non-aviation) collector in flyover country whose heart was in the right place, but didn't have the means / real estate to preserve, let alone display, it all. Lost it all to the county tax man.
Soplata didn't have the wherewithal to restore nor even preserve it properly, but he at least saved it from the scrapper.
BTW - I have a museum guide from mid-60s which documents Soplata's collection, along with a few dozen more public museums.