To Whom it may concern: I am presently covering a pair of wings that are from a 1946 415C. I could have just installed the inspection rings and kept flying but it had been since 1967 since the Ceconite was installed and I just wanted a closer look. The wings appeared to be in very good condition and had I only installed the 32 inspection plates I would not have not seen what I found after stripping them.
There is steel against aluminum at the place where the rear spar attaches to the center section. This steel part is called "Rear Beam Hinge Assembly" and is riveted to the rear spar. It's part number is 415-14020-L (left wing) 14020-R (right wing) also there are steel gussets along the rear trailing edge of the wing where the aileron hinges attach to the wing. Both of my Rear Beam Hinge Assemblys were badly rusted and one of the gussets was in pretty bad shape. The only way to see how bad the corrosion was between the steel and aluminum was to drill out the rivets and remove the part. I am sure that these parts had been together for 50 years and would have lasted a while longer but they defnitely needed replacement. I have enclosed 6 pictures of the 3 parts(one picture of each side) if you care to look at them by downloading. I think that EVERY COUPE OWNER should take a look at them because it could happen to you and most of the Coupes out there are just as old as mine. Two of the parts are pretty much as they were removed except a lot of the white corrosion has come off. One of the parts has been cleaned down to bare metal and you can see that there is a lot of surface damage. This was not evident just by looking in the inspection holes. Look at the pictures and then delete them if you like. I think it will be worth your trouble. These are 50 year old airplanes and I love them but the Butt you save may be your own. Kim Flora N2523H NC
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