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NC12350 Monocoupe 110 |
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How to Move A Monocoupe Wing !!! |
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January of 2006 and I bought a hangar at Sedona, AZ which means the 32’ wing will need to come out of the jig and be moved 110 miles north. I decided to build a movable jig. I built this movable jig around the wing and attached it to the wing while the wing was still in the fixed jig. When I was done, I simply took down the fixed jig and now had a wing clamped in the vertical position, but on 8” pneumatic tires. Here’s how it looked.
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The reason why I went to such trouble to fix the wing into a movable jig was because the leading edge skin wasn’t on yet and I hadn’t received the drag and anti-drag wires yet. So, the wing is still pretty flexible and flimsy for a 110 mile ride in a truck.
Notice the end view, pretty slim profile. |
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So the next big worry was finding someone to move it. I wanted the wing to go in an enclosed transport. I also wanted someone who had an appreciation for what they were moving. Well, I own a Sunbeam Tiger and am pretty active with it and Shelby Cobras. Through that connection I found Rich Lacy out of Nebraska. http://www.richsclassictransport.com/home2.html Rich moves classic cars and has some really nice rigs. He was excited about doing the job and his travels were taking him right past Sedona in a few weeks. It worked out perfect and Rich did a great job. Here is the wing as it came off of his 47’ enclosed trailer at Sedona airport. That’s me on the left and Rich on the right. Having the wing mounted vertical and on a jig with 8” pneumatic tires made it easy to just roll the whole thing up his ramp and into the trailer. |
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Here is the wing in it’s new home. Insulated, and we acid stained the old concreted floor and put on a satin poly finish. Also installed all new high output fluorescence lighting. |
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Here is the view from the new hangar. Hey, someone’s gotta work on a ‘Coupe here. |
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Some visitors showed up at Sedona a couple of weeks later. Two of them taking aviation industry execs for rides. They were in Sedona for an annual industry meeting. |
