Greg..... I agree with you . I too witnessed that period. Ercoupes were plentiful. You could see them on the back of many airports with the nose wheel bent back touching the firewall. Or tied down forlorn looking with the tires flat and grass growing around them. All the instructors I had(all 7) warned me against buying a Coupe.
It was common practice, where I was anyway, to loop and roll almost anything that would fly. The fellows I bought my first Coupe from looped and rolled it over the field regularly, also two other Coupes on the field. If this was common elsewhere I'm sure it was a factor in those statistics. In the early part of that period, at least, these people didn't understand or appreciate Coupes and if they thought them unique it was not for positive reasons. They were cheap to buy. I share your concerns over corrosion, particularly the intergranular and dissimilar metal type. Today this is not unique with the Coupe, I under- stand that it is a problem with other planes and the military. You mentioned the Luscombe, it's solid extruded wing spar has problems and I understand that the 150 fleet is experiencing problems, too. Fred W. expressed concern over the wing attachment fittings and you mentioned spars. As you point out, corrosion has been around a long time. But it's only in recent years that we've become concerned. Because the intergranular type has taken so long to develop, and as you say about corrosion,"it's sneaky and often hidden", we owe a lot to John Wright Sr. and those like him that I don't know, who have brought the problem so forcefully to our attention with their contributions to forums, Coupe Capers,etc. In the study I mentioned they included turbulence in weather-related accidents. which brings up another point. Coupes are flying heavier to-day because they are heavier. My ragwing was delivered at 815# and wound up at 917#, my metalwing at 937#. The gust load, and other G load, margins are less. So it's more important than ever to be alert to any weakening of the airframe structure from corrosion. I think it's a very healthy trend to-day for Coupers to be concerned about safety of the aircraft and the way it's flown. It's basic design is contemporary even to-day and it's airframe is relatively low-time. But it is an old airplane in years. With proper care, the awareness of potential problems, such as corrosion, and the wide dissemination of Coupe know-how through forums such as this, Coupe Capers, fly-in seminars and the growing number of web sites, I think Coupes will be flying safely a lot longer. Cliff......
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