Fuselage Panels : Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division

The company’s facility in Hawthorne, Calif., has produced Boeing 747 fuselage panels since the aircraft program began in 1966.  Since that time, Hawthorne workers have delivered over 1,400 fuselage ship sets, including those for Air Force One. This fuselage section is 172 feet long.  Each shipset has 21 major side and door panels delivered to Boeing in six custom, oversized railcars.  The fuselage is the largest single subcontracted section of the aircraft. The company’s Marshall Street facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, produces 747 fuselage panels as well, includes five upper and three lower "bonnet" panels along with 90 to 130 floor beams per ship set.

For the 787 Dreamliner, Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division was responsible for engineering and building the first 19 aft fuselage sections for the program. The company sold its 787 operations to Boeing in South Carolina in July 2009 but remains a supplier to the program, providing various 787 fuselage components and engineering support services.

Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division also produces fuselage structures for helicopters. In 2005 the company entered into its first contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to manufacture cabin structures for variants of BLACK HAWK helicopters. Three years later, the company was awarded a multi-year contract with Sikorsky covering the production of cabins for UH-60L, M and MH-60S variants through the year 2012. Planning and manufacturing for the BLACK HAWK structures is done at Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division’s Dallas and Milledgeville facilities.