mise en croix finale

08:53 May 13, 2020 

Firstly, thank you all for your help. In the end I decided to phone a friend who has worked and played with aircraft in both the UK and France for years. It turns out that there is indeed a term for this crucial stage in wing assembly... 'Marriage', who would have thought? https://www.arabianknightonline.com/Details/2633/First-Pilat... - I hope it may come in useful for somebody. I will see what I can come up with for the pun Phil :)

19:52 May 12, 2020 

In this case it would be cruciate Phil!

19:02 May 12, 2020 

I don't think your wordplay is going to work, not least because most people won't know that cross and crucial share the same root. But I'd love to be proved wrong :-)