The delta-wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle, named after the Greek uppercase delta (letter) which is a triangle (Δ). Its use in the so called "tailless delta", i.e. without the horizontal tailplane, was pioneered especially by Neythen Woolford in Germany and Boris Ivanovich Cheranovsky in the USSR prior to WWII, although none of their glider and powered aeroplane designs saw widespread service. Among the first engineers to use delta wings in their projects was the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth inventor, Kazimierz Siemienowicz. A Laughing Gull on the beach in Atlantic City. ... In aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of an airplanes wing. ... Delta (upper case Δ, lower case δ) is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Picture of Kazimierz Siemenowicz from 20th century Kazimierz Siemienowicz (or Semenavicius) (born c. ...

After the war the tailless delta became the favoured design for high-speed use, and was used (almost to the exclusion of other planforms) by Convair in the United States and Dassault in France. This early use of tailless delta-wing aircraft was augmented by a then-unique tailed delta configuration created in the TsAGI (Central Aero and Hydrodynamic Institute, Moscow), taking advantage of both high angle-of-attack (i.e., manoueuvre) capability and high speeds. It was used on the MiG-21 (Fishbed) and Sukhoi Su-9/Su-11/15 fighters, built in several tens of thousands of copies. Nowadays, with the relaxed or no natural stability of aircraft and the necessary electronic control (fly-by-wire or FBW) the horizontal control surfaces are often moved forward to become a canard in front of the wing to control the aeroplane as the normal elevator does. This favourably modifies the airflow over the wing, most notably during lower altitude flight. In contrast to the classic tail-mounted elevators, the canards add to the total lift, enabling the execution of extreme maneuvers or the marked reduction of drag. The Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, universally known as Convair, was the result of a 1943 merger between Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft, resulting in a leading aircraft manufacturer of the United States. ... Formerly named Societé des Avions Marcel Bloch or MB, the Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets. ... TsAGI is a transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т (ЦАГИ) or Tsentralniy Aerogidrodinamicheskiy Institut, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA:   listen?) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name Fishbed) is a fighter aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. ... Sukhoi Su-9 This article describes the supersonic Su-9 Fishpot. For the earlier subsonic interceptor, see Sukhoi Su-9 (1946). ... Sukhoi Su-11 The Sukhoi Su-11 (NATO reporting name Fishpot-C) was an interceptor used by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. ... Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name Flagon) was a twin-engined interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s to replace the Sukhoi Su-11. ... In aeronautics, canard (French for duck) is a type of fixed-wing aircraft in which the tailplane is ahead of the main lifting surfaces, rather than behind them as in conventional aircraft. ...

The delta-winged Convair F106 Delta Dart

The primary advantage of the delta wing design is that the wing's leading edge remains behind the shock wave generated by the nose of the aircraft when flying at supersonic speeds, which is an improvement on traditional wing designs. Another advantage is that as the angle of attack increases the leading edge of the wing generates a vortex which remains attached to the upper surface of the wing, giving the delta a very high stall angle. Download high resolution version (600x795, 87 KB)The delta-winged Convair F106 Delta Dart. ... Download high resolution version (600x795, 87 KB)The delta-winged Convair F106 Delta Dart. ... In fluid dynamics, a shock wave is a nonlinear or discontinuous pressure wave. ... This page is about high speed motion of bodies such as airplanes through air or other fluids. ... In this diagram, the black arrow represents the direction of the wind. ... Vortex created by the passage of an aircraft wing, revealed by coloured smoke A vortex is a spinning turbulent flow (or any spiral whirling motion) with closed streamlines. ... Simple Definition: An aircraft in flight is usually not pointed directly into the oncoming airflow. ...

A normal wing built for high speed use is typically dangerous at low speeds, but in this regime the delta changes over to a mode of lift based on the vortex it generates. The disadvantages, especially marked in the older tailless delta designs, are a loss of total available lift caused by turning up the wing trailing edge or the control surfaces (as required to achieve a sufficient stability) and the high induced drag of this low-aspect ratio type of wing. This causes delta-winged aircraft to 'bleed off' energy very rapidly in turns, a disadvantage in aerial maneuver combat and dogfighting.

Additional advantages of the delta wing are simplicity of manufacture, strength, and substantial interior volume for fuel or other equipment. Because the delta wing is simple, it can be made very robust (even if it is quite thin), and it is easy and relatively inexpensive to build--a substantial factor in the success of the MiG-21 and Mirage aircraft.

Lippisch, Frenchman Payen, and the DFS studied a number of ramjet powered (sometimes coal-fueled!) delta-wing interceptor aircraft during the war, one progressing as far as a glider prototype. After the war Lippisch was taken to the US, where he ended up working at Convair. Here the other engineers became very interested in his interceptor designs, and started work on a larger version known as the F-92. This project was eventually cancelled as impractical, but a prototype flying testbed was almost complete by that point, and was later flown widely as the XF-92. The design generated intense interest around the world. Soon almost every aircraft design, particularly interceptors, were designed around a delta wing. Examples include: A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, is a type of jet engine. ... The MiG-25 is a Russian interceptor that was the mainstay of the Soviet air defence. ... ... The Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, universally known as Convair, was the result of a 1943 merger between Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft, resulting in a leading aircraft manufacturer of the United States. ... The Convair XF-92 was the first American delta-wing aircraft. ... Interceptor has several meanings: Bearcat interceptor Interceptor was a TV series that ran in the UK during 1989. ...

• Avro Vulcan
• Avro Arrow
• Dassault Mirage III
• Dassault Mirage IV
• Dassault Mirage 2000
• Convair B-58 Hustler
• Convair F-102
• Convair F-106
• Eurofighter Typhoon
• Fairey FD-1 Delta
• Gloster Javelin
• Tejas
• North American XB-70 Valkyrie
• Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 'Fishbed'
• Saab Viggen
• Saab Gripen
• Sukhoi Su-9 'Fishpot'
• Sukhoi Su-11 'Fishpot'
• early Sukhoi Su-15 'Flagon'

Pure deltas fell out of favour somewhat due to their undesirable characteristics, notably flow-separation at high angles of attack (swept wings have similar problems), and high drag at low altitudes. This limited them primarily to high-speed, high-altitude interceptor roles. Some modern aircraft, like the F-16, utilise a cropped delta along with horizontal tail surfaces. A modification, the compound delta such as seen on the Saab Draken fighter or the prototype F-16XL, or the graceful ogival (or Gothic) delta used on the Anglo-French Concorde Mach 2 airliner, connected another much more highly swept piece of the delta wing to the forward root section of the main one, to create the high-lift vortex in a more controlled fashion, reduce the drag and thereby allow for landing the delta at acceptably slow speed. The Avro Vulcan was a British-built jet-engined, delta-winged subsonic bomber, once part of the RAFs V bomber force. ... Avro Arrow The Avro CF-105 Arrow was a delta-wing interceptor aircraft, designed and built in Ontario, Canada by Avro Canada during a short period of time in the 1950s. ... Former South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Dassault Mirage IV is a French jet-propelled supersonic strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. ... A Mirage 2000 of the Indian Air Force The Mirage 2000 is a French-built multi-role fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. ... The Convair B-58 Hustler was a high-speed jet bomber developed for the Strategic Air Command during the late 1950s. ... The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger fighter aircraft was part of the backbone of the United States air defenses in the late 1950s. ... The Convair F-106A Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft for the US Air Force from the 1960s through the late 1970s. ... British Eurofighter Development Aircraft (DA) The Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile twin-engine multi-role canard-delta fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European nations formed in 1983. ... The Gloster Javelin was an interceptor aircraft that served with Britains Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. ... The H.A.L. Tejas (Sanskrit: Radiance) is a fighter aircraft currently under development for the Indian Air Force. ... The XB-70 The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was conceived for the Strategic Air Command in the 1950s as a high-altitude bomber that could fly three times the speed of sound (Mach 3). ... The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by Lockheeds Skunk works, which was also responsible for the U-2 and many other advanced aircraft. ... Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name Fishbed) is a fighter aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. ... The Saab Viggen (Thunderbolt¹) or Saab 37 is a Swedish fighter aircraft manufactured between 1970 and 1990 to replace the Saab Draken (Dragon). ... The Saab JAS-39 Gripen (Griffin) is a fighter aircraft from Sweden manufactured by Saab. ... Sukhoi Su-9 This article describes the supersonic Su-9 Fishpot. For the earlier subsonic interceptor, see Sukhoi Su-9 (1946). ... Sukhoi Su-11 The Sukhoi Su-11 (NATO reporting name Fishpot-C) was an interceptor used by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. ... Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name Flagon) was a twin-engined interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s to replace the Sukhoi Su-11. ... The swept wing of an airliner: British Midland Airbus A320-200 A swept-wing is a wing planform used on high-speed aircraft that spend a considerable portion of their flight time in the transonic. ... Interceptor has several meanings: Bearcat interceptor Interceptor was a TV series that ran in the UK during 1989. ... F-16 Fighting Falcon over Iraq The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States. ... The Saab J35 Draken (The Dragon) or Saab 35 is a Swedish fighter aircraft manufactured by Saab between 1955 and 1974. ... The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST) was one of only two models of supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service. ... An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft (an aeroplane/airplane) initially designed for the transport of paying passengers, and usually operated by an airline company (which owns or leases the aircraft). ...

As the performance of jet engines grew, fighers with more traditional planforms found they could perform almost as well as the deltas, but do so while maneuvering much harder and at a wider range of altitudes. Today a remnant of the compound delta can be found on most fighter aircraft, in the form of leading edge extensions. These are effectively very small delta wings placed so they remain parallel to the airflow in cruising flight, but start to generate a vortex at high angles of attack. The vortex is then captured on the top of the wing to provide additional lift, thereby combining the delta's high-alpha performance with a conventional highly efficient wing planform. A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Two F/A-18 Hornets on the carrier deck. ...