D is for the Delta Wing

The Delta wing is a is a wing platform named mainly by its resemblance to the Greek letter Delta.  The Delta wing is used in a few different types of aircraft around the world, one of them being the the B-2 Bomber I talked about in a prior post.  The Delta wing has a few advantages over the traditional wing type, for starters the wing allows the most lift possible for the air frame. It also performs very well at high speeds, which is why the SR-71 Blackbird utilized the delta wing.



Notice how this airplane has no central vertical stabilizer?  This is another advantage to this design.  Without a vertical stabilizer, an aircraft has a smaller profile making it harder to detect on enemy radar.  Lastly, without boring you with aerodynamics, the wing design allows the aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds while keeping the airflow over the wing below supersonic.

Although the Delta wing has many great properties, there are a few cons on this list.  For starters, while at a low airspeed (takeoff/landing) the airplane becomes unstable, making it vulnerable to stall.  When a delta wing stalls, it is usually a deep stall which can render the aircraft uncontrollable.  The only thing the pilot can do in this situation is point the nose down and hope there is enough altitude between you and the ground to regain enough airflow over the wing to lift the aircraft back up... Or the pilot has to bail the aircraft.  Another con to this list is that in order to maintain the delta wing, the aircraft cannot have a large operating space.  meaning commercial passenger jets in this design are still far far away.