Talk:Elliptical wing

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Rounded tips

I don't believe the 109 family has ellliptical wings. An elliptical wing is not the same thing as rounded wingtips which is what 109's have. Spitfire and P-47 are the best known aircraft with elliptical wings. - Emt147 ^Burninate! 05:40, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

ellipse wing?

What about these?

That's an annular wing, which is a completely different animal. Nibios (talk) 18:07, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notability

Is this topic notable? The elliptical lift distribution probably is, but an elliptical planform is not the way to achieve that. Rather, it is often an accident of design, arising arbitrarily from other constraints - for example on the Supermarine Spitfire it was a late-breaking bodge to make room for an extra machine gun on each side. If its notability cannot be verified, then this article should be AfD-ed. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 20:16, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, not the most heated discussion I have ever got involved in. Anyway, I now think there is enough reliable source material around this topic to make it notable (note to self: go and dig some of it out). — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 20:02, 26 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that elliptical lift distribution and constant downwash are very significant in the science of fixed-wing aircraft, but elliptical wing planform is less so. Something that has long puzzled me is that so many authors write about the aircraft that supposedly have an almost-elliptical wing planform. Clearly they overlook that the presence of a fuselage represents a significant departure of the planform from the elliptical.

I also might be able to find something reliable and published to cite as a source. Dolphin (t) 11:53, 27 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Yes the association between theory and practice is often tenuous. The fandom aspect appears based more on aesthetics and folklore than good science, but in the end the fact that so many folks do write about it means that we should too. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 12:17, 27 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]