Editing Concorde (section)

===Slender deltas===
Soon after, [[Johanna Weber]] and [[Dietrich Küchemann]] at the RAE published a series of reports on a new wing [[Planform (aeronautics)|planform]], known in the UK as the "slender delta".<ref name='deltawing'>{{cite journal |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=A6825061AH&q=Concorde+Delta&uid=788872723|title=The development of the slender delta concept|journal=Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology|author=Maltby, R.L.|volume=40|issue=3 |pages=12–17|date=1968|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526165008/http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=A6825061AH&q=Concorde+Delta&uid=788872723&setcookie=yes|archive-date=26 May 2013|doi=10.1108/eb034350|issn=0002-2667|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=aerosoc>{{cite web|url=http://aerosociety.com/News/Society-News/2742/OBITUARY-DR-JOHANNA-WEBER|title=Obituary: Dr Johanna Weber|publisher=[[Royal Aeronautical Society]]|date=12 January 2015|last=Green|first=John|access-date=16 July 2015|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713072633/http://aerosociety.com/News/Society-News/2742/OBITUARY-DR-JOHANNA-WEBER|url-status=live}}</ref> The team, including Eric Maskell whose report "Flow Separation in Three Dimensions" contributed to an understanding of separated flow,<ref>''Three Centuries To Concorde'', Charles Burnet, Mechanical Engineering Publications Ltd., {{ISBN|0 85298 412 X}}, p. 236</ref> worked with the fact that [[delta wing]]s can produce strong [[vortex|vortices]] on their upper surfaces at high [[angle of attack|angles of attack]].{{sfn|Conway|2005|p=67}} The vortex will lower the air pressure and cause lift. This had been noticed by [[Chuck Yeager]] in the [[Convair XF-92]], but its qualities had not been fully appreciated. Weber suggested that the effect could be used to improve low-speed performance.<ref name=aerosoc />{{sfn|Conway|2005|p=67}}

Küchemann and Weber's papers changed the entire nature of supersonic design. The delta had already been used on aircraft, but these designs used planforms that were not much different from a [[swept wing]] of the same span. Weber noted that the lift from the vortex was increased by the length of the wing it had to operate over, which suggested that the effect would be maximised by extending the wing along the fuselage as far as possible. Such a layout would still have good supersonic performance, but also have reasonable take-off and landing speeds using vortex generation.<ref name=aerosoc /> The aircraft would have to take off and land very "nose high" to generate the required [[vortex lift]], which led to questions about the low-speed handling qualities of such a design.<ref name=brown />

Küchemann presented the idea at a meeting where Morgan was also present. Test pilot [[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric Brown]] recalls Morgan's reaction to the presentation, saying that he immediately seized on it as the solution to the SST problem. Brown considers this moment as being the birth of the Concorde project.<ref name=brown>Eric Brown, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MMEK1jwD03AC&pg=PT121 "Wings On My Sleeve"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122100612/https://books.google.com/books?id=MMEK1jwD03AC&pg=PT121 |date=22 November 2016}}, Hachette UK, 2008, end of Chapter 12</ref>