Editing Variable-sweep wing (section)

===Origins===
[[File:Three F-111s with different wing configurations.jpg|thumb|right |The [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark|F-111]] was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to be put into production. Shown are three [[List of General Dynamics F-111 aircraft operated by the Royal Australian Air Force|Australian F-111s]].]]
[[File:16 19 173 F111.jpg|thumb|[[F-111E]] on display at the [[Museum of Aviation (Warner Robins)|Museum of Aviation]], [[Robins AFB]], United States]]

The earliest use of variable sweep was to trim the aeroplane for level flight. The [[Westland-Hill Pterodactyl|Westland-Hill Pterodactyl IV]] of 1931 was a [[Tailless aircraft|tailless]] design whose lightly swept wings could vary their sweep through a small angle during flight.<ref>Meekcoms and Morgan 1994, p. 143.</ref> This allowed longitudinal trim in the absence of a separate horizontal stabiliser.<ref>Lukins A H, ''The Book of Westland aircraft'', Aircraft (Technical) Publications Ltd.</ref> The concept would later be incorporated in Barnes Wallis's wing-controlled aerodyne.<ref name=BW/>

During the [[Second World War]], researchers in [[Nazi Germany]] discovered the advantages of the swept wing for transonic flight, and also its disadvantages at lower speeds. The [[Messerschmitt Me P.1101]] was an experimental [[Jet engine|jet]] [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] which was, in part, developed to investigate the benefits of varying wing sweep.<ref name= "Christopher 15760">Christopher 2013, pp. 157–160.</ref> Its sweep angle mechanism, which could only be adjusted on the ground between three separate positions of 30, 40, and 45 degrees, was intended for testing only, and was unsuitable for combat operations.<ref name="Christopher 15760"/> However, by [[Victory in Europe Day]], the sole prototype was only 80 per cent complete.<ref name = "ger res 336">Hirschel, Prem and Madelung 2012, p. 336.</ref><ref name= "Ford 224">Ford 2013, p. 224.</ref>