Today In History:  18 September  [1948]   --  First flight of the Convair XF-92, the world's first delta-winged airplane

The Convair XF-92A was powered by a Allison J33-A turbojet engine with an afterburner, and was unique in having America’s first delta wing. The delta wing’s large area, thin airfoil cross section, low weight, and structural strength gave this design a great potential for a supersonic airplane.

Very slow landing speeds could be achieved, at the cost of extremely nose-high landing angles and the resulting poor visibility. The combination of good high-speed and low-speed characteristics was very difficult to achieve for other planforms. Although the XF-92 itself was not liked, the design concept clearly had promise and the delta wing was used on several Convair designs through the 1950s and 1960s.

PHOTO: This NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station photograph of the XF-92A was taken around 1953 near Edwards Air Force Base.
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Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia.