Editing Delta wing (section)

===Early research===
Triangular stabilizing fins for rockets were described as early as 1529-1556 by the Austrian military engineer [[Conrad Haas]] and in the 17th century by the Polish-Lithuanian military engineer [[Kazimierz Siemienowicz]].<ref>{{cite web | trans-title = Corad Haas rocket pioneer in Transylvania | url = http://www.sibiweb.de/vip/haas/ | title = Corad Haas Raketenpionier in Siebenbürgen | work = Beruehmte Siebenbuerger Sachsen | publisher = Siebenbürgen und die Siebenbürger Sachsen im Internet | language = de | access-date = 2010-09-09 | archive-date = 2018-09-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180917161453/http://www.sibiweb.de/vip/haas/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/153410main_Rockets_History.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100119181932/http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/153410main_Rockets_History.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2010-01-19 | title = New Rocket Guide | publisher = NASA}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | first = Bolesław | last = Orłowski | title = Technology and Culture | volume = 14 | number = 3 |date=Jul 1973 | pages = 461–73 | publisher = JStor | doi = 10.2307/3102331 | jstor=3102331| s2cid = 113306514 }}.</ref> However, a true lifting wing in delta form did not appear until 1867, when it was [[patent]]ed by J.W. Butler and E. Edwards in a design for a low-aspect-ratio, dart-shaped rocket-propelled aeroplane. This was followed by various similarly dart-shaped proposals, such as a biplane version by Butler and Edwards, and a jet-propelled version by the Russian [[Nicholas de Telescheff]].<ref>Wragg, David W.; ''Flight Before Flying'', Osprey, 1974, pp. 87-88, 96.</ref> In 1909 a variant with a [[canard (aeronautics)|canard foreplane]] was experimented with by the Spanish sculptor Ricardo Causarás.<ref>[http://centenariaviacio.catedradr.com/site/upload/ficheros/d-09.pdf "El Aeroplano-Monoplano Causarás en la Presna de 1909"]. ''1909-2009 100 Anos de Aviacion Espanola''. Generalitat Valencia. 2002. Retrieved 17 April 2023.</ref><ref>[http://centenariaviacio.catedradr.com/site/upload/ficheros/d-04b.pdf Patent application 46026 "Aeroplano Monoplano Causarás"]. Ricardo Causarás. 1909. Retrieved 17 April 2023.</ref>

Also in 1909, British aeronautical pioneer [[J. W. Dunne]] patented his tailless stable aircraft with conical wing development. The patent included a broad-span biconical delta, with each side bulging upwards towards the rear in a manner characteristic of the modern [[Rogallo wing]].<ref>J.W. Dunne; ''Provisional Patent: Improvements Relating to Aeroplanes'', UK Patent No. 8118, Date of Application 5 April 1909. [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/espacenetDocument.pdf?ND=5&flavour=trueFull&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19100331&CC=GB&NR=190908118A Copy on Espacenet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001034352/https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?ND=5&flavour=trueFull&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19100331&CC=GB&NR=190908118A |date=2021-10-01 }}</ref> During the following year, in America U. G. Lee and W. A. Darrah patented a similar biconical delta winged aeroplane with an explicitly rigid wing. It also incorporated a proposal for a flight control system and covered both gliding and powered flight.<ref name="woodhams">Woodhams, Mark and Henderson, Graeme; "Did we really fly Rogallo wings?", ''Skywings'', June 2010.</ref><ref>Lee, U. G. and Darrah, H.; US patent 989,7896, filed 15 February 1910, granted 18 April 1911.</ref> None of these early designs is known to have successfully flown although, in 1904, Lavezzani's hang glider featuring independent left and right triangular wings had left the ground, and Dunne's other tailless swept designs based on the same principle would fly.<ref name="woodhams"/>

The practical delta wing was pioneered by German aeronautical designer [[Alexander Lippisch]] in the 1930s, using a thick cantilever wing without any tail. His first such designs, for which he coined the name "Delta", used a very gentle angle so that the wing appeared almost straight and the wing tips had to be cropped sharply (see below). His first such delta flew in 1931, followed by four successively improved examples.<ref name= secret>{{cite book | last = Ford| first= Roger| title= Germany's secret weapons in World War II| year= 2000| publisher= MBI Publishing | location = Osceola, WI | isbn=0-7603-0847-0|url=https://archive.org/details/germanyssecretwe0000ford | url-access = registration| quote = Lippisch.| edition =1st |page=[https://archive.org/details/germanyssecretwe0000ford/page/36 36]}}</ref><ref name=pop1931>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ESgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65 | title = New Triangle Plane Is Tailless | date = December 1931 | newspaper = Popular Science | page = 65 | access-date = 2016-10-10 | archive-date = 2014-06-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140627194855/http://books.google.com/books?id=ESgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65 | url-status = live }}.</ref> These prototypes were not easy to handle at low speed and none saw widespread use.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Madelung | first1 = Ernst Heinrich | last2 = Hirschel | first2 = Horst | last3 = Prem | first3 = Gero | title = Aeronautical research in Germany: from Lilienthal until today | year = 2004 | publisher = Springer | location = Berlin | isbn = 3-540-40645-X | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OoFcHOLpCskC&q=Lippisch%20Horten&pg=PA168 | edition = American | access-date = 2020-10-04 | archive-date = 2021-10-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211001034351/https://books.google.com/books?id=OoFcHOLpCskC&q=Lippisch+Horten&lpg=PA168 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Wohlfahrt |first1 = Karl |last2 = Nickel |first2 = Michael |title = Schwanzlose flugzeuge : ihre auslegung und ihre eigenschaften |year = 1990 |publisher = Birkhauser |trans-title = Tailless aircraft: their design & properties |location = Basel |isbn = 3-7643-2502-X |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=33fBLs7FhQ8C&q=Lippisch%20Horten&pg=PA577 |access-date = 13 February 2011 |pages = 577–78 |language = de |quote = [Lippisch Delta I and Horten H I] Both these aircraft shown, how not to do it. |archive-date = 1 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211001034351/https://books.google.com/books?id=33fBLs7FhQ8C&q=Lippisch+Horten&lpg=PA577 |url-status = live }}</ref>