Trapezoidal wing

A trapezoidal wing is a straight-edged and tapered wing planform. It may have any aspect ratio and may or may not be swept. A trapezoidal wing is a straight-edged and tapered wing planform. It may have any aspect ratio and may or may not be swept. The thin, unswept, short-span, low-aspect-ratio trapezoidal configuration offers some advantages for high-speed flight and has been used on a small number of aircraft types. In this wing configuration the leading edge sweeps back and the trailing edge sweeps forward. It can provide low aerodynamic drag at high speeds, while maintaining high strength and stiffness, and was used successfully during the early days of supersonic aircraft. Any wing with straight leading and trailing edges and with differing root and tip chords is a trapezoid, whether or not it is swept. The area A of such a trapezoidal wing may be calculated from the span s, root chord cr and tip chord ct: The wing loading w is then given by the lift L divided by the area: