Why Do Backwards Wings Exist?

Most importantly: They look really cool..

YouTube: Why backwards wings? Me at 3:53am: I must find out immediately

this video made me realize how much i liked planes as a pre-teen...something i had forgotten about as an adult. so thanks for that!

Ace Combat Devs: *watches video* Also Ace Combat Devs: I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that

Fun fact: The X-29 didn't just have 3 redundant flight computers, they were also each programmed by a different team so they would have different software bugs. The idea is, at any given moment, at least 2 of the 3 computers would agree on how to adjust the control surfaces, and the disagreeing computer would be voted-down until the next set of attitude measurements came in from the sensors. This is standard practice in military avionics nowadays.

I love how like 10% of how a wing works was explained in the 4th grade, and then you never hear about it again until youtube comes out.

I used to think some of Starscream's alt modes that had reverse wings were just nonsense sci-fi designs but now thinking about it a sentient plane that could control every flight surface like a limb actually makes sense

Came here to learn about backwards wings. Instead learned how to make better forwards wings on KSP.

Me looking at title and thumbnail: “So the planes can go backwards, duh”

The X-29 no matter how short lived, was a beautiful aircraft.

Me: Also me: I don't need sleep, I need answers!

Engineers at Boeing "Ummm...because it looks cool?" NASA ".......WE'LL TAKE A THOUSAND!"

Germany at the time must’ve used the research_all command in console

Cause it looks cool? Duh!

As someone who is building planes in Kerbal Space Program, there where a few things to learn here that explain certain things. Good stuff!

The X-29 was noteworthy in the way that was designed from an existing airframe to minimize costs. The fuselage is basically an F-5 Freedom Fighter with the engine from a F-18 Hornet.

I guess it's about time to fire up kerbal space program again.

More like: 100% control sensitivity

I personally find the X-29 to look kinda goofy, but the Su-47 is my all-time favourite fighter jet even if its exists more so in research papers and blueprints than it does the sky. Forward swept wings have always been so fascinating to me, thank you for clearly and concisely explaining how they work.

Awesome video! I have piece of information Id like to add about the P-38. The hydraulics on the P-38 had enough advantage to be able to overcome any aerodynamic stiffening, so that was not the issue. The airflow separation that came from main wing by exceeding the max mach number caused the tails control surface to be caught in a "vacuum". With the hydraulic boosted controls the pilot would have been capable of full elevator deflection, but he lack of air flow over the control surface would make it too ineffective to change the pitch of the aircraft. The only time the P-38 could reach these speeds was when it entered a dive, so if this mach number was reached in the dive to cause the shock wave to form, then there would be almost nothing the pilot could do to regain control as he would be stuck in the dive, unable to pull up with the now useless elevator. From colder (higher) dives the speed of sound is slower, so most of the time get out of the high altitude dive would be that the higher temperatures at lower altitudes would raise the mach number enough to get them out of trans-sonic speeds and regain elevator authority. You can actually find experimental P-38 with an up curved tail boom to try and keep the elevator clear of the "vacuum area", but it proved to be too weak of a structure. The Germans, with there hydraulically advanced aircraft, would eventually figure this out and used this knowledge to be able to escape by diving, knowing the P-38 would not be able to follow them in the dive. Where as the Japanese Zeros did not have hydraulic assistance, so they too were unable to enter a high speed dive, but for the reason of aerodynamic stiffening, so the P-38 dominated the sky where the enemy fighters had no way out.