Aerodynamics: A Discipline Swept Away?

This contribution is based on the Lanchester Lecture of the Royal Aeronautical Society held in Manchester, UK, in October 2009. The lecture reflected on further possible perspectives for aeronautical research, in particular with respect to aerodynamics. The air transport system of today has matured to very high performance and safety standards. However, due to the ongoing global developments of economy and ecology, new challenges have to be faced. Thus, the relevance of all engineering aeronautical disciplines contributing to the final aircraft configuration is now closely scrutinised, and especially aerodynamics is challenged whether any investment in further research is still justified. In this contribution, it is argued that, when carefully exploited, aerodynamics still offers a substantial technological perspective, well beyond the concepts for the next generation of aircraft as currently being pursued. As an example, the aerodynamics of a forward swept-wing are discussed and it is outlined that, when combining the transonic characteristics of a forward swept-wing with the advantages of natural laminar-flow, considerable improvements in efficiency may be gained. However, this potential may only be leveraged through a strategic, long-term orientation of fundamental and applied research.