Back جناح مجترف Arabic Ox formalı qanad Azerbaijani Стрэлападобнасць Byelorussian Ala en fletxa Catalan Šípové křídlo Czech Pfeilung German Οπισθόκλιση πτέρυγας Greek Ala en flecha Spanish بال خمیده Persian Nuolisiipi Finnish
A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Germany as early as 1935 by Albert Betz and Adolph Busemann, finding application just before the end of the Second World War. It has the effect of delaying the shock waves and accompanying aerodynamic drag rise caused by fluid compressibility near the speed of sound, improving performance. Swept wings are therefore almost always used on jet aircraft designed to fly at these speeds.
The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but variants include forward sweep, variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and the other back. The delta wing is also aerodynamically a form of swept wing.