flybynightkarmarepair wrote:

Various low aspect ratio designs have been flow since the twenties,
it's true. The Burnellis, the Spratt, the Fike designs. The Dyke Delta
is a low aspect double delta, with the main cabin airfoil shaped. But
true lifting bodies were basically unknown until the 1960's. John
McPhee wrote about one of them in "The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed". The the
Facetmobile is, IMHO, the most successful general aviaition true
lifting body design.


I've heard this stated several times, and always found it a bit strange.

What is it that makes the Facetmobile so successful? A single prototype
that crashed, vs the Dyke Delta that has had dozens flying and about
half a dozen currently airworthy. Why is the Dyke Delta not considered
a lifting body design? The fuselage provides the majority of the lift
at cruise, according to John Dyke and verified in XPlane (if that can be
considered any sort of verification).


--
This is by far the hardest lesson about freedom. It goes against
instinct, and morality, to just sit back and watch people make
mistakes. We want to help them, which means control them and their
decisions, but in doing so we actually hurt them (and ourselves)."