Fred the Red Shirt schreef:
Sorry, Google won't let me post this as a follow-up.

In the broadest sense, the reynolds number is a measure of the
degree of turbulence. A low reynolds number corresponds to
laminar flow while a high reynolds number corresponds to turbulent
flow. However, as turbulence is fundamentally a chaotic
phenomenon, it is possible to maintain laminar flow at a higher
reynolds number until a perturbation initiates the turbulence.

The reynolds number is important for determining boundary layer
separation, drag and convective heat transfer coefficients.

Thank you Fred, this is the brief yet comprehensive description I was
after. It explains why there are various RN values at various positions
along the wing chord - which was much of my initial bewilderment.