Talk:General Dynamics–Boeing AFTI/F-111A Aardvark

A fact from General Dynamics–Boeing AFTI/F-111A Aardvark appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 24 July 2020 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that instead of using standard control surfaces, the AFTI/F-111A Aardvark research aircraft (pictured) had an adaptive wing that could change its airfoil shape for inflight control?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2020/July. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/General Dynamics–Boeing AFTI/F-111A Aardvark.

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Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 20:56, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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AFTI/F-111A in flight

... that the Mission Adaptive Wing of the General Dynamics–Boeing AFTI/F-111A Aardvark (pictured) was inspired by birds? Source: "Birds do it better: their wings can change shape in smooth curves exactly adapted to each flight condition. For many years aerodynamicists have wished to do the same ... Fortunately, the AFFDL found $20 million, and a contract for a pair of almost totally new wings was awarded to, of all people, the losing TFX finalist, Boeing-Wichita." (The Great Book of Modern Warplanes, ISBN 0-517-63367-1, page 325)

Created/expanded by ZLEA (talk). Self-nominated at 14:35, 25 June 2020 (UTC).[reply]

While it is over 1,500 characters of prose, some of this is the lead which is uncited and contains information not present throughout the rest of the article. I suspect there is room to expand as the current article doesn't really explain what the project is. I suspect it is more understandable with some implicit knowledge, but the average reader will lack this.

On the hook, the current content is too general. Surely the majority of wings are inspired by birds? CMD (talk) 15:37, 18 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@ZLEA and Chipmunkdavis: If this could be cited in the article (instead of just being mentioned in the lede without a reference), this might work:

ALT1 ... that instead of using standard control surfaces, the F-111A Ardvark research aircraft (pictured) had an adaptive wing that could change its airfoil shape for inflight control?

My main concern is both that this hook is a little on the long side, along with the fact that it might be a too technical for readers who are unfamiliar with aviation terms, but nothing else in the article strikes me as "hooky" so some variation of this direction seems to be the only reasonable option I could think of. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 07:12, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Chipmunkdavis Narutolovehinata5 I've sourced and added to the body of the article the content in question. As for ALT1, it works with the source provided, but like you said, it might be a bit too technical for most readers. However, I think it is fine the way it is because the technical terms are linked. - ZLEA _T\^C 13:12, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think the detail on birds helps explain the technicalities in the article itself. I'm fine with ALT1, and it seems the most hooky part of the article. On the article however, could you take another look at the lead ZLEA? The first sentence is essentially a rewording of the article title. It should say that it's a modified F-111 plane, or an experimental plane, or something similar as a first sentence. A simpler statement about what the subject actually is. CMD (talk) 13:34, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Chipmunkdavis Done. I would like to point out a mistake in ALT1, "F-111A Aardvark" is the wrong designation. Here's the corrected version:

ALT2 ... that instead of using standard control surfaces, the AFTI/F-111A Ardvark research aircraft (pictured) had an adaptive wing that could change its airfoil shape for inflight control?

ZLEA _T\^C 15:12, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I added the same wikilinks to the article. As a note, when editing DYK templates try to keep the closing template line at the bottom, for the bots.

ALT2. CMD (talk) 15:50, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

How?

If it can change the aspects of its wings, what is the mechanism for it? like a flexible metal sleeve over the actuators or something else. idk I'm just asking, as the article doesn't do a good job of explaining that. Cheers! <3 Taffy boeing b 17 (talk) 18:34, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't recall any sources mentioning the exact mechanism. They might have considered such information to be too technical for the average reader. - ZLEA _T\^C 23:22, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

aww... :( oh well. (I wana know!!) thx. Cheers! <3 Taffy boeing b 17 (talk) 17:50, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]