Answering, ‘How does an aircraft fly?’ must surely be rated as being as awkward a subject to broach as ‘Where do I come from?’ Only that when you’ve finished the latter question it’s not followed by any more.
Our technology correspondent’s article in the Telegraph reads just like most of the rest of the articles about aircraft, (aircraft accidents especially) published in newspapers; apparently definitive yet lacking substance.
I like Gail M. Craig's explanation in his book ‘Stop Abusing Bernoulli! How Airplanes Really Fly.’, Regenerative Press, Anderson, Indiana, 1997),
Here's a
précis at:
http://www.geocities.com/galemcraig/
Another really nice explanation with good diagrams along the same lines as G. Craig by some well qualified physicist working at some windy tunnel in Batavia IL and his mate, an associate Prof. at the University of Washington at:
http://www.aa.washington.edu/courses/aa101/paper.pdf