No worries gr8, my fault for not bothering to read the title of the thread before wading in!
Though I'm not sure I completely agree with your comment about the swept/supercritical wing design.
I know of a couple of examples where a supercritical wing is used with a pretty straight profile. The problem with highly swept wings in terms of design mean they can be bl##dy awkward to implement. The supercritical section allows you to use a far straighter wing than would otherwise be necessary for a given critical mach number, eliminating a lot of the structural/design problems related to the swept design. These include the necessity to make the wing root very strong due to the high torsional loads related to having the centre of pressure far aft of where the wing is fixed to the body. Also in many cases with highly swept wings a single wing spar is not possible, the wing spars have to join at an angle in the middle of the fuselage. This gives rise to all sorts of problems with joining of spars etc.
The supercritical wing profile will often mean that the sweep can be significanlty reduce whilst maintaining a required critical mach number and delaying the onset of shockwave induced boundary layer separation. This then makes the designers job a whole lot easier, and reduces overall streses on the airframe, meaning the weight can often be reduced giving a more efficient airframe.
There we go, three novello's for the enlightenment of the curious now.. Ever wish you'd never asked?
