I hate to go back several pages, but I still have a basic question about the lift generation when the AoA was more moderate.
When not generating vortex lift, was the airflow attached over both the upper and lower wing surface?
The mental picture I have is that during supersonic flight and also during subsonic but high-IAS phases, the wing was generating lift in a way Newton and Bernoulli would have immediately recognized. As the IAS decreased and AoA increased, the vortex started at the leading edge, and gradually grew in both size and contribution to overall lift until the vortex (or vortices) accounted for all the lifting force.