  Recently, aerodynamics syllabi have changed in high schools, pilot ground
training, and even undergraduate physics. In contrast, there has been no change
in the basic theory taught to aeronautical or aerospace engineers. What has
changed is technology, both experimentally and computationally. The internet
and social media have also empowered citizen science such that the deficiencies
in the legacy physics education around flight and lift are well known. The
long-standing equal transit time (ETT) theory to explain lift has been proven
false. If incorrect, why was it ever taught? Through a historical analysis of
relevant fluid and aerodynamics literature, this study attempts to explain why
ETT theory is part of our collectively lower-level cognitive understanding of
lift and flight. It was found that in 1744 D'Alembert himself assumed this to
be a feature of moving fluids, and while this initial intuition (ETT 1.0) was
incorrect, the property of ETT (ETT 2.0) was derived in 1752 when applying
Newton's laws of motion to fluids. This incorrect result was independently
confirmed in 1757 by Euler! The conclusion is that an over simplified treatment
of fluids predicts ETT, along with no lift and drag. This then leads to the
open question, can ETT be taught at an appropriately low level as an
explanation for lift?
