Hal,

Some thoughts...

For low Mach number flow, there is very little air/fluid compression. Bodies moving through water (which is nearly incompressible) can generate plenty of lift. I think your explanation comes closer to explaining how supersonic airfoils generate lift.

I will bore you with my best shot at a simple explanation for lift generation...
Few people have trouble understanding what makes a helicopter fly. Like a fan turned on its side, a helicopter rotor pushes down on the air, and the air pushes back up. In technical terms, a helicopter in 1 g flight imparts momentum to the air at a rate proportional to its weight (assuming it is well out of ground effect). An airplane is really no different. The wings push down on the air and the air pushes back up. I think it's really that simple. Magical qualities are often attributed to airfoil shapes, but anyone who has ever stuck their hand out of a car window knows that shape really isn't all that important in creating lift (ultimately, the shape of an airfoil does become very important, but for only issues of efficiency and lifting capacity).

Understanding the details generating lift in order to make accurate predictions often becomes very involved. My opinion is that the complex details often complicate an otherwise intuitive phenomenon. My two cents.