Dick, someone is going to have to advise all those Boeing and Airbus engineers that they've got it all wrong! All along they've been thinking flaps add lift. They've been adding all that extra weight, mechanical complexity and cost to airframes all these years building in flaps when you say it really doesn't create lift. What were they thinking! :^) Maybe we need to use a different angle here - if you can land slower with flaps, they must be adding lift right. After all, you're supporting the same weight at a lower air speed. Do they add drag? Of course flap deployment does - you're sticking more surface out into the airstream. You compensate by adding power. Simple physics says that you don't get something for nothing right. Dick, I'm no engineer, but I've been formally trained as an aircraft mechanic (for whatever that's worth), and we were taught flaps add both lift and drag. Makes sense I think. I think any credible book on aerodynamics will back this up. I'm betting that there's a few real aircraft engineers sitting in the wings (Tall Paul) smiling right now...

Dick - I'm watching you... ha, ha.