Anderson and Eberhardt seem to me to have given by far the best
exposition of the core of the matter in all of the immensely long
history of this thread. The posts have often dissolved into long debates
about clearly minor side issues.
It has always seemed clear to me that -- idealizing by ignoring small
corrections -- the lift of the plane is exactly analogous to a small
speedboat riding on the surface of the water ("planing" as we called it)
when it achieves enough speed. When one rides in such a boat, as I have
countless times, one immediately feels the change when the boat stops
floating by displacement and starts planing. The boat rises out of the
water and the resistance to forward motion abruptly drops. It is clear
that this is caused by a 3rd law effect, where water is driven downwards
and the boat is raised by the reaction force.
J. Epstein