[S_A_P]

As others have said it’s not really the shape of the wing that matters. Some shapes work better but I’ve always thought of it as more of a fluid density problem. As you increase speed the wing is in contact with a larger mass of air which at some critical point becomes large enough to support the weight of the aircraft. After you hit that speed then you are just manipulating the air flow to steer the craft. Holding your hand out of the window at highway speeds really makes it feel more intuitive to me. Of course I could also be completely wrong here.

[civilized]

When you hold your hand outside the window of a car in motion, your hand is only pushed upwards if you incline it upwards. If you incline it downwards, it will be pushed down. This is the angle-of-attack effect and simply relies on the normal force of the air striking the hand. If the hand is inclined upwards, the normal force has an upward component, creating lift.