I believe they came up with spoiler for the reason it "spoils the airflow over a wing. Spoilers are located aft of a leading edge flap to increase drag and slow the aircraft down. Asssetially(sp?) it is a speed brake. How they relate that to a car, I have no idea. Infact I don't know if the spoilers came on cars or planes first. Think back to the days when they had little 3 in spoilers on trunks. However, just clarifying what aeronautical spoilers do. as for aleirons, They control roll among the horizontol axis, flaps control roll among the vertical axis along with the rudder. Lift is produced by the curveture of the wing and the airspeed(engine). The curve is normally lift compatable, assisted with the flap and leading edge flaps. Sorry to bore you but I am a f-16 crew chief in the air force, studying aeronautical engineering, and working on my pilots license. O ya "spoilers" are also known as slats! :wink:

 

Interesting...