Shouldn't jet engines be in front of the wing, not under it? It is after all air rushing over the wing/being redirected that produces lift.
Obviously this needs some work to deal with the heat et al.
(I am just brainstorming)
I suspect the exhaust gas from a jet engine is highly turbulent (i.e. swirling around) whereas a wing works best with laminar airflow (i.e. smooth and straight) to generate lift.
With laminar airflow the air passing over the top of the wing has to go faster than the air passing under the wing. The difference in speeds between the air over the top and the air unde the bottom creates a pressure differential (higher pressure under teh wing, lower pressure above the wing) which creates the effect of "lift".
I would be more worried about the 800 deg c exhaust gases going straight on to the fuel tank (wing)
I thought the air had to go faster over the top of the wing 'cos there's futher for it to travel in the same amount of time to keep up with the air under the wing (i.e. the wing has more 'camber' on the top).
I guess not.
Time to check out the Bernoulli effect on Wikipedia 
A better place to start is this one:
www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrong1.html
To answer the original question, if the jet exhaust flowed around the wing, then it would be a bit like carrying a big fan to blow on your windsurfer sail.
It's more efficient just to use the thrust directly, in the direction that you want, rather than blowing it in the wrong direction and then bending it with an airfoil.
Btw just to be perverse, there are a couple of planes that use jet exhaust and the coanda effect to direct the stream down and generate more lift. I'm at work otherwise I'd find a link...
Ah yes, this old chestnut again..
Bernoulli was not wrong. His equation is just mis-applied, as is Newtons.
From later on in the NASA stuff:
"When a gas flows over an object, or when an object moves through a gas, the molecules of the gas are free to move about the object; they are not closely bound to one another as in a solid. Because the molecules move, there is a velocity associated with the gas. Within the gas, the velocity can have very different values at different places near the object. Bernoulli's equation, which was named for Daniel Bernoulli, relates the pressure in a gas to the local velocity; so as the velocity changes around the object, the pressure changes as well. Adding up (integrating) the pressure variation times the area around the entire body determines the aerodynamic force on the body. The lift is the component of the aerodynamic force which is perpendicular to the original flow direction of the gas. The drag is the component of the aerodynamic force which is parallel to the original flow direction of the gas. Now adding up the velocity variation around the object instead of the pressure variation also determines the aerodynamic force. The integrated velocity variation around the object produces a net turning of the gas flow. From Newton's third law of motion, a turning action of the flow will result in a re-action (aerodynamic force) on the object. So both "Bernoulli" and "Newton" are correct. Integrating the effects of either the pressure or the velocity determines the aerodynamic force on an object. We can use equations developed by each of them to determine the magnitude and direction of the aerodynamic force. "
Here's one link, not the one I was thinking of but it will do:
www.symscape.com/blog/air-blowing-applications
The front jet engines on an Ekranoplan can direct their exhaust nozzles toward the main wing, thus providing lift independently of forward speed to aid in lifting the giant vehicles clear of the water.
When googling this, on page two of the results I found my own post which I made a couple of hours ago! Yikes! Since when has google been that fast?
How come aircraft can fly inverted ? (upside down)
Why do paper airplanes fly ? (no airfoil)
Angle of attack ?
Poweeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
you must also rember that a "jet" engine say a turbofan or turbo shaft engine is not a reaction engine. like a rocket for eg. engine placment has many factors under over fwd aft of a flying surface and air flow is one of those but there are so many more rember that in some cases so of the exhaust is duct. or just shoot it out over the wing eg cessna conquests. fairchild metros or most helicopters
i don't care if they build them backwards with engines poking out sideways..... as long as they always stay up 
) it is all about a net turning of the gas (air flow) and conservation of energy. The airfoil shape (and Bernoulli's principles) has only a little to do with lift and probably more to do with effeciency and aerodynamics on planes. Although I suspect the foil shape has more influence at lower air speeds - ie sails and kites.
RC planes can fly knife edge for as long as the pilot can keep em there, even do knife edge loops.
Lifting body ?
Heaps o power to weight...
Snap a wing off, make an aproach in knife edge and level out just before touch down, has been done with success a few times.
Has even been done with a jet fighter as well, but it did'nt really need to knife edge cause of lifting body and smart computers taking over.
Hey Raggy been to see the girls up north lately 
Does this mean I should hack into the finbox and reset it at 4 degrees to get super-early planing? Would I still sail straight or would the board travel 4 degrees sideways?
Of course, it'll then be a bugger on the opposite tack.
For you rocket scientists I'm only being semi-serious
what is even more impressive IMHO is helicopters flying upside down. having to reverse collective pitch completely (angling blades the 'wrong' way) in an instant and doing it just the right amount is amazing.
watching 3D flying of RC heli's just does my head in when you realise what they are doing.... how fast they are doing it... and the extreme fine control req'd
I'm not sure if anyone does it with planes, but there could be advantages in funneling some of the flow from the back of the jet over, or out of, the top side of the wing.
As this could energize the boundary layer and delay stalling.
F1 teams did a similar thing a few years back with the exits of their exhaust.
They funneled them out through the diffuser.
However they worked out that this was not the best solution.
The diffusers were more effective.
But it meant that the aerodynamic balance changed in relation to throttle application.
Which isn't ideal if you get off the throttle mid way through a high speed corner!
^ Were they ever allowed to change the wings "in-flight", as in trim them for the straights? This could be as simple as trimming based on how much the steering wheel is turned.
I see they've changed the rules again:
