“The pat answer is pressure difference causes lift and the plane achieves loft.”
That’s Bernoulli at work causing the low pressure on the top of the wing. If angle of incidence was zero Bernoulli would not be enough to get the aircraft off the ground.
By setting the angle of incidence between one to six degrees it creates enough deflection of the air against the bottom of the wing to pick up where Bernoulli leaves off.
Indeed. I once got into a discussion with someone who challenged by assertion that I could build a plane with NO airfoil at all, just a plank with an angle of attack of about 55 and it would fly.
He laughed at my ignorance of things aeronautical - until I took one of my RC models and fitted it out with a totally flat wing; a slab of balsa, it was, and flew it in front of him.
Indeed, most wing shaping is done in the pursuit of drag reduction and controllability.
He who laughs last laughs best.