In this paper, extensive experimental investigation of the heat transfer characteristics of jet impingement on a variable-curvature concave surface in a wing leading edge was conducted for aircraft anti-icing applications. The experiments were carried out over a wide range of parameters: the jet Reynolds number, Re-j, from 51,021 to 85,340, the relative tube-to-surface distance, H/d, from 1.736 to 19.76, and the circumferential angle of jet holes on the piccolo tube, theta, from -60 degrees to 60 degrees. In addition, jet impingements with single one, two and three rows of aligned jet holes were all investigated. Experimental results revealed the effects of various parameters on the performance and characteristics of jet impingement heat transfer in the specific structure adopted here, and our insufficient understanding on the corresponding physical mechanism was presented. It was found that the jet impingement heat transfer performance was enhanced with the increase of jet Reynolds number. For single one row of jet holes, an optimal H/d of 4.5 was determined under Re-j = 51,021 and d = 2 mm, for which the jet impingement achieved the best heat transfer performance. For two and three rows of aligned jet holes, the Nu(x) curves in the chordwise direction exhibited much different shapes due to different intensity of the interference between adjacent air jets. This work contributes to a better understanding of the jet impingement heat transfer on a concave surface in a wing leading edge, which can lead to optimal design of the aircraft anti-icing system. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.