FA2 Sea Harrier Launches from HMS Illustrious MOD 45139505

A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air Aircraft, flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate Lift (force), lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the wing configuration, shape of ...

that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The formal

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

definition (since 1991) is: On aircraft carriers, non-catapult-assisted, fixed-wing short takeoffs are accomplished with the use of thrust vectoring, which may also be used in conjunction with a runway "

ski-jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

". There are currently 14 aircraft carriers that operate these STOVL aircraft (United States United Kingdom Italy and Spain . Use of STOVL tends to allow aircraft to carry a larger payload compared to vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), while still only requiring a short runway. The most famous examples are the

Hawker Siddeley Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British military aircraft. It was the first of the Harrier series of aircraft and was developed in the 1960s as the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeoff and ...

and the Sea Harrier. Although technically VTOL aircraft, they are operationally STOVL aircraft due to the extra weight carried at take-off for fuel and armaments. The same is true of the F-35B Lightning II, which demonstrated VTOL capability in test flights but is operationally a STOVL.

History

In 1951, the Lockheed XFV and the

Convair XFY Pogo The Convair XFY Pogo was an experiment in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) tail-sitter. The Pogo had delta wings and three-bladed contra-rotating propellers powered by a turboprop engine. It was intended to be a high-performance fighter ai ...

tailsitters were both designed around the

Allison YT40 Allison may refer to: People * Allison (given name) * Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer Companies * Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...

turboprop engine driving contra-rotating propellers. The British

Hawker P.1127 The Hawker P.1127 and the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 are the British experimental and development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first ''vertical and/or short take-off and landing'' (V/STOL) jet fighter-bomber. Develo ...

took off vertically in 1960, and demonstrated conventional take-off in 1961. It was developed into the

which flew in 1967. In 1962, Lockheed built the

XV-4 Hummingbird The Lockheed XV-4 Hummingbird (originally designated VZ-10) was a U.S. Army project to demonstrate the feasibility of using VTOL for a surveillance aircraft carrying target-acquisition and sensory equipment.U.S. Army. It sought to "augment" available thrust by injecting the engine exhaust into an ejector pump in the fuselage. First flying vertically in 1963, it suffered a fatal crash in 1964. It was converted into the XV-4B Hummingbird for the U.S. Air Force as a testbed for separate, vertically mounted lift engines, similar to those used in the

Yak-38 Forger The Yakovlev Yak-38 (russian: Яковлев Як-38; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was the Soviet Naval Aviation's only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It w ...

. That plane flew and later crashed in 1969.Jim Winchester, ''X-Planes and Prototypes'', Barnes and Noble Books The Ryan XV-5 Vertifan, which was also built for the U.S. Army at the same time as the Hummingbird, experimented with gas-driven lift fans. That plane used fans in the nose and each wing, covered by doors which resembled half garbage can lids when raised. However, it crashed twice, and proved to generate a disappointing amount of lift, and was difficult to transition to horizontal flight. Of dozens of

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...

and V/STOL designs tried from the 1950s to 1980s, only the subsonic

and

reached operational status, with the Forger being withdrawn after the fall of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Rockwell International built, and then abandoned, the Rockwell XFV-12 supersonic fighter which had an unusual wing which opened up like window blinds to create an ejector pump for vertical flight. It never generated enough lift to get off the ground despite developing 20,000 lbf of thrust. The French had a nominally Mach 2 Dassault Mirage IIIV fitted with no less than 8 lift engines that flew (and crashed), but did not have enough space for fuel or payload for combat missions. The German EWR VJ 101 used swiveling engines mounted on the wingtips with fuselage mounted lift engines, and the VJ 101C X1 reached supersonic flight (Mach 1.08) on 29 July 1964. The supersonic Hawker Siddeley P.1154, which competed with the Mirage IIIV for use in NATO, was cancelled even as the aircraft were being built.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

uses the abbreviation SSTOVL for Supersonic Short Take-Off / Vertical Landing, and as of 2012, the X-35B/ F-35B are the only aircraft to conform with this combination within one flight.Cavas, Christopher P
"F-35B STOVL fighter goes supersonic."
'' Marine Corps Times'', 15 June 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010. The experimental Mach 1.7

Yakovlev Yak-141 The Yakovlev Yak-141 (russian: Яковлев Як-141; NATO reporting name "Freestyle"), also known as the Yak-41, is a Soviet supersonic vertical takeoff/landing (VTOL) fighter aircraft designed by Yakovlev. It was used for testing. Design ...

did not find an operational customer, but similar rotating rear nozzle technology is used on the F-35B. The F-35B Lightning II entered service on 31 July 2015. Larger STOVL designs were considered, the Armstrong Whitworth AW.681 cargo aircraft was under development when cancelled in 1965. The Dornier Do 31 got as far as three experimental aircraft before cancellation in 1970. Although mostly a VTOL design, the

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...

has increased payload when taking off from a short runway.V-22 Osprey Pocket Guide
. Bell Boeing, 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stovl STOL aircraft VTOL aircraft Types of take-off and landing