Thank you, Sammy Su.
As to the official name of a though deck cruiser's ski jump, if the USN had one of those, NAVAIR would call it something inscrutable.
The basic purpose of the ramp, or rose by any other name-- is it to increase the aircraft's angle of attack? ... Rather similar functional effect to the old F-8 Crusader's Variable Incidence Wing. This was a high wing fighter with a jackscrew mechanism to pitch the wing's angle of incidence up from the fuselage during takeoff and landing.
Returning to the STOVL F-35, the rear exhaust nozzle probably stays horizontal during takeoff roll and rotation into flight.
Maybe the lift fan supplies just enough thrust at the appropriate angle as the aircraft departs the deck to pitch the aircraft up to a higher angle of attack, while the rear nozzle stays horizontal?
Last edited by Modern Elmo; 24th Jul 2011 at 02:49.