Ken Duffey wrote:
snip

CATOBAR, STOBAR, STOVL - but no CATOVL (AFAIK) ??

I agree about the B bit - why would you want to add 'But' ?? - you
don't say 'Short Take Off BUT Vertical Landing' - STOBVL do you ??

Ken

We used to talk about CV and STOVL when it came to embarked fast-jets
and everyone knew what was meant. Don't know who came up with the term
"STOBAR" but I suspect it was already being done before BAe (as was) got
all excited at the prospect of a "Navalised" EFA. Given that combat
aircraft used to get airborne from carriers for years without catapults,
the "S" in STOBAR would appear to mean "Ski-jump" in practice (otherwise
use the term "LWUT" - Like We Used To). As for the "B", I think this
comes under the "Law of acronyms" which says you get the acronym first
and explain it later, if forced to.

As for what you term CATOVL, you perhaps may recall the P1154RN, which
the RN wanted to cat launch (hence replacing the original P1154's
bicycle gear with a tricycle layout) but presumably would VL whenever
possible for embarked ops.