Of every fifth-generation stealth fighter flying anywhere in the world today, such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, the F-35A, the F-35B, the F-35C, Russia's Sukhoi Su-57, and China's Chengdu J-20, just one of them can land on a closed stretch of public highway, refuel, rearm, and take off again without a single piece of arrestor gear, a prepared runway surface, or thousands of feet of paved length. That aircraft is the F-35B, and the reason it can do this traces back to a single piece of engineering, the shaft-driven lift fan, that came so close to sinking the entire…