General Electric J79 The General Electric J79 is an axial - flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft . The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States , and under license by several other companies worldwide A simplified civilian version , designated the CJ805 , powered the Convair 880 , while an aft - turbofan derivative , the CJ805 - 23 , powered the Convair 990 airliners and a single Sud Aviation Caravelle intended as a prototype for the US market . Development . The J79 was developed in the 1950s as an outgrowth of the General Electric J73 engine program , originally called J73 - GE - X24A , intended for reliable Mach 2 performance . The first flight of the engine was on 20 May 1955 where the engine was placed in the bomb bay of a J47 - powered B - 45C " ( 48 - 009 ) " . The J79 was lowered from the bomb bay and the four J47s were shut down leaving the B - 45 flying on the single J79 . The first flight after the 50 - hour qualification test was on 8 December 1955 , powering the second pre - production Douglas F4D Skyray , with the J79 in place of its original Westinghouse J40 engine as part of the General Electric development and qualification program . The YF - 104 was the next airplane to fly with the J79 followed by a re - engined Grumman F11F Tiger in a Navy - sponsored program to gain experience with the engine before the first flight of the F4H ( F - 4 ) . The J79 was used on the F - 104 Starfighter , B - 58 Hustler , F - 4 Phantom II , A - 5 Vigilante , and the IAI Kfir . It enjoyed a production run of more than 30 years . Over 17 , 000 J79s were built in the United States , and under license in Belgium , Canada , Germany , Israel , Italy , and Japan . A downgraded version of the F - 16 Fighting Falcon with a J79 was proposed as a low - cost fighter for export , and though a prototype aircraft was flown , it found no customers . The J79 was replaced by the late 1960s in new fighter designs by afterburning turbofans such as the Pratt & Whitney TF30 used in the F - 111 and F - 14 , and newer generation turbofans with the Pratt & Whitney F100 used in the F - 15 Eagle which offer better cruise fuel efficiency by moving unburned air around the core of the engine . For their part in designing the J79 , Gerhard Neumann and Neil Burgess of General Electric Aircraft Engines were jointly awarded the Collier Trophy in 1958 , also sharing the honor with Clarence Johnson ( Lockheed F - 104 ) and the U . S . Air Force ( Flight Records ) . Design . The J79 is a single - spool turbojet with a seventeen - stage compressor with a novel arrangement of variable stator blades which allow the engine to develop pressure similar to a twin - spool engine at a much lower weight . Each blade is made largely of stainless steel . Each blade today costs several thousand dollars to replace . The compressor blades are mounted on disks ( the first seven stages being made of titanium ) and spaced with corrosion - resistant ( not stainless ) steel spacers . In the F - 104 and the F - 4 , the J79 makes a particular howling sound at certain throttle settings . The sound is thought to be due to airflow in the exhaust section of the engine being disturbed by the engine bypass flaps . This strange feature led to the NASA operated F - 104B Starfighter , " N819NA " , being named " Howling Howland " . Early engines also produced noticible quantities of smoke , especially at mid - throttle / cruise settings , a disadvantage in a combat aircraft making them easier to visually spot . Later models were redesigned to be " smokeless " . The turboshaft counterpart to the J79 is the General Electric LM1500 , used for land and marine applications . Many J79 derived engines have found uses as gas turbine power generators in remote locations , in applications such as the powering of pipelines . The J79 has two commercial derivatives : CJ805 - 3 ( a non - afterburning engine , fitted with thrust reverser and sound suppressor ) , and the CJ805 - 23 ( with a free - wheeling aft fan and thrust reverser ) Most fitted to the Convair CV - 880 and the Convair CV - 990 . Land speed record cars Specifications ( J79 - GE - 17 ) . With air - start systems gas turbine engine compressor spools are rotated by the action of a large volume of compressed air acting directly on the compressor blades or driving the engine through a small , geared turbine motor .