The General Electric J79 was a turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter aircraft and bomber aircraft. It was one of the first US-designed engines to outperform designs from England, which had previously led in the jet field.
It was developed in the 1950s as an outgrowth of the J73 engine program, originally called J73-GE-X24A, intended for reliable Mach 2 performance. It was a single-shaft turbojet with a 17-stage compressor, with a novel arrangement of variable stator blades that allowed the engine to develop pressure similar to a two-stage engine at a much lower weight.
The J79 is about 17 feet (5.2 m) long, with a diameter of slightly over three feet (1 m) and a dry weight of 3,500 to 3,800 pounds (1,600 kg to 1,700 kg), depending on version. In later versions it produced up to 11,890 lbf (52.89 kN) dry and 18,730 lbf (83.40 kN) afterburning thrust.
The first flight of the engine was in 1955 where the engine was placed in the bomb bay of a J47-powered B-45. 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 testing was on 17 February 1956, on a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. It proved highly successful, although experience in the Vietnam War was to show the disadvantages of its smoky exhaust, particularly in afterburner. It enjoyed a production run of more than 30 years. 16,950 J79s were built in the United States and under license in Israel and Germany.
The J79 was used on the F-104 Starfighter, B-58 Hustler, F-4 Phantom II, A-5 Vigilante, IAI Kfir. A J79-powered version of the F-16 was developed for export, but not produced. A simplified civilian version, designated the CJ-805, powered the Convair 880 and Convair 990 airliners.
With the F-104 and F-4, the J79 made a unique howling sound at certain throttle settings. The sound is thought to be made as the airflow in the exhaust section of the engine is disturbed by the engine bypass flaps. This led some pilots to call the F-104 Howling Howland.
