after the 50-hour qualification test, required for a new engine that is the sole source of thrust for a flying testbed, 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, IAI Kfir and SSM-N-9 Regulus II supersonic cruise missile. It was produced for more than 30 years. Over 17,000 J79s were built in the US, 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 give better cruise fuel efficiency by-passing 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 US Air Force (Flight Records). Design The compressor blades and vanes are made of 403 stainless steel, except for the -3B and -7A variants, which have A286 vanes at stages 7 through 17. The compressor rotor is made of Lapelloy, B5F5 and titanium. The J79 makes a particular howling sound at certain throttle settings. This strange feature led to the NASA operated F-104B Starfighter, N819NA, being named Howling Howland. Early engines also produced noticeable quantities of smoke, especially at mid-throttle/cruise settings, a disadvantage in combat aircraft making them vulnerable to visual detection. 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 powering