IN OCTOBER 1942, the first US jet aircraft — the Bell P—59 Airacomet — took to the air powered by twin General Electric 1—A jet engines. This flight marked the birth of the Jet Age in the United States. During the 1940's, General Electric continued to play the leading role in the development of flight propulsion technology with a series of high‐performance designs, based on the J47. In the 1950's, the J79 and J93 engines embraced variable stator technology for optimized performance. The air‐cooled GE1 engine family of the 1960's built upon this experience, permitting improved thrust‐to weight ratios, and marked the beginning of truly economical jet propulsion systems. Military, Commercial, Marine and Industrial powerplants in the 1970's — based on TF39 and CF6 high bypass turbofan technology — will develop more propulsion power at lower costs, with less maintenance than any other previous generation of engines. And these same GE engines incorporate no smoke and low noise designs to help make tomorrow's aircraft better neighbours.
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