Neil Burgess Jr.

Neil Burgess Jr. (August 2, 1918 – April 20, 1997) was a leading American aircraft propulsion engineer and designer. Working at General Electric with Gerhard Neumann, they won the 1958 Collier Trophy for their work on the General Electric J79 turbojet engine which powered the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.

Biography Born Neil Burgess Junior on 2 August 1918 to Roy Neil Burgess and Lucia L. Payne of Melrose, Massachusetts. He started working for GE in the 1930s. Burgess earned a Masters in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939.

Collier Trophy F104G Awarded in 1958 to the USAF and industry team's co-development of the F-104 airframe by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed Skunk Works and J79 engine by Neil Burgess and Gerhard Neumann of General Electric. Also Maj Howard C Johnson, USAF, for world landplane altitude record and Capt Walter W Irwin, USAF, for world landplane speed record both in the F-104 with the J79 engine. Using the F-104, Major Johnson established a world land plane altitude record of 91,243 Feet; and Captain Irwin, established a world straightaway speed record of 1,404.09 miles per hour.