[2] In 1943 he married Evelyn Ruth Lent (1922-2000) and they had five children: Cynthia, Mark Neil, Susan, Nancy, and Wendy.

The J79 was the first engine to exceed Mach 2, Burgess and Neumann solved the problems of rapid acceleration without compressor stall while maintaining reliability and lower fuel consumption over a wide speed range.

They reduced compressor stalls by developing the J79's revolutionary "variable stator" that fine-tunes air compression at the engine inlet.

The J79 started test runs in June 1954 and flew on the F-104 maiden flight on 17 February 1956.

[3] 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.