Name/Title
Chamberlin, James "Jim" ArthurEntry/Object ID
8316Description
Born in Kamloops, British Columbia on 23 May 1915, His father Walter, was killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge while serving with the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. Took mechanical engineering at both the University Toronto and the Imperial College in London, started working with Martin-Baker in the UK before returning to Canada and working with Federal Aircraft in Montreal working on the Avro Anson from 1940 to 41 then went to Clarke Ruse Aircraft in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia as chief engineer from 1941–1942. He went on to Noorduyn Aircraft in Montreal, as a research engineer from 1942–1945. Jim joined Avro Canada in Feb 1946 as chief aerodynamicist on the C102 Jetliner and CF-100 Canuck. Was reported he wasn't a big fan of John Frost. Attended the design office dinner in 1950. Analysed CF-100 wind tunnel results in 1950. Promoted to Chief Technician in 1953. Started working on the C-105 project in 1954, attended 1954 conference to discuss C-105 problems; later promoted to Chief of Technical Design who was involved in the CF-105 Free Flight Model (FFM) tests in 1957 and the Avro Arrow. He was with the Engineering department as Chief of Technical Design in 1958 and was involved with a Design Proposal for Concept Ramjet VTOL Aircraft in 1958. Jim to NASA with 25 other Avro engineers - was Chief of Design (and a genius) working on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo (including the John Glen capsule) after Black Friday 1959. Avro aeronautical engineer living at 32 Saunders (Nth Y) in the 1959 Might's Greater Toronto Directory. In 1970 he left NASA to join McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, where he was involved in their unsuccessful bid for a Shuttle, he later became technical director McDonnell Douglas Astronautics working at their facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston - he was in this role until his death on 8 March 1981 in League City, Texas. He was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001 and featured on a Canada Post stamp in 2019.