James Arthur Chamberlin (May 23, 1915 – March 8, 1981) was a Canadian engineer who contributed to the design of the Canadian
Avro Arrow
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) p ...
,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
's
Gemini spacecraft
Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
and the
Apollo program. In addition to his pioneering air and space efforts, he is often cited as an example of Canadian
brain drain to the U.S. In the early 1960s, he was one of the key people that proposed and moved that
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) is a process for landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth. It was utilized for the Apollo program missions in the 1960s and 1970s. In a LOR mission, a main spacecraft and a smaller lunar lander travel to ...
(LOR) was the best option for landing a crew on the Moon, the method eventually used on Apollo lunar landing missions. He left NASA in 1970 and worked for
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...
, in their Houston offices, until his death in 1981.
Early life
Chamberlin was born in
Kamloops,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
on May 23, 1915, the son of Walter Chamberlin and Theresa Goldie. His father was killed at the
Battle of Vimy Ridge, in 1917. Having maintained a keen interest in model aircraft during high school at the
University of Toronto Schools
University of Toronto Schools (UTS) is an independent secondary day school affiliated with the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school follows a specialized academic curriculum, and admission is determined by competitive ex ...
, he took mechanical engineering degrees at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
(1936) and
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
(1939).
Career
Chamberlin began his engineering career with the British aircraft company (and later ejection seat manufacturers)
Martin-Baker
Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is a British manufacturer of ejection seats and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company's origins were originally as an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection s ...
before returning to Canada.
He worked on the production of the British
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA ...
at Federal Aircraft Ltd. in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
(1940–1941), and later, on training and anti-submarine aircraft as chief engineer at Clarke Ruse Aircraft in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (1941–1942). His longest tenure began as a research engineer (1942–1945) at
Noorduyn Aircraft in Montreal, working on the
Norseman and serving in this position until the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
Avro Canada
In February 1946, Chamberlin joined
Avro Aircraft Ltd. in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, the Canadian subsidiary of the British
Avro, itself part of the
Hawker Siddeley Group, where Chamberlin was chief aerodynamicist on the
C102 Jetliner and
CF-100 Canuck
The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk") is a Canadian twinjet interceptor/ fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada. It has the distinction of being the only Canadian-designed fighter to e ...
jet interceptor. Later, as chief of technical design for the CF-105
Avro Arrow
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) p ...
jet interceptor, he generated many of the ideas that would make the design famous.
[Gainor 2001, pp. 19-33.]
NASA
Following the Canadian government's cancellation of the Avro Arrow project in 1959, Chamberlin led a team of 25 engineers from Avro who joined
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
's
Space Task Group
The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with managing America's human spaceflight programs. Headed by Robert Gilruth and based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, it managed Project Me ...
. This group eventually grew to 32 former Avro engineers, collectively known as the "Avro Group", who joined NASA and become emblematic of what many Canadians viewed as a
brain drain to the United States.
[McArthur, Scott]
"James Arthur Chamberlin, 1915–1981."
''Arrow Digital Archives: Arrow Recovery Canada.'' Retrieved: January 4, 2013.
As head of engineering for
Project Mercury
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
, chief designer and NASA's first Project Manager for the Gemini spacecraft built by
McDonnell Aircraft
The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...
, and then troubleshooter on Apollo, Chamberlin played an instrumental role in creating and implementing the first three generations of American crewed spacecraft.
While designing the Gemini spacecraft in 1961, Chamberlin proposed that Gemini be paired with a "bug" that would land a single astronaut on the Moon. Chamberlin had been impressed with NASA engineer
John Houbolt
John Cornelius Houbolt (April 10, 1919 – April 15, 2014) was an aerospace engineer credited with leading the team behind the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, a concept that was used to successfully land humans on the Moon and return t ...
's advocacy of
Lunar orbit rendezvous
Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) is a process for landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth. It was utilized for the Apollo program missions in the 1960s and 1970s. In a LOR mission, a main spacecraft and a smaller lunar lander travel to ...
as the method to go to the Moon. Although Chamberlin's idea of flying Gemini to the Moon was rejected, it helped lead NASA to its decision in 1962 to use Lunar Orbit Rendezvous in the Apollo program, which involved using the
Lunar Module (LM) to descend to the lunar surface.
[Hansen, James R]
"Enchanted Rendezvous: John Houbolt and the Genesis of the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept."
''NASA-TM-111236: Monographs in Aerospace History Series #4,'' NASA, December 1995. Retrieved: August 13, 2011.
Chamberlin was described by space historian David Baker as "probably one of the most brilliant men ever to work for NASA."
[Baker 1982, p. 182.]
Chamberlin left NASA in 1970 to join
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...
Astronautics, where he prepared an ultimately unsuccessful space shuttle bid before becoming technical director for the company's facility at the
Johnson Space Center in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, a position he held until his death on March 8, 1981. He and his wife had a son and a daughter.
[
]
Honors
NASA awarded Chamberlin its Exceptional Scientific Achievement, Exceptional Service and Exceptional Engineering Achievement medals. Chamberlin was a Professional Engineer of the Province of Ontario, a member of the Institute of Aeronautical Scientists and an Associate Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautical Institute.
The
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...
14148 Jimchamberlin, discovered at
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than ...
in 1998, is named in his honor. In 2001, he was inducted into
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. In 2019,
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
issued stamps commemorating Canadian contributions to the
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
mission which included Chamberlin's likeness.
References
Bibliography
* Baker, David. ''The History of Manned Space Flight.'' New York: Crown Publishers, 1985, First edition 1982. .
* Gainor, Chris. ''Arrows to the Moon: Avro's Engineers and the Space Race.'' Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books, 2001, .
* Hacker, Barton; James Grimwood. ''On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini.'' Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1977. .
* Harvey, Brian. ''Russian Planetary Exploration: History, Development, Legacy and Prospects.'' New York: Springer, 2007. .
"Lunar orbit rendezvous: news conference on Apollo plans at NASA headquarters on July 11, 1962."''NASA,'' 1962.
* Murray, Charles; Catherine Bly Cox. ''Apollo: The Race to the Moon.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. .
* Nelson, Craig. ''Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon.'' New York: Viking, 2009. .
* Stewart, Greig. ''Shutting Down the National Dream: A.V. Roe and the Tragedy of the Avro Arrow.'' Toronto: McGraw-Hill-Ryerson, 1991. .
* Whitcomb, Randall. ''Cold War Tech War.'' Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books, 2008. .
* Wilford. John. ''We Reach the Moon: The New York Times Story of Man's Greatest Adventure.'' New York: Bantam Paperbacks, 1973, First edition 1969. .
* Woods, W. David. ''How Apollo Flew to the Moon.'' New York: Springer, 2008. .
External links
Arrow Recovery Canada*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlin, Jim
1915 births
1981 deaths
20th-century Canadian engineers
Alumni of Imperial College London
People from Kamloops
University of Toronto alumni
NASA people