John Alexander Hope (Kim) Bailie (1929-2008) was a world authority on the structural dynamics of submarine-launched ballistic rockets.

Early life

Bailie was born in Johannesburg on 2 February 1929, he grew up in

Bathurst, Eastern Cape Bathurst is about inland from Port Alfred, on the R67 road, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and is named after Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies by Sir Rufane Donkin. Its chief claim to fame ...

and went to

St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown , motto_translation = Difficulties do not dismay us , patron = St. Andrew , established = , schooltype = All-boys private school , grades = 812 , head_name ...

and was in Armstrong House from 1943 to 1946). In 1947 he left South Africa and joined the

de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School The de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School was founded in 1928, initially to provide owners of de Havilland Moth aircraft with technical maintenance skills. The Technical School was started at Edgware, London, England by Geoffrey de Havi ...

as an apprentice in aeronautical engineering. His later qualifications included an M.Sc. in aircraft structures from

Cranfield University , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

, a M.S. in engineering mechanics and a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics, both from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He was also a CEng and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.Obituary of Kim Bailie in the Sunday Times
/ref> His outstanding achievements in his field included the structures of the Trident and

Polaris ballistic missile The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel rocket, solid-fueled nuclear warhead, nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy ...

s. In retirement he helped to restore vintage aircraft at the

Hiller Aviation Museum The Hiller Aviation Museum is an aircraft history museum located at the San Carlos Airport in San Carlos, California. The museum was founded by Stanley Hiller in June 1998. and is endowed by members of the Hiller family. It specializes in North ...

near Palo Alto, He also built houses for

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

References

External links

Encyclopædia Britannica article on Kim Bailie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailie, Kim Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown 1929 births 2008 deaths South African emigrants to the United States Stanford University School of Engineering alumni