James Arthur Chamberlin was a Canadian engineer who contributed to the design of the Canadian Avro Arrow, NASA's Gemini spacecraft 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 (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, in their Houston offices, until his death in 1981.
Chamberlin in the Gemini Project Manager's Office, Houston, 1962
Chamberlin as a boy in Vernon, British Columbia with a pedal car airplane
Chamberlin was chiefly responsible for designing the Gemini spacecraft and was the first Project Manager for Gemini (Gemini 7 shown in a photo from Gemini 6 on December 15, 1965).
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 50,000 feet (15,000 m) and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor into the 1960s and beyond.
Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow
Full size replica of the CF-105 Arrow at the Canadian Air and Space Museum, Toronto
RL-204, late 1958
Unveiling of CF-105 on October 4, 1957. Pilots Ron Hodge (left), Ed Wright (right).