First Man

I watched the movie, “First Man” this week in Ohio (the home of Neil Armstrong) and it took me back to the beginning of my career at Hawker Siddeley, in Toronto. At the time Hawker Siddeley, Orenda division conducted repair and overhaul operations on military aircraft engines for the Canadair, CT-114 Tutor (Snowbirds) and the F-18 Hornet. My work involved the J85 engine and later the GE- F404 engine used in the CF-18.  

Many of the employees at Hawker Siddeley were employed by AVRO Canada, or, as it was described at the factory, simply AVRO. This proud group played a role in the development of the most advanced aircraft of the day, the AVRO CF-105 Arrow. A great Canadian achievement.

When the Arrow program was cancelled on Feb 20, 1959 (“Black Friday”) thousands of employees were thrown out of work.  Many of the senior engineering team were recruited by NASA, including Jim Chamberlin.

These employees went on to play an important role in the development of the space program. Watching the movie made me proud of Canada’s often unknown contribution to space exploration.

The attached link is from the NASA website; it describes one of the engineers who made a significant contribution to the space effort, James A. Chamberlin.

I encourage all of you to read the article and to take a moment to think about the strong and proud history Canada has in the field of space exploration.

 https://history.nasa.gov/chamberlin.html