Canada 20 Dollars Silver Coin 1996 Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow
Aviation Commemoratives
Obverse: Profile portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II created in 1990 and notable for the grand jewelled tiara and a beautiful string of pearls, this royal effigy was designed by Canadian artist Dora de Pedery-Hunt.
Lettering: ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA · 1996 ·
Reverse: Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow. Portrait of Jim Chamberlin in 24-karat gold-plated cameo, denomination below.
Lettering: CANADA 20 DOLLARS RRC
Engraver: Jim Bruce.
Edge: Reeded & Plain Sections.
Diameter: 38 mm.
Weight: 31.103 g.
Material: Silver.
Fineness: 0.925.
Denomination: 20 Canadian Dollars.
Produced By: Royal Canadian Mint.
Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The Arrow is considered to have been an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry. The CF-105 (Mark 2) held the promise of near-Mach 2 speeds at altitudes of 50,000 feet (15,000 m) and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
The Arrow was the culmination of a series of design studies begun in 1953 examining improved versions of the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck. After considerable study, the RCAF selected a dramatically more powerful design, and serious development began in March 1955. Intended to be built directly from the production line, skipping the traditional hand-built prototype phase, the first Arrow Mk. I, RL-201, was rolled out to the public on 4 October 1957, the same day as the launch of Sputnik I. Flight testing began with RL-201 on 25 March 1958, and the design quickly demonstrated excellent handling and overall performance, reaching Mach 1.98. Powered by the Pratt & Whitney J75, another three Mk. Is were completed, RL-202 through -204. The lighter and more powerful Orenda Iroquois engine was soon ready for testing, and the first Mk.II with the Iroquois, RL-206, was ready for taxi testing in preparation for flight and acceptance tests by RCAF pilots by early 1959.
On 20 February 1959, the development of the Arrow (and its Iroquois engines) was abruptly halted before the project review had taken place. Two months later, the assembly line, tooling, plans and existing airframes and engines were ordered to be destroyed. The cancellation was the topic of considerable political controversy at the time, and the subsequent destruction of the aircraft in production remains a topic for debate among historians and industry pundits. "This action effectively put Avro out of business and its highly skilled engineering and production personnel scattered...."
Jim Chamberlin
James Arthur Chamberlin was born in Kamloops, British Columbia on May 23, 1915. Having maintained a keen interest in model aircraft during high school at the University of Toronto Schools, he took mechanical engineering degrees at the University of Toronto (1936) and Imperial College London (1939).
Career
Chamberlin began his engineering career with the British aircraft company (and later ejection seat manufacturers) Martin-Baker before returning to Canada. He worked on the production of the British Avro Anson at Federal Aircraft Ltd. in Montreal (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.
Avro Canada
In February 1946, Chamberlin joined Avro Aircraft Ltd. in Toronto, 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 jet interceptor. Later, as chief of technical design for the CF-105 Avro Arrow jet interceptor, he generated many of the ideas that would make the design famous.
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's Space Task Group. 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.
As head of engineering for Project Mercury, chief designer and NASA's first Project Manager for the Gemini spacecraft built by McDonnell Aircraft, 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’s advocacy of Lunar orbit rendezvous 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.
Chamberlin was described by space historian David Baker as “probably one of the most brilliant men ever to work for NASA.” Chamberlin left NASA in 1970 to join McDonnell Douglas 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, a position he held until his death on March 8, 1981. He and his wife had a son and a daughter.
Honours
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. In 2001, he was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.
Canadian Coins
Canada 20 Dollars Silver Coin 1996 Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow