Engineering a Successful Life

About the Book

This is an incredible biography of a Canadian-born aeronautical engineer who has worked at every major aircraft company and the National Research Council in Canada for the past 50 years. It includes helping Jacqueline Cochran break the sound barrier and establish a number of world airspeed records in 1953. General Chuck Yeager, her good friend, helped her in the air, and Lewis helped her on the ground by providing her with a Canadian F 86 Sabre 3 powered with a special Orenda engine for her record attempts. Of interest to all Canadians is that the production version of the Canadian F 86 Sabre 3 became the best jet fighter in the world in the 1950s and 1960s.

The author’s last aeronautical career move was joining Pratt & Whitney Canada, where he played a key role as the company became the world leader in design and development of small turbine engines. He accomplished this by successfully negotiating with the Federal Government for hundreds of millions of dollars in repayable loans to design and develop new jet engines.

The biography also includes Lewis’ remarkable humanitarian work. It started with his joining a local Lions Club in 1961, and it progressed to building two new hospitals in Montreal for the Chinese community. In his retirement in Ottawa since 1989 he has been with the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, initially to assist with the design of a new artificial heart and then later to negotiate with provincial and federal governments for financial assistance to develop the artificial heart.

About the Author

Lewis Chow was born in Sault Ste Marie and was fortunate enough to establish early in life his career path in something he was passionate about—aeronautical engineering and humanitarian work. He helped Jacqueline Cochran become the first woman to break the sound barrier. He helped establish two new hospitals in Montreal. The author started his last humanitarian assignment when he retired to Ottawa in 1989 and joined the University of Ottawa Heart Institute to help with the research and development of a new artificial heart.