Gander Airport Historical Society

El-Al Cargo B747 (4X-AXD) landing Gander in the late 1990s. In 1991 during Operation Solomon, with 1,086 rescued Jewish people on board, departed Ethiopia for Israel. 4X-AXD set a world record for the largest number of passengers flying on an airplane. Briggs Aero image

General Mark Milley's, the 20th chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, both grand parents were from Nfld. His great-grandfather served in the Newfoundland Regiment at Galipoli in WWI. In 2023 he attended, in St. John's, a ceremony to the memory of fallen WWI Nfld. soldiers .

Air Canada Vanguard at Gander c.1970. The Vanguard made by British Vickers replaced the North Star in the early 1960's. Only 44 aircraft were ever built, the type having been ordered by BEA and TCA (Air Canada).

A forgotten story of piloting skills when on Sept 23, 1962, Flying Tiger 923, a L1049, departed Gander for Frankfurt, ditched into the Atlantic 500 NM West of Ireland during the dead of night. 48 of the 78 onboard survived. This amazing story ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

Newfoundland Airport's first firetruck. Renamed 'Gander Airport' by the RCAF, now the airport authority during WWII. Why 'Gander'? The airport was near Gander lake leading to Gander river emptying into the Atlantic at Gander Bay. What better Canadian name for a RCAF base

Activity at Gander, c.1978. An Olympic Airlines B747, Air Canada L1011 & a RAF Britannia.

I've witnessed quite a bit of post WWII history at Gander Airport. The event I remember most was working in the control tower, on Sept 5, 1967, OK523, an IL18, crashed on departure. An experience still etched in my memory. This story ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

Gander's Memorial Park is the location of this memorial in the shape of a wing, to the 3 major air disasters at the airport; 1946 Sabena DC4, 1967 Czechoslovakian IL18 & 1985 Arrow Air DC8 crashes . Other memorials are located at the crash sites

A view of Gander airport in a SW direction showing Runway 21 @ 10,200 ft. in length. For a slide show of Gander over 80 years ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

Of all the crashes at Gander this was the most unusual one. A US Navy 'Willy Victor' (C121) stalled on the overshoot on a practice ILS R04 approach in 1963. Hit right on the road way. No fatalities. Just minor onboard injuries. The story ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin (in uniform), the first human to travel into space to orbit the earth, makes the only time he entered North America at Gander 1963. His flight landed for servicing while on his way to Cuba.

A flashback to the startup of post war commercial transatlantic aviation showing the gift counter in the terminal at Gander Airport c 1949. The terminal was located in a renovated portion of WWII RAF hangar 22. The present day terminal was officially opened in 1959 by QEII.

9/11 wasn't the first time Gander assisted arriving distressed airline passengers. We reflect on 1956 when Canada opened its doors to airplanes carrying refugees from Hungary, after USSR invaded their country. Here is how the town became involved ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_4658/a...

A town originating from the remains of military bases at WWII’s end, for the startup of transatlantic travel, ‘Gander: The Airport That Became A Town’ telling this story, has just been released & is available at bookstore locations in NL, plus Chapters, & Amazon in soft cover or digital form

Airport beacon light at Gander c.1938. Located near the southern edge of today's terminal parking lot. Removed in 1958 to make way for the new terminal. A similar beacon today is a short distance away atop the tower on the terminal building

An aerial view of the terminal & ramp at Gander c.1985 . This area was originally occupied by the USAAF base in WWII, dismantled around 1957 to make way for the construction of this terminal. Image by C. Falk

Jan 2, 1942, a Digby bomber made a forced landing close to Dover NL near Gander. RCAF service personal were brought in to remove reusable parts & other vital equipment from the rescued aircraft. The story of this rescue ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_war/Th...

A young man was waiting for a bus at the Gander terminal in the early 50s. A local resident, gave him a lift to the shopping district to buy a gift for his daughter while his aircraft was delayed,. Later discovered the daughter’s name was Nancy & the father was Frank Sinatra.

Feb 20 1941, Sir Frederick Banting was killed when the Hudson bomber he was on board, crashed here, very near Musgrave Hr. NL after leaving Gander. The photo is of the actual crash scene.The saga of the crash, heard around the world, is told here ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_war/Si...

Converted Lancaster bomber as a mid air tanker, at Gander c.1947. FPL, a UK company, set up a flight testing base at Gander to develop technical procedures in air-to-air refueling, later to be adopted by the military. This story & photos ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_4658/F...

A TWA L1049 getting an engine replacement at Gander in Hangar 22 c.1955. Major aircraft maintenance was routinely carried out at the airport during this era of transatlantic aviation. TWA had a full Ops staff including AMEs at Gander during this pre jet era.

Cormorant helicopter from RCAF SAR 103 Sqn stationed out of Gander carrying out an actual rescue operation. To watch some cool rescue video got to Youtube and search for @Mattfrom103

Gander airport's first terminal. May 1, 1942, the first airline to use Gander was a Trans Canada Airlines (Air Canada) L10, CF-TCG. Newfoundland was then its own Dominion so this was also its first international airline flight. ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_thirty...

Sept 1, 1975, during flight testing, Concorde G-BOAC made 2 return trips from Gander to London becoming the first airplane to make 4 Atlantic crossings in one day. ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

We are not aware if the B24 discovered at the bottom of Gander lake in 2022, will be retrieved. The B24 crashed into the lake in 1943 & still has bodies of RCAF crew on board. This story plus discovery info. ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_war/Ga...

The Grand dame of ferry pilots, Louise Sacchi, delivered mostly single engine aircraft from the US to Europe via Gander, made 340 solo non-stop crossings of the North Atlantic. She retired in 1980. An unsurpassed world record. Her story www.ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_trans/...

A Westinghouse ad from a 1939 magazine promoting the newly opened Nfld. (Gander) Airport showing the airport beacon. The ad stated "Westinghouse provides complete illumination at Newfoundland Airport to bring improved safety for transatlantic flying", which didn’t start up until 1946.

New jet powered fighter airplanes were rare at Gander in the early 50's. This is a RCAF CF100 on a test flight to Gander in 1953, hangared in H21. The first jet landed at Gander, a RAF Canberra, Feb 21, 1951

Trans-Canada Airlines (@AirCanada) DC3 at Gander airport c. 1950. The DC-3 was a major carrier for TCA from 1947 -1957. It was used extensively on all routes in Canada except over the Rocky Mountains & transatlantic crossings

The log cabin on Deadmans Pond, Gander. Built during WWII by the military to provide a R&R facility for airport staff. Demolished in the mid 50s to reduce local activity at the pond to make way for a controlled water aerodrome seen next to R05 ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_4658/d...