We asked aviation historian Frank Tibbo to name the five most significant events in Gander Airport’s proud history. Mr. Tibbo is a retired Air Traffic Control manager and charter member of the now defunct Gander Flying Club. For the last 15 years, he has penned a weekly aviation column for The Beacon and authored Charlie Baker George, a Newfoundland bestseller, and “Best of Aviation.” Breakwater Books recently published Mr. Tibbo’s “The Streets of Gander.”
1. Decision made to Construct Airport
The most significant event in the history of the airport occurred in the summer of 1935 when the area was a boreal forest. There were a lot of ganders, and they all had feathers. A meeting was held in Ottawa concerning a North Atlantic Civil Aviation agreement between Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Newfoundland. Several individuals and/or groups had explored various areas of Newfoundland – areas as close as possible to the Great Circle Route between New York and London. It was decided to establish Botwood as a flying boat base and “Hattie’s Camp” (Gander) for land-based aircraft. Great Britain agreed to provide 82 per cent of the capital and lend Newfoundland the remainder. In June, 1936, 40 workers arrived at the selected site to begin construction.
Old terminal building.
2. First Aircraft Landing
Jan. 11, 1938 marked the first aircraft landing in Gander’s history, a Fox Moth piloted by Captain Douglas Fraser and engineer George Lace. Fraser said years later during an interview: “I can remember it quite well, I think it was five people who met me. It was a day like today, blue sky and not a cloud in the sky. I had been commissioned to take a doctor to Lethbridge – that wasn’t the name then – and on my way back I touched in at Gander, why I don’t know, but I just put down for a few minutes.” Fraser’s name is on one of the oldest streets in Gander and in 1987 he was inaugurated into the Canadian Aviation Hall Of Fame.
Aircraft at Gander, circa 1962.
3. The Day We Began
Nov. 30, 1938 is the date most consider to be the airport’s operational beginning. On this day, staff that operated the facility at Botwood were transferred to Gander. New facilities had been built in Gander in preparation for the transfer and the government appointed H.A.L. Pattison as the first Aerodrome Control Officer, a position later referred to as “airport manager.”
4. Gander’s Role in World War II
November 9, 1940 witnessed the first military aircraft ferried across the North Atlantic, a precursor of thousands that followed. Historians indicate Gander’s role in this capacity, combined with the air cover for convoys and anti-submarine patrols, effectively shortened the war. On April 1, 1941 Newfoundland transferred operational responsibility of the airport to Canada for the duration of the war. That decision brought a bomber and fighter squadron along with a strong army contingent to protect what now was a vital Allied military base. The United States Army Air Force stationed a major contingent of several thousand troops, airmen and aircraft here bringing the military population to approximately 10,000.
5. April 1, 1949
April 1, 1949 marked Confederation with Canada and the Department of Transport took control of the airport. At the conclusion of World War II it became evident that the advancement of military transport aircraft during the war would spawn a transatlantic air trade. The first evidence of this was on Oct. 23, 1945 when the first commercial landplane, an American Overseas Airline DC-4, landed at Gander en route to Europe. Newfoundland did not have the finances necessary to double the infrastructure required to move the airport to a world-class civilian facility. Britain, who financed the
Gander tower, 1964.
original construction, was almost bankrupt because of World War II. The Canadian Department of Transport invested tens of millions of dollars into making an international airport with two major runways, taxiways and a first-class terminal building, which opened in 1958 to accommodate the thousands of airliners that would require a fuel stop. The first flight was a Pan American 707.
