History of Gander

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Episode 11

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Published on:

18th Feb 2022

Airport stories from the mid 1950s

The weather office at Gander original purpose was to provide weather information for flights crossing the Atlantic now started to issue public weather information to the population of the province. The Airport Club continued activity in the town for social activities which enticed local non-professional musicians who worked in Gander to start up a very popular orchestra named the Solidaires. A revolution in the country of Hungary led to refugees fleeing to Canada, being flown through Gander. The residents of the airport town were called upon by the Canadian Red Cross to assist when the refugees arrived suppling them with provisions provided by the Red Cross. Disappointing news for residents when the airport authority advised that the original building at the airport, the Administration building was to be dismantled because of airport improvements. In addition, it was announced plans were to be made to build a new town in which the present living accommodations at the airport would have to be vacated to make way for a new terminal

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About the Podcast

History of Gander

The airport that started transatlantic air travel

The history of Gander airport, built in the wilderness of Newfoundland during the late 1930’s on the speculation that air travel between Europe and North America would evolve, with the only infrastructure, a narrow gauge railroad. The completion took two years to build just as the world entered into WWII. The timeliness of the airport’s construction led the airport playing a vital military role in being the anchor point of transitioning bomber type aircraft to Europe. Immediately at the end of the war, because of the success of flying large bombers across the Atlantic, the idea of commercial air travel was pursued with the Gander airport again playing a vital role for the refueling of aircraft that didn’t have the range to fly from one shore to the other. The requirement of people to service the needs of a busy airport led to another problem. There was no town for families to reside. The vacated military buildings built for the war effort were converted into livable dwellings and what was a military base now became a civilian town, located cheek by jowel to a very busy international airport. The airport town lasted until 1959 when a new modern town was built just a few kilometers to the North West of the airport.

This story will be told through discussions & interviews that better describe the anthropology and events of the past. Email us at "gahs.webster@gmail.com" for question or comments

About your hosts

Jack Pinsent

Jack Pinsent, a retired air traffic controller, maintains a website collecting articles & photos of historical information about Gander airport. The purpose of the podcast is to support the website's information with more detailed facts. Visit our website http://www.ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/

Terry Hart

Terry Hart is a former radio broadcaster in NL, Canada, having spent over 45 years in the industry. He is the recipient of numerous news and other awards for Atlantic Canada and nationally, including the inaugural Broadcast News Award for news excellence in Atlantic Canada. Terry also interviewed world personalities like Fidel Castro, Soviet President Brezhnev, Muhammed Ali, Terry Fox and more. He has covered hijackings, the devastating Arrow Air Disaster at Gander International Airport, and other major events impacting Newfoundland and Labrador.