Starting in the 1940s it was a refueling stop for transatlantic flights and continued in this role through the early 1960s and in some cases into the 1990s. Gander is near the great circle route between North America and Europe. Numerous improvements were made to the runways and terminals. On 24 October 1945, the first scheduled commercial flight, an American Overseas Airlines DC-4, passed through Gander.įollowing Newfoundland's entry into Confederation, the government renamed the airport "Gander International Airport", and it came under the administration of Canada's federal Department of Transport. On 16 September 1945, the first transatlantic proving flight, a Pan Am DC-4, departed Gander for Shannon in western Ireland. It opened the current passenger terminal in 1959. The Canadian federal government changed the name to "Gander Airport" after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) also established Naval Radio Station Gander at the airfield, using the station as a listening post to detect the transmissions and location of enemy submarines and warships.įollowing the war, the RCAF handed operation of the airfield back to the dominion government in March 1946, although the RCN's radio station remained and the military role for the entire facility was upgraded through the Cold War. Lockheed Hudson Mark IIIs prepared for their trans-Atlantic ferry flights at Gander in 1942 Thousands of aircraft flown by the United States Army Air Corps through the changeover to the United States Army Air Forces and by the RCAF destined for the European Theatre travelled through Gander. The airfield was heavily used by RAF Ferry Command and Air Transport Command for transporting newly built aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to the European Theatre, as well as for staging operational anti-submarine patrols dedicated to hunting U-boats in the northwest Atlantic. In 1940, the operation of the Newfoundland Airport was assigned by the Dominion of Newfoundland to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and it was renamed "RCAF Station Gander" in 1941. Its official name until 1949 was "Newfoundland Airport". Within a few years it had four runways and was the largest airport in the world. History Early years and prominence Ĭonstruction of the airport began in 1936 and it was opened in 1938, with its first landing on January 11 of that year, by Captain Douglas Fraser flying a Fox Moth of Imperial Airways. 1.3 Gander International Airport Authority.
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