welcome to the english version of my visual podcast about the history of gander airport
i got the idea after watching a fascinating documentary by the german tv station set day f
it's on curiosity stream and then i found that somebody had put
the german version on youtube i wanted to tell the story of gander in my own words
so i wrote the script first in german and then in english using a variety of sources
most pictures in the video are public domain and some are courtesy of gander international airport
one fascinating episode is how an east german couple on the way back from cuba
enter the departure lounge in gander during the refueling stop and never return to the
interflood plain or the homeland so please check out the subtitles in the lower right
don't forget to like the video subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon for
notifications [Music]
why was the airport that was once the biggest in the world
built in the middle of a wilderness the answer is actually quite simple
gander international airport is situated on the island of newfoundland
in the northeast of canada the airport was built in the 1930s north of gander lake around
60 kilometers west of the coast which is often fog bound there was also a railway line there
the range of the aircraft of that time was insufficient for direct flights between
europe and north america they had to make an intermediate stop and refuel
gander and also the irish airport shannon became important springboards across the atlantic
both airports lie on the route between north west europe and northeast america
the shortest connection between the two continents building work began in june 1936
at that time newfoundland was a self-covering british dominion
the town of gander was built to house the building workers and airport employees
the first aircraft landed on the 11th of january 1938 in november of the same year operations began
four paved runways were built the longest
named zero three twenty one with a length of ten thousand two hundred feet or three 3109 meters
after it opened gander quickly became the biggest airport in the world [Music] in the second world
war the ganda station of the royal canadian air force was of great strategic importance
on the 10th of november 1940 seven american military aircraft
departed on a test flight from gander to belfast
all seven landed there safely after that more than twenty thousand fighter planes flew from the usa
to europe with a refueling stop in gander supplies were brought to britain and to the european front
approximately twenty thousand people from the u s air force lived around the air base
after the war the local authorities regained responsibility for the airport
and it wasn't long until civilian aviation started at that time flying was risky the strict
safety standards of today did not exist despite the risks more and more people wanted to fly soon
the big propeller airliners of boac pan am and twa were making the flight across the atlantic
at that time the journey from london to new york could take up to 18 hours ganda became
the hub of commercial aviation crossroads of the world was the slogan in the 1950s 13 000 aircraft
carrying 25 000 passengers landed and took off every year at gander airport the passengers at
this time were often privileged people such as film stars and leading politicians [Music]
in the boom years the rich and famous came into the improvised departure lounge
where they drank cocktails and were photographed clark gable
marilyn monroe john wayne elizabeth taylor and winston churchill were visitors to ganda
on the 29th of june 1959 a new terminal was opened by the queen but the boom years were soon to end
the dc-4s strata cruisers and constellations of the 40s and 50s
soon became outmoded the boeing 707 revolutionized transatlantic air travel
this jet aircraft had a range of 8 000 kilometers
and could cross the atlantic direct from london to new york in only eight hours
and so traffic at gander decreased rapidly during the 1960s but the airport was still important for
military purposes in 1964 jack james became airport general manager he didn't just work
here he lived here the airport was his life and he devoted himself to the commercial success
of gander in the late 60s he targeted the eastern bloc countries their tupelovs and illusions used
too much fuel for longer flights they flew regularly back and forth to communist cuba
aircraft belonging to aeroflot and the gdr airline interfluke became regular visitors to gander
aeroflot came with around 60 flights per week the crews were stationed at gander
the eastern block airlines opened offices at the airport or in ganda eastern bloc heads of state
such as brezhnev and hanukkah were personally welcomed by the airport director fidel castro had
his first winter wonderland when as a guest of the airport management he rode a toboggan in the snow
communist rulers were the new vips at the airport but their subjects saw an opportunity to escape
after landing the passengers always came into the terminal while the plane was being refueled the
waiting area did not officially belong to canada but if a passenger wanted to stay in canada it
was possible he or she could go to a member of the security staff and simply say the words
save me that meant that the person was asking for political asylum from that moment on they were
accepted by the canadian authorities the security police of the communist country they had come from
could do nothing in the documentary film gander the airport in the middle of nowhere by hollande
mai wolfgang yeon from noi buko in the gdr describes how he and his girlfriend of that time
flew from berlin schoenefeldt to cuba they had however already decided that they would not be
returning to their socialist fatherland he describes how on the return flight he got
off the inter-flood plain in gander and came into the waiting hall he had brought his bag with him
from the aircraft his girlfriend went to the security guard and said save me thankfully he and
his girlfriend were successful he still lives near toronto and in 2018 he went back to his hometown
for the first time in 30 years when at the beginning of the 1990s the end of communism came
the eastern bloc airlines had to close their offices it was a sad time for colleagues on both
sides the plane is the safest form of transport we know that the last major air crash near gander
happened in the 1980s on the 12th of december 1985 a chartered douglas dc-8 of the airline arrow air
made a refuelling stop in gander it was bringing us soldiers who had been on a
peacekeeping mission in the sinai to fort campbell kentucky after takeoff the plane
got into a stall and crashed all 256 people on board were killed presumed cause ice on the wings
two other serious accidents took place in uganda a czechoslovak illusion 18 in 1968 and a sabine dc4
in 1946 in the 1990s fewer and fewer international airlines came to ganda airport
its future seemed uncertain until in the northeast of the usa an unimaginable tragedy caused a crisis
on the 11th of september 2001 after the terrorist attacks 39 aircraft were diverted to gander
6122 passengers and 473 crew were stranded there and had to wait many hours in their
aircraft then the passengers were welcomed by the 10 000 inhabitants of the town of ganda
they were treated like members of the family the guests and their hosts became close friends
when the time came to fly on many parted with tears in their eyes
in recognition of this lufthansa named its new airbus a340 gander halifax in 2002.
nowadays not many aircraft land at gander but at a height of 30 000 feet and above
around 1 500 aircraft over flying newfoundland on a normal day
the control center of the canadian air traffic control for canada and the north atlantic nav
canada is situated not far from the airport and is an important employer in the area [Music]
ganda airport today is an airport for small passenger aircraft
private jets regional airlines freighters and military aircraft
there's an important flying school here gander flight training it dates back to the year 1992
when its founder patrick white bought a cessna 150 and began as a flying instructor
today the school offers a wide range of flying courses
students come from canada and abroad to do their pilot training here
with its long tradition in aviation gander is a place with a passion for flight
the people here are fascinated by planes and flying
that makes gander an ideal place for flight training
newfoundland is a cold and often wet place with snow ice and wind
many people all of the world say if you've learned to fly here you can fly anywhere in the world
but ganda like its sister airport shannon also has an important role as an emergency
landing site for aircraft to get into difficulties over the atlantic [Music]
the coronavirus of 2020 brought new challenges for gander and all other airports
gander international airport has seen many highs and lows in the past
hopefully as time moves on for this historic and remarkable airport its future will remain secure
i made that recording of a boeing 737 standing at the top of the runway here using my roland
aderol digital audio recorder i bought it in 2006 and it's still going strong touchwood
gander airport has a fascinating history and i'd like to write about more airports including
shannon manchester and the berlin airports nowadays it's not possible to fly direct to gander
it would be as a transat to toronto and then air canada on to ganda a journey of at least 12 hours
i'd love to go and sit in that departure lounge with its 1950s interior but i don't
think it's going to happen soon so please like the video subscribe to the channel and click
the bell icon for notifications so you can hear about my next interesting destination
you