Day Seventy Eight
After our long trip yesterday to Twillingate, we decided to stay a little closer to home today. Just south of our campground was the city of Gander, and the Gander International Airport. This airport has such a tremendous amount of history, we just had to check out the air museum dedicated to the airport.
Built in 1937, the Gander Airport was the largest ever built for its time. The geographic location of the airport was perfect for transatlantic flights. It took two years to build and in 1939, it was ready to accept Atlantic flights. When WWII broke out in Europe, the airport was handed over to the Canadian Government in 1942, becoming one of the most important military asset of the war. the airport was so important to the war effort that a German attack was certainly a possibility. In order to keep this gateway secure, Canadian, British, and American troops were stationed in Gander to protect it.
One thing that surprised me; there was either, German saboteurs, or German sympathizers working close to the base, few had managed to sabotage the occasional plane as they prepared for Europe. Some of the planes were found with steel wool stuffed in the intake vents or cork dropped into the gas tanks. After that, the base had military personnel stationed around the planes full time, until they left for Britain. By the end of the war over 20,000 planes had passed through Gander on their way to fight.
After the war, the airport was returned back to civilian property and became the largest hub for transatlantic flights until the dawn of the jet liners in the 1960’s. with the use of jets, air traffic declined for the airport until the 1980’s when it became the refuelling hub for Russia, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, East Germany, and Poland. The airport had to implement new security protocols as defection became a problem. The security guards would joke that there job was to keep the moose out and the commies in.
In 2001 when the world trade centres were attacked, Gander being one of the closets Atlantic airports, took in 38 wide bodied aircraft. After it was realized the planes were not leaving anytime soon, the town of Gander rallied to provide food and lodging for the 6600 passengers until the flight ban was lifted. In thanks to the City of Gander, New York sent a piece of a support structure from the towers as a gift for their charity and support. After the museum we explored the city for a short time and then headed back into our dead zone.
