Gander is a town located in the northeastern part of the island of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...
of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, approximately south of
Gander Bay, south of
Twillingate and east of
Grand Falls-Windsor. Located on the northeastern shore of
Gander Lake, it is the site of
Gander International Airport, once an important refuelling stop for transatlantic aircraft. The airport is still a preferred emergency landing point for aircraft facing on-board medical or security issues.
When the U.S. closed its airspace soon after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, Gander International Airport took in 38 aircraft and accommodated nearly 6,700 evacuees from
Olympic Airways,
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
,
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...
,
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
,
Alitalia and more.
Most of the streets in Gander are named after famous aviators, including
Alcock and Brown,
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
,
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
,
Eddie Rickenbacker,
Marc Garneau
Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau (born February 23, 1949) is a Canadian politician, retired Royal Canadian Navy officer and former astronaut who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Garneau was the m ...
and
Chuck Yeager.
History
Gander was chosen for the construction of an airport in 1935 because it is very close to the
great circle
In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point.
Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geome ...
route between New York and London. In 1936, construction of the base began, and the town started to develop. On 11 January 1938, Captain Douglas Fraser made the first landing at "Newfoundland Airport," now known as Gander International Airport, or "CYQX," in a single-engine
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...
,
Fox Moth VO-ADE.
During the Second World War, as many as 10,000 Canadian, British and American military personnel resided in Gander. The area became a strategic post for the
Air Ferry Command of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
, with approximately 20,000 American- and Canadian-built
fighters
Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to:
Combat and warfare
* Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict
* Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...
and
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
s stopping at Gander en route to Europe. After the war, the airbase became a civilian airport, and the location of the town was moved a safe distance from the runways. Construction of the present town site began in the 1950s, and the present municipality was incorporated in 1958; the settlement around the airport was eventually abandoned.
After the Second World War, the town grew as the airport was used as a refuelling stop for
transatlantic flights, earning its name "Cross-roads of the world." Efforts have been made to diversify the economy from being dependent on the airport, particularly as new aircraft designs permitted longer-range flights without the need for landing to refuel.
Gander was the site of a major aircraft accident,
Arrow Air Flight 1285, on 12 December 1985. 256 people were killed in the disaster, probably caused by ice contamination on the wings, making it the deadliest air crash ever to happen in Canada.
In 2001,
Gander International Airport played an integral role in world aviation in the hours immediately following the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
when all of North America's
airspace
Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is th ...
was closed by
Transport Canada
Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...
and the
United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As part of
Operation Yellow Ribbon
Operation Yellow Ribbon (french: Opération ruban jaune) was commenced by Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the United States. Canada's goal was to ensure that potential ...
, 38 civilian and 4 military flights bound for the United States were ordered to land at the airport—more flights than any Canadian airport other than
Halifax International. More than 6,600 passengers and
airline crew members—equivalent to 66 percent of the local population at the time—were forced to stay in the Gander area for up to six days until airspace was reopened. Gander received the third highest volume of passengers following Operation Yellow Ribbon, behind
Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busie ...
, which received 8,500, and Halifax International. Residents of Gander and surrounding communities volunteered to house, feed, and entertain the travellers as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon. This was largely because Transport Canada and
Nav Canada asked that transatlantic flights avoid diverting to major airports in
central Canada
Central Canada (french: Centre du Canada, sometimes the Central provinces) is a region consisting of Canada's two largest and most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap ...
, such as
Toronto Pearson and
Montréal-Dorval.
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...
named one of its
Airbus A340 (registration D-AIFC) aircraft ''Gander/Halifax'' to thank both cities for their handling of rerouted travellers on 11 September. A book, ''
The Day the World Came to Town'', included several stories about Gander's role during that and subsequent days. A radio play, ''The Day the Planes Came'', by Caroline and
David Stafford, dealing with the effect on Gander of the 11 September passengers was first broadcast in June 2008 on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
and was repeated in October 2009. A TV movie, ''
Diverted
''Diverted'' is a 2009 CBC made-for-TV miniseries. The film was directed by Alex Chapple based on the screenplay by Tony Marchant. ''Diverted'' is a fictionalized account inspired by what actually happened to the people of Gander, Newfoundland, a ...
'', was made in 2009. In February 2010,
NBC aired a report by
Tom Brokaw covering Gander's part in the grounding of hundreds of planes on 9/11 during coverage of the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy Greene Wayne G ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
. A musical by
Irene Sankoff
__NOTOC__
Irene Sankoff is a Canadian librettist and composer–lyricist, best known for co-writing the Broadway musical ''Come from Away'' with her writing partner and husband, David Hein.
Biography
Sankoff was born in North York, Ontario, and d ...
and
David Hein, ''
Come from Away
''Come from Away'' is a Canadian musical, with book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. It is based on the events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes, carrying ...
'', which retells the stories of passengers and Newfoundlanders in Gander after Operation Yellow Ribbon, was mounted on
Broadway in 2017. The same year, Come From Away was nominated for 7 Tony Awards and won the Tony for Best Direction of Musical. The town was also profiled in
Moze Mossanen's 2018 documentary film ''
You Are Here''.
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...
Episode "9/11: Control The Skies" tells the story of the
air traffic controllers, first broadcast on 11 September 2019.
The Town of Gander continues to pursue business opportunities in the aerospace industry.
Geography
Gander is located northwest of the provincial capital of
St. John's.
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
T ...
-era
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...
,
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
and
graywacke form the underlying bedrock, which is covered by stony loam to silt loam
podzolic or
gleysol
A gleysol is a wetland soil ( hydric soil) that, unless drained, is saturated with groundwater for long enough to develop a characteristic colour pattern. The pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish, or yellowish colours at surfaces ...
ic soil.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...
, Gander had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
As of the 2006 census, the population of Gander was found to be 97.4%
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
with all visible minorities totaling 0.9% of the population and the aboriginal population totaling 1.7%.
Climate
Gander has a cool to cold
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
(''Dfb''). It combines moderately warm and rainy summers with cold and very snowy winters. Due to the maritime influence from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, seasonal changes are slightly less pronounced than in Canada's interior, but still substantial given its near-coastal position. Its average frost-free period runs from June 1 to October 16 -- 136 days.
Services
Gander offers all the conveniences of a major centre. The newest development is a continually expanding business park with
big box store
A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...
s such as
Walmart Canada and
Kent Building Supplies
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...
. There are two malls: the Gander Mall, with stores such as
Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations a ...
,
Sport Chek,
Dollarama,
Pseudio, Eclipse, and Nan's Pantry, and the Fraser Mall, with a Foodland (
Sobeys
Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of ...
) and various government offices. Town Square at the intersection of Elizabeth Drive and Airport Boulevard has several local businesses including a Co-op grocery store.
All five major Canadian banks have branches in Gander.
TD Canada Trust
TD Canada Trust, frequently shortened to simply TD, is the commercial banking operation of TD Bank Group in Canada. TD Canada Trust offers a range of financial services and products to more than 10 million Canadian customers through more than 1,1 ...
and
RBC Royal Bank are located in Town Square,
CIBC in the Fraser Mall, as well as
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
and
Scotiabank
The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
on Airport Boulevard and Roe Avenue, respectively. There are two credit unions: Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union and Hamilton Sound Credit Union, both on Roe Avenue.
Medical services are provided by the James Paton Memorial Health Centre, on the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...
. The hospital opened in May 1964 and has undergone many changes since then, making it a prominent hospital in the central region. The hospital has a rated beds capacity of 92.
Telephone services are provided by
Bell Aliant
Bell Aliant is a brand name used by Bell Canada for telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada.
Prior to 2015, Bell Aliant Inc. (formerly Aliant Inc.) was a separate company providing telecom services in the Atlantic provinces and a few othe ...
, formerly
NewTel Communications
NewTel Communications was a telephone and internet service provider in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Originally known as the Avalon Telephone Company, it served the Avalon Peninsula and later became the Newfoundland Telepho ...
. Bell Aliant also provides
DSL high-speed
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
service and FibreOp high-speed internet.
Rogers Communications is the cable TV and cable internet provider for the town.
Cellular phone service is also available through
Telus, its subsidiary
Koodo, and Bell's
Virgin Mobile.
The
Gander Public Library is located at 6 Bell Place as of 1987.
In popular culture
Gander airport features in the
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect ...
novel ''
No Highway'' and the film adaptation, called ''
No Highway in the Sky
''No Highway in the Sky'' (also known as ''No Highway'') is a 1951 British black-and-white aviation drama film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Louis D. Lighton, directed by Henry Koster, that stars James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Jo ...
'' in Anglophone countries other than the UK.
in 2006, the miniseries ''
Above and Beyond'' deals with the
Atlantic Ferry Organization, tasked with ferrying aircraft from North America to Europe in the early years of the Second World War. The production was filmed primarily at the Gander airport, and details the development of the airport as a ferry stop.
In 2013, ''
Come from Away
''Come from Away'' is a Canadian musical, with book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. It is based on the events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes, carrying ...
'', a musical by
Irene Sankoff
__NOTOC__
Irene Sankoff is a Canadian librettist and composer–lyricist, best known for co-writing the Broadway musical ''Come from Away'' with her writing partner and husband, David Hein.
Biography
Sankoff was born in North York, Ontario, and d ...
and
David Hein based on the events in Gander on and after 11 September was first performed at
Sheridan College in
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the ...
, following a workshop there the previous year. It became a co-production of the
La Jolla Playhouse and the
Seattle Repertory Theatre, and opened in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
on 29 May 2015. The show saw a production in
Washington, D.C., at
Ford's Theatre, from September to October 2016, then, prior to opening in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, staged a pair of shows in Gander. It opened at Toronto's
Royal Alexandra Theatre, running from November 2016 to January 2017, where it set a ticket sales record for the 109-year-old venue. It opened in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
on
Broadway at the
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, formerly the Plymouth Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 236 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was ...
on 12 March 2017, and is scheduled to return to the Royal Alex in Toronto on 13 February 2018. In the year 2017, at the
71st Tony Awards
The 71st Annual Tony Awards were held on June 11, 2017, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2016–17 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and was broadcast live by CBS.Viagas, Robert"Brea ...
, the musical was nominated for seven
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
s, alongside other musical award nominations, ultimately winning one for
Best Direction of a Musical by
Christopher Ashley.
Planetary nomenclature
In 1991, the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) officially named a
crater on Mars after Gander. Gander Crater lies at latitude 31.5° south, longitude 265.9° west; its diameter is .
Public parks, walking and ski trails
* Cobbs Pond Rotary Park: a small park located on the northern edge of Gander. Amenities include: picnic area, washrooms, wharf, playground and a boardwalk trail. It is also the site of the town’s annual festival, The Festival of Flight, which occurs on the first Monday of August. The site recently reopened with renovations.
* Thomas Howe Demonstration Forest: an interpretive demonstration forest located east of Gander on the Trans-Canada Highway. Amenities include: three walking trails with interpretive panels, a picnic area, washrooms and snowshoe trails.
* Gander Heritage Trails: meander through the streets of old airport sectors where Gander once existed, near Gander International Airport. Look for remnants of old building foundations, benches and interpretive panels.
* Newfoundland Trailway: the old
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
that passed through Gander has been developed for walking, biking, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. Some sections between Cobb’s Pond Rotary Park and the Old Town Site have been paved.
*The Airport Nordic Ski Club: located west of Gander on the Trans Canada Highway. The club has of trails groomed for both diagonal stride and skating by a Pisten Bully Groomer, and of dedicated snowshoe trails. Ski of lighted trails nightly from dusk until 10 PM (weather and snow conditions permitting). The club is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that has hosted a number of provincial events including the KidsFest, Midget and High School Championships.
* Gander Heritage Memorial Park: located in central Gander on Airport Boulevard. It holds various monuments to aviators and soldiers from Gander and from elsewhere in Newfoundland, and the town describes it as being "envisaged as a place of quiet thought and contemplation". There is a statue of
Gander, a
Newfoundland dog posthumously awarded the
Dickin Medal
The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on ...
, the "animals'
VC", in 2000 for his deeds in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
,
the first such award in over 50 years.
Freedom of the Town
In 2017, the
103 Search and Rescue Squadron
103 Search and Rescue Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force is a search and rescue unit based at 9 Wing Gander on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. The squadron is responsible for a large area covering the offshore waters of Canada's Excl ...
,
RCAF received the
Freedom of the Town award.
See also
*
North Atlantic Aviation Museum
The North Atlantic Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located in the town of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
History
The association to establish the museum was formed in 1985 and the museum opened to the public in 1996.
The muse ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Town of Gander (official site)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gander, Newfoundland And Labrador
Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador