Come from away…to Gander

If you know about Gander, Newfoundland, you must have an interest in history or aviation. I guess we fall in both categories. Because Gander is all about the airport and we wanted to take it all in.

Gander didn’t exist until air travel became more practical. In 1935, this area was chosen to have an airport because it was on the Great Circle Route between London and New York City. Planes could make it across the Atlantic, but they had to refuel once across the ocean. If you look at the map below, you can see if you are flying west from London, the first bit of land you come in North American is Newfoundland. And thus Gander Airport was born.

The town of Gander came after the airport. And the airport became ever more important during World War II, becoming a base for refueling and ferrying airplanes over to Europe.

Once the war was over and commercial air travel boomed, Gander became a refueling point for travel between Europe and the USA. At one point, it was the busiest airport it the World. Gander was also used by the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. Travel between Russia and Cuba included a stop at Gander. Defections from Russia at the Gander Airport was not unusual.

We visited the International Terminal at the Gander Airport which still retains it midcentury-modern furnishings.

In the Terminal they had pictures of some of the famous people that passed through here. For example, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and Fidel Castro.

When the International Terminal opened in 1959, Queen Elizabeth traveled here for the Opening. The fact in of itself was interesting, but I totally cracked up when I used the ladies room at the airport.

Gander was also the site of a horrific plane crash of US Servicemen on their way home from peacekeeping duties in Syria.

Gander’s most recent entry into the history books happened on September 11, 2001. Yes, 9/11. When the USA closed American airspace on that horrible day, all flights coming into the USA were told to land immediately. Gander, a town of 9000 people, ended up with an airport filled with 38 planes and 7000 passengers.

The town of Gander and neighboring communities came together to set up shelters to house all these people of many nationalities for 4 days until US airspace opened again. It really is a remarkable story.

There is a book called The Day the World Came to Town that is an excellent read. It details the stories of the “Plane People” and the residents (I am rereading it as an eBook from my library right now!).

In addition, there is a Tony Award winning musical called Come From Away. “Come from away” is a phrase applied to someone who is not from an area. So the Plane People had “come from away.” Gander has their own production of the musical. Most people visiting Newfoundland take the time to see the play. We were among them!

The play was EXCELLENT!!!! You would think a musical around 9/11 would be difficult to pull off. But the playwrights did. The play focuses on what the town had to do to accommodate all the visitors. Residents were donating bedding, clothing, and a tremendous amount of cooking went on. The local ice hockey rink was used as a walk-in refrigerator! Seeing this musical will restore your faith in humanity.

A film was made of the Broadway production. If you have Apple TV, you can find the film there. I highly encourage you to watch it. Again, the musical was EXCELLENT!

Gander is a remarkable town and probably one of the high points of our visit to Newfoundland. This blog post doesn’t do the town’s hospitality (then and now) justice.