The British Overseas Airway Corporation (BOAC) came to Newfoundland to find a suitable place for an airport. Their motivation was two-fold: Profit and Pitstops. They began construction at an abandoned sawmill at mile 213 of the Newfoundland Railway, and thus was the origin of the Newfoundland Airport.

The First airplane lands at Gander, it’s a ski-equipped Fox Moth, call sign VO-ADE. The single engine bi-plane is operated by Imperial Airways for the Newfoundland Government and flown by Captain Douglas Fraser.

On November 10th, seven Hudson Bombers left Gander and headed East. No one had ever flown the North Atlantic this late in the year. Yet, 13 hours later, all seven bombers landed safely at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland. By the war’s end, nearly 10,000 aircraft had been ferried from Gander to Great Britain.

September 18, 35 kms Southwest of Gander, a Douglas DC-4 owned by Belgian airline, Sabena, goes down in a dense area of wood. For the first time in Newfoundland history, helicopters were used, shipped in from the US, to facilitate carrying out 18 survivors of the 44 onboard.

To make money, airlines needed to transport passengers, not fuel; and the early aircraft were bulky and fuel inefficient. By making an intermediate stop at Gander to refuel, commercial airlines increased their revenue, and every transatlantic flight had to stop here. Gander was nicknamed, “Crossroads of the World”.

In the early 50’s, with safety of residents in mind, a town planning scheme was developed to construct a new townsite just west of the airport at what would become Gander’s current location. A planned community, completely built from scratch. The present municipality was incorporated in 1958

December 12, a DC-8 with a crew of eight, carrying 248 peace-keeping U.S. military personnel home to the U.S from the Sinai Desert crashes upon take off leaving Gander, killing every person on board. This remains today the largest and most tragic aviation accident in Canadian history.

On September 11, Canadian and U.S airspace is shut down in the immediate aftermath or the terrorist attacks in the United States. Over 200 flights are redirected to alternate airports in Canada with 42 of those flights rerouted to Gander airport.