Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador

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This article is about the Canadian town. For other uses, see Gander.

Gander is a Canadian town located in northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, approximately 40 kilometres south of Gander Bay and 90 kilometres east of Grand Falls. Located on the northeastern shore of Gander Lake, it is the site of Gander International Airport, an important refuelling point for transatlantic aircraft.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 See also
4 External links

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History

Image:GanderInternationalAirport911.jpg Gander was chosen for the construction of an airbase in 1935 due to its location close to the northeast tip of the American continent. In 1936 construction of the base began and the town started to develop. During the Second World War as many as 10,000 people were settled around the airbase. Once the war was over the air base became a civilian airport and the location of the town was moved a safe distance from the runways. The present municipality was incorporated in 1958.

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" as that nearly all overseas flights had to stop before crossing the Alantic. Recently efforts have been made to diversify the economy from being dependent on the airport, particularly as new aircraft designs have permitted longer-range flights without the need for landing to refuel.

On December 12, 1985 Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashed on take-off from runway 21. The disaster claimed the lives of 8 crew and 248 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division who were returning home for Christmas from a peacekeeping deployment in the Middle East. The impact on the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway on the shore of Gander Lake left a charred clearing in the forest where a memorial now stands to those who lost their lives in Canada's most deadly air crash. There is much controversy about the reasons for the crash. However, the main theory is that there was heavy ice build-up on the aircraft, though the evidence is weak.

The importance of the Gander airport to world aviation was again recognized in the immediate hours following the September 11, 2001 attacks when all of North America's airspace was closed by NORAD, and 39 trans-Atlantic flights bound for the United States were ordered to land at the airport—more flights than any other Canadian airport other than Halifax International (Vancouver International received the most passengers, at 8,500.) This was largely because Transport Canada and NAV CANADA asked that trans-Atlantic flights avoid the major airports in central Canada, like Lester B. Pearson in Toronto and Montréal-Dorval. Over 6,600 passengers and airline crew members unexpectedly found themselves forced to stay in the Gander area for up to three days until airspace was reopened and flights resumed. Residents of Gander and surrounding communities volunteered to house, feed, and entertain the travellers in what became known as Operation Yellow Ribbon. Subsequently, Lufthansa named one of its Airbus A340 aircraft Gander Halifax to thank both cities for their handling of rerouted travellers on 9/11.