A small but mighty airport called Gander

A little distraction from the self-imposed confinement might be welcome... this morning I came across a story about a little known international airport with an unlikely location where the first airplane landed in 1938.

Gander’s beginnings date back to 1936 when the construction of the international airport began in earnest. By the end of 1937, a 900-person team had begun construction. A few years later the airfield had four paved runways – the largest airport in the world at the time.

In the early years of aviation, the Gander Airport in Newfoundland, Canada served as an obligatory stop for refueling between Europe and America. This made the small town of Gander into an unlikely international hub, hosting celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and the Queen of England.

By the 1950s, Gander airport was one of the busiest international airports in the world, buoyed by transoceanic traffic. Pan-American World Airways, Trans-World Airline, Trans Canada Airlines (later Air Canada), and British Overseas Airway Corporation (later British Airways) began regular Atlantic air service through Gander. 13,000 aircraft and a quarter million passengers were handled annually, requiring a new $3 million terminal to be built and opened in June 19, 1959. Take a peak...