North Atlantic Aviation Museum

Gander Airport plans began in 1935, when an agreement between Newfoundland and a number of countries was signed, to facilitate the development of commercial and military aviation across the North Atlantic. The chosen site boasted good weather and lay adjacent to the Newfoundland Railway at Milepost 213, an important consideration when it came time to ship building supplies and equipment. Just as important was nearby Gander Lake, a potential flying boat base. Gander was also on what was to become the Great Circle Route - the shortest geographic air route from eastern North America to Europe. In 1936, construction of facilities began at the Newfoundland Airport, as Gander was then called. By 1939, the airport had 4 paved runways and was the largest airport in the world. The first landing was in 1938, completed by Douglas Fraser, a Newfoundland aviator, in a Fox Moth. The first landing of an aircraft from abroad was the next May (Charles Bachman departed and was never heard from again). That same month two Handley-Page Harrow tanker aircraft began to conduct mid-air refueling trials for Imperial Airways' transatlantic flying boat service. In 1940, Canadian infantry units and RCAF Digby aircraft of No. 10 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron (10BR) arrived to defend the airport. From 1942 to 1944, RCAF Hurricanes gave aerial support; PBY Cansos and long-range anti-submarine Liberators escorted marine convoys and patrolled the northwest Atlantic. By 1945, RCAF aircraft had destroyed at least 3 enemy submarines. Gander's location made it an ideal refueling and maintenance depot for bombers enroute overseas. Success of these delivery flights led to increased activity and by 1945 Gander had serviced about 10,000 aircraft from the RAF Ferry Command/US Air Transport Command. After war's end in 1945, our location on the New York to London route continued to make it a vital refueling and maintenance terminal for east- and westbound traffic. By 1950, with upward of 1000 passengers daily and eight international airlines using its facilities, Gander was termed "Crossroads of the World."

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In 1933 the US Navy ordered the first PBY-5A Catalina. It's prototype XP3Y-1 was first flown on March 28, 1935. It went on to become the most successful flying boat to see service in the US Forces in WWII. The Catalina was produced in greater numbers than any other flying boat - over 3,000 were built. These aircraft were used in WWII by the American, British and Soviet Air Forces. Many of these aircraft came through Gander on their way across the Atlantic and some stayed as patrols for enemy submarines in coastal waters. A fact on the Cat: In May 1941 a Catalina located and shadowed one of Germany's greatest warships. The "Bismarck", denying it free passage to France. With the Cat's help the large enemy vessel was destroyed by the Allied Forces. Canadians know Catalinas as Cansos. This particular Canso registered as C-FCRP has been owned by Canadian Pacific Airlines, Trans-Labrador Airlines, EPA, Newfoundland Government and finally, the North Atlantic Aviation Museum. This aircraft had many roles such as cable patrols, ice patrols, mail flights and general charters. It was leased in 1958 and then purchased by EPA in 1959 and used generally as a passenger service. It was then bought and modified into a water bomber by the Newfoundland Government in 1966 til its retirement in 1987. As a water bomber it held 8000 lbs of water taking 14 to 17 seconds to fill up and approximately 2 seconds to discharge. It had successfully completed over 10,000 drops under the forestry service. In all its services, the aircraft logged approximately 11,421 hours of total air time. The aircraft was donated to the museum in 1987.

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The Beech Model 18 was originally produced for the small feeder airline market in 1937 and is best remembered for its service as a corporate aircraft, passenger liner and bush freighter. Its continuing popularity led to a production period of 32 years during which time over 9100 aircraft of various versions were built. The Beech 18 became known to many as the "EXPEDITER", used by the RCAF and RAF as a light transport bomber and weapons trainer from 1939 until its retirement in 1970. In 1952, under an agreement between the Wichita plant and Winnipeg's MacDonald Brothers, the B-18 was converted into an armament trainer. The project commenced after interest came from the Chilean Government in equipping a recently purchased fleet with machine guns, bombs and rockets. Its fuselage under went stress checks in Wichita as the new model 18 was flown to Winnipeg where MacDonald Brothers technicians began the immediate installation of nose guns, rocket-rails, bomb racks, gun sight and camera mounts. Despite fairly successful results, no further armed models were built after March 27, 1954. The Beech 18 is currently on permanent loan from the College of the North Atlantic, and was used for an extensive period by the Royal Canadian Navy. For the past several years, it had been used extensively as part of the College's Aircraft Maintenance course.

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Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The B-17 was a low-wing monoplane, and was the first Boeing military aircraft with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit and was armed with bombs and five .30-caliber machine guns, mounted in clear "blisters." The first B-17s saw combat in 1941, when the British Royal Air Force took delivery of several B-17s for high-altitude missions. As World War II intensified, the bombers needed additional armament and armour. The B-17E, the first mass-produced model Flying Fortress, carried nine machine guns and a 4,000-pound bomb load. It was several tons heavier than the prototypes and bristled with armament. It was the first Boeing airplane with the distinctive - and enormous - tail for improved control and stability during high-altitude bombing. Each version was more heavily armed. The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. They sometimes limped back to their bases with large chunks of the fuselage shot off. Boeing plants built a total of 6,981 B-17s in various models, and another 5,745 were built under a nationwide collaborative effort by Douglas and Lockheed. Only a few B-17s survive today; most were scrapped at the end of the war. Some of the last Flying Fortresses met their end as target drones in the 1960s - destroyed by Boeing missiles. For your interest, the scant remains of a crashed B-17 lie next to the walking trail in Thomas Howe Demonstration Forest, just a couple minutes drive East from Hotel Gander.

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The Douglas "Digby" (called "Bolo" by the U.S. Military) was the RCAF designation for the Douglas DB-280, a modification of the DB-18A, a twin-engined medium bomber produced in the 1930's for the U.S. Army Air Corps. It was a development of the DC-2, having the same wings, engines, and tail components as the transport. The first two of twenty acquired by the RCAF were flown to Sweetgrass, Montana, on the U.S.-- Canada border in April of 1940, prior to the United States entry into World War II. In observance of the neutrality laws, the Digbys were towed across the border into Canada at Coutts, Alberta. Similarly, Lockheed Hudsons, North American Harvard's, and other aircraft were towed across the border at Emerson, Manitoba. The Digbys served with Nos. 10 and 161 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadrons of Eastern Air Command, acting as patrol bombers, and with Nos. 121, 164 and 167 Transport Squadrons. The first attack on a U-boat by EAC was carried out by S/L (later, Air Marshal, ret'd.) C.L. Annis, flying a Digby of No. 10 (B.R.) Squadron Gander on 25 October 1941. Digby's of EAC carried out eleven attacks on Nazi U-boats and destroyed one, the U-520, far out in the North Atlantic by F/0 D.F. Raymes of No. 10 (B.R.) Squadron on 30 October 1942.

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