Gander - 1937

by Frank Tibbo

Heavy construction really got moving in the spring as construction crews moved in. By April the workforce had increased considerably. Work proceeded at a fast pace on runway construction, obtaining a source of electrical energy, constructing buildings for radio communications and navigational apparatus, construction of giant tanks for gasoline storage; fitting together pumping systems, installing runway lighting, a hangar and an administration building - all in preparation for the first experimental flights.

The Administration Building, when completed, would be the first air terminal building until the opening of the air terminal on the "RAF Side" nine years later in Hangar 22.

A London newspaper reported in February: "The biggest and best equipped airport in the British Empire is being built in Newfoundland 60 miles from Botwood where the North Atlantic flying boat terminus is being prepared. The airport will be the terminus of the North Atlantic landplane service which, it is confidently believed, will be the ultimate method of crossing the Atlantic. Every sort of investigation is being made by the Air Ministry and Imperial Airways to determine the best way of overcoming the difficulties of the Atlantic. It is 1,500 yards in every direction and has four runaways 200 yards in width in which is inlaid with an ingenious system of lights to guide a pilot landing and taking off in fog. The Lorenz apparatus for blind landing is being installed together with the most elaborate system of radio and lighting at any airport in the world. The airport will be opened in September."

Howard Barnes had been installing transmitter towers in Botwood and moved to Newfoundland Airport (Gander) to do similar work: "I was working in Botwood in 1936 when Ned Beaton asked me if I wanted a job on the Gander with the British Marconi Company. I had been installing transmitter towers, and would be doing the same thing in Gander. The job looked like a steady one, and the pay was good, $75.00 per month, so I accepted. I moved in Gander in 1937." And so Howard Barnes, native of English Harbour, Trinity Bay, became one of the pioneers of Gander.

Mr. Tom Lannon was the first man to bring his family to live here.

On Nov. 21 at 4:00 p.m. the Power House was in operation for first time.

A photo taken on Dec. 20 shows the scaffolding around the Administration Building. The exterior was complete except for glass in the tower.

Stone-crushing took place at Hall's Quarry (8 -10 miles east of Gander on the rail line near Benton) that provided stone by the rail car load for construction at the Newfoundland Airport.

The Grand Falls Advertiser published the following article in February, 1937;

"AIRPORT WILL BE BEST IN THE EMPIRE.

The biggest and best equipped airport in the British Empire is being built in Newfoundland 60 miles from Botwood where the North Atlantic flying boat terminus is being prepared, says the London Evening News. The airport will be the terminus of the North Atlantic landplane service which, it is confidently believed, will be the ultimate method of crossing the Atlantic. Every sort of investigation is being made by the Air Ministry and Imperial Airways to determine the best way of overcoming the difficulties of the Atlantic. They are experimenting with flying boats, the Mayo Composite aircraft, and land planes. Two of the landplanes are being built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company and are 200-mile- an-hour 14 passenger machines with a range of 3,000 miles. The reason why landplanes are likely to prove the best method is because waterways in Newfoundland and Canada are frozen over for nearly six months in the year. This makes flying boat operation only a seasonal affair, whereas there is no difficulty in operating landplanes all the year round. Owing to curious conditions some Canadian lakes do not freeze, but the spray tossed up by a flying boat when taking off freezes on the hull and wings immediately, making operation impracticable. At Botwood the water is frozen for six months every year, and a seasonal air service could not be tolerated. The only real point in favour of the flying boat is the psychological security it gives to passengers over long stretches of open sea. It would, however, be more economical for Imperial Airways to operate flying boats in view of their new Empire flying boat policy, but they are sufficiently broad-minded not to allow such a consideration to influence them if regularity of service is to suffer. In anticipation of the turn of the tide, this great new airport is being built near Botwood. It is 1,500 yards in every direction and has four runaways 200 yards in width in which is inlaid an ingenious system of lights to guide a pilot landing and taking off in fog. The Lorenz apparatus for blind landing is being installed together with the most elaborate system of radio and lighting at any airport in the world. The airport will be opened in September. From here the service will run to Montreal and New York."

Notes on the foregoing article:

Ten years after the author wrote that the, "only real point in favour of the flying boat is the psychological security it gives to passengers over long stretches of open sea," the 69 passengers and crew aboard the Bermuda Sky Queen probably said, "Amen brother!". They were all saved because they were crossing the North Atlantic in a flying boat.

The "Mayo Composite aircraft" referred to in the article was the Short-Mayo composite. During the early days of trans-Atlantic flight in 1938 these experiments well-known. They used a four-engine floatplane, Mercury, sitting atop a four-engine seaplane Maia, which was about twice its size. The idea was for the Maia to hump the whole rig up to altitude and get it on its way; then the Mercury would separate and continue to destination. The Composite made a few revenue flights before the outbreak of World War II, including a 6,000 mile trip that remains a distance record for seaplanes.

"The airport will be opened in September" (1937). The first aircraft to land at the partially completed airport was Fraser on Jan. 11, 1938. Paving commenced in August, 1939. The airport was completed on Oct. 3, 1939.

"The Lorenz apparatus for blind landing is being installed." The German-made Lorenz system was a good landing aid, however, it ceased operating due to a lack of spare parts. The spare parts were in the country with which we were at war.

contributed by F. Tibbo