The Founding documents of Gander Airport
by R.G. Pelley
This is the actual, original report sent to authorities by T A Hall and Allan Vatcher on 15 November 1935, after the survey by Mr Vatcher of the area south of Mile-post 213.
The original five-page report by TA Hall which describes the general situation and includes expected unit costs for materials and labour.
- T A Hall report page 1
- T A Hall report page 2
- T A Hall report page 3
- T A Hall report page 4
- T A Hall report page 5
Allan Vatcher's original 9-page report spells out the specifications the new airport had to meet in terms of approaches, drainage, obstacles, etc. He goes on to describe the soil and subsurface, wind conditions, the lay of the land and other survey information. His basic task was to describe to what degree the area south of Hattie's Camp met the conditions sent out by British authorities.
- Vatcher report page 1
- Vatcher report page 2
- Vatcher report page 3
- Vatcher report page 4
- Vatcher report page 5
- Vatcher report page 6
- Vatcher report page 7
- Vatcher report page 8
- Vatcher report page 9
Five original maps compliment his report. One is a black-and-white map of Newfoundland where one can clearly see, marked in red, the words "proposed site".
The second Vatcher map is more of a close-up of the Gander region. You can see next to the name "Hatties Camp" a circle in red indicating where he suggested the placement of the airport, out of 4 possible choices.
There are three other maps giving for example horizontal elevation cuts, contour lines, survey trails and similar survey information.
These documents are stored at the Nfld Archives in St John's, NL.©
