The Beatles at Gander Airport

We just received a phone call from a Mr. Eric McDow, a retired director of the American Federation of Musicians Lcl 571, with a question on Gander Airport’s history. He went on to say that this coming Sunday (Feb 9) is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. During a discussion with one of his comrades he made a comment that it was 50 years ago that the Beatles first touched down in North American at JFK. His comrade corrected him by saying the Beatles first touched down at Gander Airport when their PAA B707 landed for refuelling due to unfavourable winds on their way to JFK. This was the purpose of the phone call. Did the Beatles land at Gander on their way to New York? We were asked to confirm. The answer is ‘YES’. Not many people are aware of this event but they did indeed land at Gander Airport. He was then directed to listen to Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe in Gander for confirmation. The GAHS is quickly becoming a source of unusual tidbits of historical information.