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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Ferry Command Pilot

Captain Don McVicar OBE was a part of the civilian Ferry Command group that flew out of Gander to Britain during the war. After the war he formed World Wide Aviation Consulting, ferrying aircraft through out the world. When he retired he wrote 12 books, many of them telling of his exciting career as a pilot. One book in particular was entitled Ferry Command Pilot. His daughter Donna McVicar-Kazo has dedicated a photo gallery page on her website from her father’s photo and sketch collection for your viewing.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

New Corporate Sponsor

We would like to introduce our new corporate sponsor, Alistair Ingram Medicine Professional Corp. Dr. Ingram is a Professor of Medicine and Director, Division of Nephrology, McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. Dr. Ingram was very generous in making an unsolicited donation to the Gander Airport Historical Society. Dr. Ingram has indicated to us he has pleasant memories of Gander Airport.We are pleased to add his name as one of our corporate sponsors.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

OK523 Crash Survivor to Visit Gander

On Sept 5, 1967, OK523 (Czechoslovakian Airlines) crashed while on departure. Of the 69 passengers onboard, 34 survived. We here at GAHS have received a request from a family whose mother was a survivor on OK523. The mother is about to celebrate her 80th birthday and wishes to visit the crash site and tour the airport this year. They asked if we could assist her in organizing these tours. Indeed we can and it will be our honour to do so. We are now in the stages of planning a first class welcome for this lady. Plans will also include meeting with hospital staff and airport rescue personnel who assisted in her survival. We are expecting a lot of support from everyone in Gander on her visit in early September. Gander’s hospitable reputation will be in good hands. We will keep everyone informed of our plans for her visit as they develop.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Ferry Command history revisited


In the past month we were contacted by Ted Beaudoin of Wellon, Ontario expressing his interest in our website along with his compliments. He is in the pre-publishing editorial stages of a book he has written on the civilians who participated with Ferry Command during the war. His book, titled ‘Earth Angels Rising’, pays tribute to the people and the legacy they have passed along to the commercial aviation system of today. This book promises to be very interesting and informative as it will deal extensively with Gander Airport’s participation. Further information can be learned from his Face Book page which deals with the subject. Also the Gander Beacon recently reported on the Mr. Beaudoin writings which is definitely worth the read.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Newfoundland Quarterly

Just prior to the holiday season we were informed the Newfoundland Quarterly is considering publishing an article about the Gander Airport Historical Society this coming year. The Newfoundland Quarterly is a cultural journal of Newfoundland and Labrador and is published by Memorial University. This is quite an honour to be introduced to the historical interests of Newfoundland and Labrador. An introduction such as this should give the GAHS credibility as a bona fide historical society and open many doors for us in the future. More details to be provided when a date has been set for publication. Our thanks go out to Rev. Marion Pardy, a GAHS Board Director, for making these arrangements.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Happy New Year

We here at GAHS would like to wish all our visitors at the Airport Coffee Shop and the GAHS, a Happy New Year.  As we celebrate our first anniversary we thank everyone for their patronage in making 2013 a major success. We look forward to the year ahead of us. The holiday season has brought several developments to our attention that we will be bringing  to the forefront in the next few months. We expect a very exciting and informative 2014. Thank you all.