70th Anniversary of Sabena Crash

Sept. 18 marks the 70th Anniversary of the historic Sabena crash which occurred when a DC4,OO-CBG, while on approach to Gander airport, crashed into the wilderness some 25NM SW of the runway in 1946. There were 44 people on board including the flight crew.16 survived but were severely injured. Unable to call for help they remained alive surviving the weather, the mosquitos and lack of food for 2 days before rescuers found them and administered assistance. Detailed information can be found on our website describing the rescue mission.

The GAHS will be hosting a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary on this date at the 103 SAR hanger under the authority of 9 Wing, Gander. Invited guests will include the Belgian Ambassador and USCG personal. During the ceremony, the GIAA will dedicate two streets at the airport in honour of two individuals who were instrumental in the rescue mission's success. In addition, 103 SAR will fly the ambassador and special members of the group to the crash site for an aerial viewing. Although this is a private ceremony due to Base security reasons, Rogers TV will be documenting the entire proceeding for public viewing on the Rogers local public channel. USCG is also celebrating its 100th anniversary by noting this rescue mission was the first time a helicopter was used in a civilian rescue. USCG then adopted the helicopter as its main rescue vehicle leading other countries to follow suit.

This was an historic aviation crash in not only was the helicopter proven to be a useful rescue aircraft but other aviation regulations were developed in the field of airport approach procedures and mandatory crew rest regulations. Civilian Ground Controlled Approach radar, the first in the world, was introduced at the Gander airport shortly after. Another role Gander played in aviation's history.

GAHS Has A New Director On Its Board

We would like to introduce you to Captain Josiah (Joe) Goodyear, our newest director, to our board effective immediately. Many who are from the area may have known Joe, son of Joe & Claris Goodyear, as a young lad who grew up in Gander. Joe is a retired officer of the Canadian Forces and is now working as a reservist for 9 Wing as their Heritage Officer. Joe has come to our attention for his work with us in liaison with 9 Wing on our planned Sabena Memorial Anniversary to be held on Sept 18 this year.  Joe was invited to be a director on our Board and has accepted his appointment. Joe's family of the Goodyear Humber Stores fame, was an integral part in the history of Gander airport.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Gander Airport Project

We have been in contact recently with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton ON. They are seeking our assistance in compiling information on the graphical layout of Gander Airport during the war years for a project they are getting underway. Their intent is to present a 3D simulated version of Gander during the war years to be available for all to see. This is as big of a compliment to Gander’s history that we could ever imagine. We are so looking forward being a part of assisting in the creation of this project. We ask everyone’s assistance in passing along to us photographic information on Gander up until 1958. there is no such thing as a bad photo that shows our historical past.

Link Updates

We just finished updating our links in the right hand column. We have added Lisa Daly's blog 'Plane Crash Girl’. Lisa is an Aviation Archaeologist and is a contributor to our website. Her latest piece deals with a Digby bomber that crashed during the war very near where the Czechoslovakian IL18 crashed in 1967. This looks like this will be a very interesting blog to follow in the future. We also added a link to our Twitter account. This account has been in effect since last summer and is raising a lot of interest around the world. We have followers from as far away as California, Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Turkey, Germany and the UK. Just goes to show that people from everywhere are curious about Gander Airport's history.

New York Times Article on Gander Airport

Doing research on articles for the GAHS website sometimes brings the greatest pleasure when you find a nugget that we didn’t know existed. Such is what we found quite recently when browsing for past news items, we happen to come across this article in the NY Times about Gander Airport written 10 years ago. Reading the news item from such a prestigious news paper, it made us realize that Gander Airport still resonates with it’s past history. Something that is still remembered and understood by those who you would think might consider us as insignificant. Just goes to show just how rich the airport’s history really is.

Gander's First Aircraft Landing Jan 11, 1938

We make note that Jan 11 will be the 78th anniversary of the first aircraft to land at Gander airport by Captain Douglas Fraser in his Fox Moth VO-ADE. This date is very important as a most significant event in Gander Airport's history and to the town itself. Events such as this should always be remembered because in most cases it eventually affected us all.

Seasons Greetings

A special thank you to everyone for their interest in the historical features of the Gander Airport. We really appreciate your support. From all of us here at GAHS we wish everyone a Merry Christmas  and a Happy New Year. I am sure the people at the Big Dipper shown here back in the 50’s would wish you the same greetings.

RCAF Gander WWII Publications

We have just finished posting the last of the RCAF Gander Magazines that we have collected to this date. There are a few more missing which we hope to collect in the future. For those who have been following this collection, we have improved our website in order to make reading these editions more accessible. Downloading and saving these magazines are no longer necessary. Clicking on the link now will load the magazine directly to your browser. Our software hasn’t improved to allow this. We have just learned how to do a few more tasks in the software’s application. We are still not too old to learn new tricks.

GAHS General Meeting Report

The Gander Airport Historical Society Inc. held it's 3rd Annual Meeting on Sept 15. We have completed 2 successful years since our official startup in 2013. At the meeting the Board of directors re-elected Jack Pinsent as President and George Innes as Treasurer for their 2nd term of office.  To highlight the GAHS activities for the past year; the society has become incorporated and now includes the abbreviated INC after it's title. An application for the entitlement of 'Charitable Status' has been submitted to the CRA in order to provided receipts for a tax credit to prospective donors. Our main accomplishment for the past year was the erection of a memorial for the fatal crash of CSA Flight 523 in 1967. The main project for the society in the coming year will be the commencement of the construction of a model of the old airport of the early 1950s. The project is presently being evaluated by a model builder for a cost analysis.  We are happy to report that our website continues to provide a growing interest in the airports history

Senior Hockey Web Page Fixed

Our apologizes for the dead links on our webpage Senior Hockey . A change in a website link causes this . This is a problem we try to avoid by not linking to other websites.We are at the mercy of others. When we make an exception this is what happens. Don’t get us wrong . It is not the fault of the originator, this is what happens from time to time. Anyway no big deal, the problem is corrected. We will make this note however, whenever you see a dead link, let us know. You are contributing to our website when you do this.

Website Restructuring Of The WWII Era

We have added a new section to the WWII era by adding ‘Magazines’ . We have come across several magazines produced by the RCAF entitled ‘Gander” from Brandon, Manitoba’s Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum. These are very good magazines but too large to put on a web page. To overcome this problem we have provided a link in order for you to download them in a PDF file format, to read on your PDF Reader. So far we have 6 of these magazines which tells of the very interesting life in Gander during the war. We will be posting these editions individually on a timely basis rather than flooding the section with too much information. For some it will give the opportunity to read about your grandparents/parents contribution during the war.

Special Gander Day Website Addition

To commemorate this years Gander Day, the GAHS is introducing a new section in the Transition Era entitled Streets of Gander that will include 14 articles. Frank Tibbo has written some fine documents on people directly involved with the town of Gander and it’s airport. Most of the street names in Gander themselves have an historical connection and are easily identified. Others, not so much. This section will deal mainly with street names that have, in some way, a direct connection to Gander Airport's history. Transposing Frank’s information on individuals who had street named after them, made us realize just how deserving they were. Their contributions should be told and not forgotten. Other names will continually be added with time. It is also our desire to bring forward more names for the town to consider in the future naming of streets.

New Director On GAHS Board

We are pleased to announced the appointment of Maurice Geange to our Board of Directors. Maurice has lived in Gander just about all of his life and has a special interest in Gander Airport's history. We are looking forward to working with Maurice. He will be an excellent addition.

Tip Of The Hat To Charlie Falk

We recently received a request from a German publishing company requesting photos of Gander Airport showing communist country airplanes in Gander. They plan to publish an article about the airport on how it was an important stop from the eastern European countries on the way to Cuba. Thanks to Charlie Falk's generosity he has supplied us photos for this publication.

Come From Away Musical

After last weekend's memorial to the rescue response to CSA 523 back in 1967, this news release just goes to show how Gander/Newfoundland responds to aviation emergencies. Or any emergencies for that matter.

CSA Memorial Map

With reference to our comments below about a nice 1.5 km walk via the trailway to visit the Czechoslovakian Memorial, this map is to assist those not familiar with the area.

OK523 Memorial Unveiled June 27

An excellent day and an excellent turn out. The weather was a little chilly but it was dry. The unveiling ceremony was conducted by the Right Rev. Dr. Marion Pardy and the unveiling by Alena Zimova, a survivor. The GIAA did a commendable job from constructing the memorial site, preparing the area with appropriate seating/facilities, transportation from parking area and hosting a social for everyone after in the International Lounge at the terminal. Brian Hicks and Stephen Burbridge should take a bow for this. The ATV trailway is in excellent condition making it a very nice 1.5 km walk for pedestrians. Got to https://twitter.com/GahsYQX for more photos

OK523 Crash Memorial

This coming Saturday, June 27,  at 2:00 PM, the Gander Airport Historical Society will be dedicating a memorial to commemorate the tragedy that occurred on Sept. 5, 1967.  Alena Zimova, one of the survivors will be doing the honour of unveiling this memorial. Transportation will be provided to the original crash site commencing after 1:00 PM shown on the map below.

Gander Airport Terminals

Just a humorous thought that come to mind. Our first terminal was the old Administration Building, better referred now as 'the GAHS logo'. Then after WWII the old RAF hangers were renovated and became the  "International Terminal, Cross Roads of The World". To update your memory, Heathrow Airport started construction in 1946. We are already on our second terminal. In 1958 a new third terminal was built which now became known as the "New Terminal". We are starting to run out of titles. Shouldn't the next terminal be called "Terminal Four"?  Toronto only has 3 .  We deserve it. Go, CYQX, Go.

GAHS Now "tweetable"

We have officially opened our new twitter account. Visit us at https://twitter.com/GahsYQX. Follow us and catch up on all the new updates. Be aware, we are new at this so be patient with our errors.