***This cache is available again - for the 3rd time. The container
is now a camoed cigarette tub.***
The airport – what would Gander be without it?
The town of Gander can date it’s beginnings back to 1936 when
the construction of the international airport began in earnest. By
the time that the first airplane landed at Gander in early 1938,
the airfield had four paved runways, and was the largest airport in
the world.
During World War II, the airport at Gander became the main
staging point for the movement of Allied aircraft to Europe.
Gander's location on the Great Circle Route made it an ideal
wartime refueling and maintenance depot for bombers flying
overseas.
On Nov. 10, 1940, the first fleet of seven Lockheed Hudson
bombers left Gander and flew across the Atlantic during the Battle
of Britain. Another 20,000 North American-built fighters and heavy
bombers would follow. One of the Hudson bombers is now on display
at the Aviation Museum.
With all the wartime flying from Gander, there were many
accidents. So many men of the RCAF were killed this way, that
Gander now has the only Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
outside Europe.
With the end of World War II, Gander began to play a vital role
in the future of North Atlantic passenger services. Commercial
aviation now replaced military bombers.
Airlines such as Pan-American World Airways, Trans-World
Airline, Trans Canada Airlines (later Air Canada) and British
Overseas Airway Corporation (later British Airways) began regular
Atlantic air service through Gander. Gander handled 13,000 aircraft
and a quarter million passengers annually. Gander airport became
one of the busiest international airports in the world, and became
known as the “Crossroads of the World”. However, with the arrival
of the jet age, Gander witnessed a decrease in the number of
scheduled air carriers that would stop here.
During the Cold War, Gander became a stopping place for many
Soviet dignitaries en route to nuclear summits. Hockey players and
ballet dancers, Hollywood stars and politicians stopped here.
Nikita Khrushchev passed through Gander, so did Marilyn Monroe.
Fidel Castro was a frequent visitor at Gander, en route between
Havana and Moscow. In the 1960s, a resident took him for a toboggan
ride.
Since the ’50s, Gander has been vitally important as a North
Atlantic Air Traffic Control Centre. The Nav Canada Area Control
Centre at Gander controls all North American oceanic air traffic as
far East as the mid-Atlantic. This Centre, and the town of Gander,
again became an aviation focal point in 2001.
On September 11, 2001, this Centre was responsible for
redirecting all westbound North Atlantic air traffic. More than 400
aircraft were headed for North America that day, and Gander’s ACC
landed 40 planes at Gander, again making aviation history. For
nearly a week the population of Gander almost doubled!
Gander’s fortunes have been up and down. As jet liners began to
cross the Atlantic without refueling, the airport’s traffic
declined. Once the town’s largest, and busiest employer, today it
is just a quiet airport, that handles mostly private jets – but
still occasionally plays host to Fidel Castro.
When you find this cache, look up – way up! Maybe you can wave
to Fidel Castro, or Elton John, or Wayne Gretzky. Or maybe a friend
who’s just passing through Gander. But don’t think you’re alone!
Hundreds of thousands of people have passed over the very spot
where you stand – on their final approach to YQX.
Sometime between Jun. 11 & Jun. 17, this cache went missing.
I realize the flies in the area are quite plentiful, but I don't
think they could carry away a cache! The most unfortunate thing
about this missing cache is that it contained a Travel Bug (Snoopy
Rides Again). I have now placed a new cache in the same location as
the original. If you are aware of what happened to the original
cache, please drop me a line. Hopefully the missing TB can be
recovered.
This new cache is another white cigarette tub, and when placed,
it contained:
Log book & pencils
Pencil sharpener
Candle
Kinder Surprise
Slinky
Laser Pointer
Whistle
Rubik's Cube
Combination lock
13 function camping knife
Carpenter's level
