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***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
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fbzrobql fgbyr zl uvag! Vg jnf n fvta va n arneol gerr.