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| Established | 1985 |
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| Location | Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. |
| Coordinates | 48°57′09″N54°37′22″W / 48.952423°N 54.622791°W |
| Type | Aviation Museum |
| Website | North Atlantic Aviation Museum |
The North Atlantic Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located in the town of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The association to establish the museum was formed in 1985 and the museum opened to the public in 1996. [1]
The museum contains 4 primary sections; the construction of Gander International Airport and Gander's involvement in World War II, particularly with regards to RAF Ferry Command. Second is a section regarding International and transatlantic civilian travel. Next is a section on Eastern Provincial Airways as well as international flights from Eastern Bloc nations, the Soviet Union and Cuba. Finally, there is a section on Gander's participation during 9/11 when over 6700 passengers were rerouted to Gander International Airport, with a steel beam from the World Trade Center on permanent display. Various other displays and artifacts are scattered around the museum, including an operational Rolls-Royce Merlin engine produced by Packard, a Link Trainer, a de Havilland Tiger Moth and the oldest known mercury barometer in Newfoundland.
Aviation has played a crucial role in the development of Gander. The original airport, then known as the Newfoundland Airport, was completed in 1938 with the first landing on January 11 of that year. It was a major refueling stop for transatlantic flights starting during the Second World War (RAF Ferry Command and later RAF Transport Command) and continuing until the increased range of commercial jetliners eliminated the need for refueling. Gander earned the nickname "Crossroads of the world" at the height of its civil aviation role. Gander was used for test flights of Concorde starting in 1974. On September 11, 2001, Gander played host to 6700 people stranded on redirected and rerouted US-bound international flights. [2]
The museum's static displays include: an F-101 Voodoo, a Lockheed Hudson, [3] a "Canso" waterbomber (derived from the PBY Catalina), a de Havilland Tiger Moth, and a Beechcraft Model 18-S. In the front of the building the tail of a 1930s-era Douglas DC-3 is used as an awning, and the cockpit of the same plane is located on the back of the building and can be accessed from inside.
The museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.
British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first ever non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented them with the Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane in "less than 72 consecutive hours." A small amount of mail was carried on the flight, making it the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) a week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.
Gander is a town located in the northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Gander Bay, 100 km (62 mi) south of Twillingate and 90 km (56 mi) east of Grand Falls-Windsor. Located on the northeastern shore of Gander Lake, it is the site of Gander International Airport, once an important refuelling stop for transatlantic aircraft. The airport is still a preferred emergency landing point for aircraft facing on-board medical or security issues.
RAF Ferry Command was the secretive Royal Air Force command formed on 20 July 1941 to ferry urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in the United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the Second World War.
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and many other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab-initio training, the Second World War saw RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter. The Hudson was a military conversion of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra airliner, and was the first significant aircraft construction contract for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation—the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received. The Hudson served throughout the war, mainly with Coastal Command but also in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Force's anti-submarine squadrons and by the Royal Australian Air Force.
A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or vice versa. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.
Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport. The airport is sometimes referred to as the "Crossroads of the World", and is classified as an international airport by Transport Canada.
Operation Yellow Ribbon was commenced by Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the United States. Canada's goal was to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic be removed from United States airspace as quickly as possible, and away from potential U.S. targets, and instead place these aircraft on the ground in Canada, at military and civilian airports primarily in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia. Yukon, New Brunswick, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Northwest Territories, and Quebec also took in aircraft so that any malicious or destructive potential could be better contained and neutralized. None of the aircraft proved to be a threat, and Canada hosted thousands of passengers who were stranded until U.S. airspace was reopened.
The Bermuda Agreement, reached in 1946 by American and British negotiators in Bermuda, was an early bilateral air transport agreement regulating civil air transport. It established a precedent for the signing of approximately 3,000 other such agreements between countries. The Agreement was replaced by the Bermuda II Agreement, which was signed in 1977 and effective in 1978.
Eastern Provincial Airways, also known as EPA, was an airline that operated in Atlantic and eastern Canada. At its peak, the carrier operated jet service with Boeing 737-200 aircraft connecting many communities that today only have scheduled passenger flights provided by 18-seat commuter turboprop aircraft. The airline traces its history from Maritime Central Airways (MCA) from 1961. It merged with CP Air to form Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1986.
The Atlantic Bridge is a flight route from Gander, Newfoundland, Canada to Scotland, with a refueling stop in Iceland.
St. John's International Airport is in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located 3 nautical miles northwest of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and serves the St. John's metropolitan area and the Avalon Peninsula. The airport is part of the National Airports System, and is operated by St. John's International Airport Authority Inc.
JA Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport is a regional airport located in Reserve Mines in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The airport serves the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) and the surrounding areas of Cape Breton Island. McCurdy Sydney Airport has the distinction of being the oldest public airport in Nova Scotia, first licenced on August 3, 1929.
Kuujjuaq Airport,, is located 1.5 nautical miles southwest of Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is a Canadian aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display.
Above and Beyond is a four-hour 2006 miniseries aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on October 29 and 30, 2006. It stars Richard E. Grant, Jonathan Scarfe, Liane Balaban, Allan Hawco, Kenneth Welsh and Jason Priestley. The miniseries deals with the Atlantic Ferry Organization, tasked with ferrying aircraft from North America to Europe in the early years of the Second World War.
The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The museum is temporarily closed for relocation, and is scheduled to reopen in 2021.
Exploits Valley Air Services, also known as EVAS or EVAS Air, is a Canadian aviation services company, based in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador.
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passing of the Civil Aviation Act 1946, European and South American services passed to two further state-owned airlines, British European Airways (BEA) and British South American Airways (BSAA). BOAC absorbed BSAA in 1949, but BEA continued to operate British domestic and European routes for the next quarter century. A 1971 Act of Parliament merged BOAC and BEA, effective 31 March 1974, forming today's British Airways. For most of its history its main rival was Pan Am.
On 11 September 1990, a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 airliner, registered OB-1303, disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 180 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The aircraft was being ferried back from Malta to Peru after having been leased to Air Malta, and had six crewmembers on board as well as ten passengers consisting of airline employees and their families. The last contact with the crew was a distress message stating that the aircraft had run out of fuel and that they were preparing to ditch. The aircraft was hundreds of miles off course at the time. Nothing more was ever heard from the flight, and no trace of the aircraft or any of the occupants has since been found.
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