On our way to Twillingate we stopped at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum located in Gander. When the era of flight got better and flights got longer, this city became an important stop over for refueling before heading across the Atlantic. Towards the end of WWI more airplanes were being used to fight the war then during WWII they became even more essential. Over 10,000 planes were ferried across the ocean from Gander to Ireland or England. When commercial flights started they would stop in Gander to refuel but as the planes got faster and jet engines became predominant the need to the stop over became unnecessary.
The air strip was still in use on September 11, 2001 when airspace over the US was closed down. Gander was the only place many of the large passenger jets could land. Over 43 flights were diverted to Gander with over 6,700 people needing food and shelter. The fine folks of Newfoundland stepped up and took care of all of them either in their private homes or by providing food, bedding or clothing to those that were stranded here. It was more than four days before the planes were allowed to leave and to take their passengers home.
Our RV park is right on the bay where we witnessed an amazingly beautiful sunset.
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