For the small town of about 10,000 people on the eastern edge of Newfoundland, it was regular Tuesday.
Then, thousands of kilometers away, the world changed.
In the sky above there were planes filled with passengers excited to finally be reaching their destinations.
They had traveled for business or pleasure and were part of the thousands of flights that criss-crossed North America on a daily basis.
Except, there would be nothing regular about this day.
The unthinkable had happened.
Planes had been hijacked.
They posed a threat.
And as buildings burned and chaos reigned the skies above North America needed to be cleared.
Flights crossing the Atlantic were ordered to turn around.
Others were diverted.
And for thousands of passengers there would be a new destination.
One they had never heard of before.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. We’ve been advised there has been a national emergency in the United States. All the airspace is closed, and we will be landing in Gander, Newfoundland.”
I’m Craig Baird from Canadian History Ehx…and This… Is Canada.
This month, I’m shining a spotlight on eight stories that show what makes us great because for over 150 years Canadians have shaped history.
On today’s episode…. We travel back to 2001 when 38 aircraft with more than 6,500 passengers landed in Newfoundland and were immediately welcomed by the intense goodwill and generosity of a town that extended far beyond its limits.
This is… the story of Gander on 9/11.
Long before there was a town called Gander, there was forest.
This vast stretch of wilderness in the centre of Newfoundland was shaped by lakes, bogs and thick stands of spruce and fir.
For generations, the land was travelled by Indigenous peoples, including the Mi’kmaq.
Then, in the 1930s, something arrived that would change this remote part of the island forever.
The airplane.
That’s Diane Davis.
She has lived in Gander for forty years and said it’s a small Canadian town that happens to have an airport.
It also happens to have a long history with aviation.
Gander began as Milepost 213 on the Newfoundland Railway but became what it is today in the mid 1930s because of a new mode of transportation.
Planes.
At the time, flying across the Atlantic was still an extraordinary undertaking which required multiple stops before crossing the ocean and Newfoundland was the perfect final stop.
The first plane to make it across the pond in 1919 required six stops and one of those was Trepassey, Newfoundland on May 15.
Then, less than a month later British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown accomplished the first non-stop transatlantic flight and took off from St. John’s, Newfoundland on June 14.
By 1928 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VII “Friendship.” which took off from Trepassey Harbor and landed safely in Wales twenty-one hours later.
Then, May 20, 1932, she made history again when she departed Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in her Lockheed Vega on her solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic.
By doing so she became the first woman and the only person since Charles Lindbergh to fly nonstop and alone across the Atlantic.
Harbour Grace was a popular departure spot and from 1919 to 1936 there were 20 of these historic attempts.
That’s because aircraft had limited range and Newfoundland is the easternmost point in North America, which became a crucial stop on the journey.
As more planes made the transatlantic cross, there was increased air traffic over Newfoundland and by 1936, Britain needed an airport in its dominion.
Now when you look at a map, the logical conclusion might be St. John’s.
It is the capital, has the infrastructure, and looks to be the closest point to Europe.
But planes don’t follow a straight line across the Atlantic.
That’s because the world is round…sorry flat Earthers, it’s true.
Which means, aircraft follow the Great Circle Route passing over Greenland or the Arctica on the shortest path between North America and Europe.
For those travelling from London to New York City, there was a piece of land in Newfoundland that was the perfect spot for an airport.
The problem was that it was in the middle of nowhere and building it would be considered by some as the biggest gamble in aviation history.
In June 1936, workers boarded a train on the Newfoundland Railway to Milepost 213.
They dubbed their destination Hattie’s Camp because of a local timber operation and began constructing an airfield in the wilderness at a cost of $2.5 million.
It would eventually become one of the most important airports in the world.
It had four runways, one of which was 1.5 kilometres long and they were all made of concrete and asphalt, with beacon lights and floodlights for landings.
There was so much pavement poured that it was enough to cover one-third of the way between Toronto and Montreal.
The airport also had a wireless station that was powerful enough to transmit and receive signals from the Mediterranean Sea and as far away as the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
On January 11, 1938, Captain Douglas Fraser landed the first plane on one of its snow-packed runways.
By then it was billed as The Largest Airport in the World, because it covered 2.5 square kilometres.
For context, Toronto Pearson International Airport, the largest airport in Canada, is 18.6 sq-km.
And from there Gander began to grow.
As Diane said when the Second World War broke out, the Gander airport became one of the most important airports in the world.
Under the direction of the Royal Canadian Air Force, it was known as Station Gander from 1939 to 1945, as 20,000 bombers and fighter planes departed from North America to Europe.
Once the war ended, commercial transatlantic air travel took over while Gander continued to be an important stop as the airport handled 13,000 aircraft annually and a quarter million passengers.
Its popularity meant a new $3 million terminal had to be built and it opened on June 19, 1959, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in attendance.
Though it wasn’t their first time in Gander.
Late in 1953, during her first royal tour as queen, her flight made a refueling stop at 4:00 AM, about 300 local Newfoundlanders sang “For she’s a jolly good fellow” which prompted the Queen and Prince Philip to appear in the airplane doorway.
The royal couple waved at the crowd and greeted Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.
But the good times didn’t last.
By the 1960s the airport was in decline as the jet engine took over and aircraft could make transatlantic flights without refueling.
As Diane said, during the Cold War, Gander International Airport became a stopover for flights between the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Cuba.
President Fidel Castro often traveled through Gander and during one of those stops locals took him on a toboggan ride.
Meanwhile, the town also became popular with defectors as they sought political asylum at the airport.
In fact, they became so common that the West German government set up special consulate offices just as the Canadian government tightened customs and immigration policy to effectively eliminate much of this traffic.
Then time moved on, and Gander International Airport adapted towards serving military personnel and with it came tragedy.
On December 12, 1985, Arrow Air Flight 1285 was nearing the end of a long journey home.
It was carrying 248 U.S. Army soldiers and eight crew members from Cairo to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with a scheduled stop in Gander.
As it departed, midmorning, witnesses watched the aircraft attempt to lift off but fail.
It remained low, crossed the end of the runway, and crashed into a wooded area less than a kilometer from the airport.
All 256 people aboard were killed.
An investigation into the crash ruled that it was likely caused by ice buildup on the wings.
Steve Shields was commissioned to create a memorial near the crash site.
Completed in 1990 and titled Silent Witness, it depicts an American soldier in a beret and desert uniform standing on a massive rock holding the hands of a boy and girl, looking toward Fort Campbell. Each child is holding an olive branch, symbolizing the soldiers’ peacekeeping mission on the Sinai Peninsula.
The trio are “witnesses” of the worst aviation disaster in Canadian history.
After the tragedy Gander Airport continued to operate.
The long runways placed it on a list of back up landing spots for the Space Shuttle should it ever have problems landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida or Edwards Air Force Base in California,
And even though an orbiter never touched down, the airport has continued to serve private and corporate jets.
This means celebrities are not uncommon sights in the small community.
Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt have all been spotted and it is estimated that 25 heads of state landed in Gander from 1980 to 2000.
But for the most part the airport that was once known as the “Crossroads of the World” had faded into obscurity.
The airport remained.
The town remained.
And the people of Gander continued with their lives.
That is… Until one fateful Tuesday morning in September 2001.
For decades, its airport had connected North America with Europe.
Its location had made it a natural stopping point for aircraft crossing the Atlantic.
But on the morning of September 11th, 2001, Gander would become a refuge for shocked and frightened passengers.
At 8:46 a.m. Eastern Time, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
One minute later United Airlines Flight 93 reached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet.
With the attacks unfolding, air traffic officials began issuing warnings.
At 09:24, Flight 93 received the warning, “Beware any cockpit intrusion – two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center.”
At 9:37, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
Two minutes later air traffic controllers overheard a hijacker say above United Flight 93
“Hi, this is the captain: [sic] I would like to order you to remain seated. There’s a bomb aboard, and we are going back to the airport, and we have our demands. So please remain quiet.”
Air traffic controllers did not hear from the flight again.
At 09:57 Passenger aboard Flight 93 began a revolt
Two minutes later, the South Tower collapsed.
At 10:03, amidst screams and shouts, Flight 93 crashed, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
Twenty-five minutes later, the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
2,977 victims were killed, making it the deadliest foreign attack on American soil in U.S. history.
Thousands were injured.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration closed its airspace.
Canada responded with Operation Yellow Ribbon.
Over 500 flights enroute to the United States were told to turn around or divert to Canada.
As a security measure, planes weren’t allowed to land in Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto but very quickly flights began to enter Canadian airspace and 40 were diverted to Halifax, 27 went to St. John’s, 13 went to Stephenville and seven landed in Moncton.
But in the middle of Newfoundland one town would take almost as many passengers as Halifax.
It was 40 times smaller.
But compassion and humanity would make it legendary.
Gander, Newfoundland was about to make history once again.
When Mayor Claude Elliott woke up that morning the most pressing issue facing Gander was school bus drivers on strike.
Over at the air traffic control center, Harold O’Reilly was at the same post he had been at for 28 years, except that morning he was celebrating his 50th birthday.
There would not be a party.
Because soon the United States would be under attack and he would have to guide hundreds of airplanes to destinations across the Maritimes.
There was chaos in the skies as planes looked for landing spots and as news spread, all the off-duty controllers arrived to help.
Dwayne Puddister handled planes flying above 28,000 feet and was typically the first-person pilots spoke to when they entered Newfoundland airspace.
Puddister didn’t waste time.
He informed pilots of the crisis and told them they could choose to land in Gander or St. John’s.
Then he gave them 30 seconds to decide.
If they didn’t, Puddister said, “you are instructed to land”.
That was a direct order and could not be refused.
But landing would be half the battle.
Aboard all of these planes were hundreds of scared passengers looking for shelter and the Gander Mayor knew that his town was about to get busy.
In the sky, passengers knew something was wrong long before they touched land.
They felt planes descending and altering course.
Some pilots explained that they were landing in Newfoundland but left details of the terrorist attack out of their announcements.
Others shared there was a national crisis in the United States, and the airspace was closed so they would be landing in Canada.
Either way, you can imagine, it was scary for all passengers flying that morning.
That was made worse when they landed because no one would be allowed to disembark.
There were still so many unknowns and there was no way of knowing there were no terrorists aboard, or if planes were carrying bombs in their cargo.
Every plane had to be inspected.
Every passenger as well.
Processing 34 commercial and civilian flights with approximately 6,600 to 6,656 passengers and crew was going to take time.
As the hours ticked by it was obvious to everyone that the town’s population was about to double.
Accommodations were needed within two hours, and the town council declared a state of emergency because thousands of passengers would need a place to stay.
Jacqueline Pinto had been on her way home to New York from a vacation in Italy.
During the flight, she heard the pilot announce a delay in landing but did not realize how serious the situation was until her plane landed at Gander International Airport.
The mood on her plane changed from confusion to shock as passengers learned of the magnitude of what had happened.
Pinto spent more than 24 hours confined to the plane with her fellow passengers as security personnel examined each diverted aircraft.
Helping her and thousands of other terrified passengers were 200 volunteers who showed up at the airport within hours to assist.
Pinto, the passengers, and the crew left the airport by school bus.
But where would they be staying?
Gander and surrounding towns did not have enough accommodation for all the stranded passengers.
But the community had put out a call to “lend a hand, do what you can.”
Diane Davis said on September 11, Newfoundlanders ranging from senior citizens to schoolchildren answered showed their true nature by welcoming the “plane people” like Pinto with warmth, meals, clean bedding, and hot showers.
The passengers on Pinto’s flight were sheltered in a church in the town of Lewisporte.
Meanwhile Hannah O’Rourke, who was returning from Ireland with her husband, worried about her son.
He was a firefighter in New York City with Rescue Company Two which is one of the department’s elite, specialized rescue units, based in Brooklyn and known by the nickname “The Bulldog.”
Captain Kevin O’Rourke was a veteran of the department and had been in service for almost two decades.
She knew he would be at the World Trade Center site in some capacity on 9/11.
When she landed in Gander all she could hope for was that he was alive.
Diane said she managed to somehow finish her workday and then she did what the rest of the town did.
She volunteered.
The residents of Gander and the surrounding areas donated in droves and tried to provide anything passengers could need, including 4,000 toothbrushes.
Once volunteers managed to take care of all passengers and crew, their attention turned to other precious cargo.
Animals
Bonnie Harris, with the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), wondered if anyone was taking care of any pets aboard the stranded planes.
On Sept. 12 she contacted the ground crews, and it turned out there were nine dogs, 10 cats, and two Bonobo monkeys.
The poor animals had been confined to cages for 24 hours.
They were frightened and unattended.
With her assistant Vi Tucker, Bonnie picked up food, water and cleaning supplies and headed to the airport to comfort the animals and spent 10 hours just to feed each one.
They were going to need back up so they turned to the local vet Dr. Doug Tweedie.
He contacted St. John’s and got permission to take the animals off the plane and into a hangar where they could be cared for.
Among them was a little puppy named Ralphie, who had been separated from his loved ones.
So, volunteers stepped in.
They doted on him and he returned the love with happy tail wags.
But a few days into their care, Ralphie was having troubles eating and standing up.
Dr. Tweedie smuggled him out of the airport to his office to run tests.
It was baffling because it seemed he was fine.
Bonnie started investigating and realized what had happened.
Ralphie was so popular among the airport’s graveyard shift that they played with him all night.
The only thing wrong with Ralphie was that he was very, very tired.
If not for Bonnie, Vi and Doug, Ralphie, and all of the other animals would never have made it home alive.
Once basic needs were met, passengers began to wonder how long they would be stranded.
To keep spirits up Newfoundlanders found ways to entertain the plane people.
They organized tours of the town, bowling matches, and concerts by local bands.
The come from aways were now sitting side by side with Ganderites to eat local cuisine including Jigg’s Dinner and stewed moose.
As everyone got to know each other, the town found out that there were 90 children who were on their way to Disney World that were stranded in Gander.
To make up for it, a cake was donated that was big enough to feed 400 people, and teachers at the elementary school decorated the school cafeteria with streamers and balloons.
Since they didn’t have Mickey Mouse, the official town mascot of the town, which is a friendly goose wearing vintage flight goggles and known as Commander Gander, made an appearance.
He was accompanied by the RCMP Safety Bear mascot, to the delight of the children.
The warmth was infectious. At a time when fear could’ve easily taken over, love and joy shone through.
There were people from “all walks of life,” and all of them were treated with the same kindness, regardless of their bank accounts.
Werner Baldessarini was the chairman of the luxury clothing brand Hugo Boss, and he was stranded alongside Jacqueline Pinot and Hannah O’Rourke.
Despite his fame and wealth, he slept on a cot in the high school gym, ate the same food, and passed the time with his fellow passengers.
There was a true sense of solidarity, like they were all going through this together.
So, when his company arranged to have a private jet, supplied by a Saudi prince, come to Newfoundland to pick him up, he refused to leave.
He told his staff that leaving would be an act of betrayal to the rest of the passengers.
No matter how long it took, he was going to leave with the same people he arrived with.
When 9/11 happened, I was far removed from the tragedy.
I was in university in Calgary and I lived near the airport.
What I remember most was the lack of planes.
But for people like Diane, in Gander, the tragedy came to them, and they did the best they could to help.
Diane said that one of the biggest challenges was trying to help passengers who had loved ones at Ground Zero.
For some even being ok was difficult.
But the people of Gander felt they had a job to do.
And pitching in helped them be shielded from what was happening.
After United States airspace reopened on September 13, planes began to depart Gander.
But not everyone felt safe leaving, after what had just happened.
In some cases, passengers would be flying to Europe where they would once again have to wait a few more days before finally making it home.
But not all 6000 plus passengers left by plane.
Some were so worried about making it home that they left days earlier.
Hannah O’Rourke and her husband had been so worried about their firefighter son that they rented a van and took the ferry out of Newfoundland.
They drove to New Brunswick, where friends helped them cross the border into the U.S.
By then the couple knew that their son was missing, eventually they would learn that he was tragically killed when the North Tower collapsed.
She called Beulah Cooper, a new friend back in Gander to share her grief.
The two had bonded over the fact that both their sons were firefighters and remained close for many years.
9/11 was traumatic but the tragedy helped form inseparable bonds.
In one of humanity’s darkest hours, love prevailed.
Nick Marson and Diane Gray were on the same flight from London to Houston.
They had been previously divorced, they didn’t know each other when they got on the plane, but after spending a few days together in Gander, they quickly hit it off.
On Sept. 7, 2002, they were married.
Where did they go for their honeymoon?
Where else…
Newfoundland.
The husband and wife have now spent a quarter of a century together and became living proof that love can blossom from tragedy.
Once the plane people departed Gander, they never forgot the kindness Newfoundland had offered.
Jacqueline Pinto left on September 15 but before departing, she purchased a souvenir tile at the airport to commemorate her experience and the hospitality she had received.
As I mentioned they kept in touch with their host and even traveled back to Gander for anniversaries of the attacks.
One flight even created a scholarship fund for students in the Gander area.
Passengers and crew initially donated $15,000 but since 2001 it has grown to more than $1 million and provided scholarships to more than 200 local students.
Newfoundlanders have also commemorated their extraordinary moment in history.
In nearby Appleton, a donation of $5000 from a stranded passenger inspired residents built a Peace Park which features a monument dedicated to first responders.
Every year on 9/11, Appleton holds a ceremony to remember those killed in the attacks, and to honor those who cared for the stranded passengers.
And for anyone who travels through Gander today, there’s a constant reminder of the relationship between two cities connected by tragedy.
And of course, I’ve already made mention of it earlier in the episode, but so many of these stories found new life in the musical, Come from Away.
Irene Sankoff and David Hein were inspired by what happened on that terrible day in September and wrote a musical that opened on Broadway on March 12, 2017.
It went on to be nominated for 7 Tony Awards and won for Best Direction and has seen incredible commercial and critical success.
In the audience on opening night were the two moms who bonded over their firefighter sons. Their friendship is central to the play, and they were there in the audience holding hands as they watched their story unfold.
After its success on Broadway, it crossed the pond to play at the West End where it earned nine Laurence Olivier Award nominations in 2019, winning three including for Best New Musical.
In 2026, the story was immortalized in a Heritage Minute from Historica Canada.
Meanwhile, for Diane and the people of Gander, life went on.
But it was never truly the same.
Diane said that the best thing we can do is to share our stories of that day, so that we may never forget.
But it’s also a day that made the entire world…. Feel a little closer.
Thanks so much for joining me this week and a special thanks to Diane Davis for her time and to Global News for the archival sounds.
*sources*
- The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede
- 9/11 Memorial and Museum: https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/lend-hand-do-what-you-can-remembering-generosity-gander
- BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm27vpe7z7lo
- Global News: https://globalnews.ca/news/12054110/gander-nl-9-11-25th-anniversary/
- CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7331319
