Contributed by Robert Pelley - Class of 62

I got "IT" !!

Yessir, I got it....the complete original report that started it all - perhaps THE most important documents in the history of Gander!

I just managed to get my eager little hands on "the documents" from 1935, which recommended the site for the construction of Gander Airport.  It is the actual, original report sent to authorities by TA Hall and Allan Vatcher on 15 November 1935,  after their study of the area south of Mile-post 213.

It includes firstly the original five-page report by TA Hall which describes the general situation and includes, for example, expected unit costs for materials and labour.  A copy of these two pages is attached and just that is enough to let us understand what the conditions would be like at the start of construction.

Allan Vatcher's original 9-page report then explains the soil and subsurface, wind conditions, the lay of the land and other survey information. His basic task was to describe to what degree the area south of Hattie's Camp met the conditions sent out by British authorities for the construction of an airport in terms of approaches, drainage, obstacles, etc. 

Five original maps compliment his report. I copied only two as they have become a bit fragile with time. One is a black-and-white map of Newfoundland where one can clearly see, marked in red, the words "proposed site".

The second Vatcher map is more of a close-up of the Gander region. You can see next to the name "Hatties Camp" a circle in red indicating where he suggested the placement of the airport, out of 4 possible choices.

There are three other maps giving for example horizontal elevation cuts, contour lines, survey trails and similar survey information.

I must say that I am extremely happy to have managed to get this complete file from a gentleman in England and perhaps saved it from destruction.  Eventually, I will what I can do to make the whole file available to the public.

originally scanned by RGP