Passenger Layover, Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Passenger Layover, Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Passenger Layover, Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-6B2D35

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Gander, Newfoundland was the crossroads of the Atlantic in the propeller era — every transatlantic flight stopped there to refuel, which meant that for about twenty minutes every few hours, passengers in full travel dress found themselves standing on a windswept apron at the edge of the Canadian wilderness, squinting into the cold and trying to look as though this was part of the plan. The woman here has committed entirely: raincoat belted, head scarf knotted against the Newfoundland wind, white gloves on, matching bag in hand. She dressed for arrival in Europe and got Gander instead.

By the late 1950s, Gander's terminal had become one of the most-transited buildings in the world, a brief mandatory stop for the Queen, heads of state, and everyone else who needed to cross the ocean before jets made the whole ritual obsolete. The jet age, just a year or two away, would remove the refueling stop and with it the peculiar social experience of being formally dressed on a dark tarmac at four in the morning.

She is smiling anyway, which is either good manners or genuine good humor about the situation. The "GANDER" sign is lit behind her like a marquee for a show no one quite signed up to see.

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