CFB Gander

CFB Gander
IATA: YQX ICAO: CYQX
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Department of National Defence
Operator	Royal Canadian Air Force
Serves	Gander, Newfoundland
Opened	1936 (1936)
Time zone	NST (UTC−03:30)
• Summer (DST)	NDT (UTC−02:30)
Elevation AMSL	496 ft / 151 m
Coordinates	48°56′13″N 054°34′05″W / 48.93694°N 54.56806°W / 48.93694; -54.56806Coordinates: 48°56′13″N 054°34′05″W / 48.93694°N 54.56806°W / 48.93694; -54.56806
Website	www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/9w-9e/
Map
CYQX
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03/21 10,200 3,109 Asphalt 13/31 8,900 2,713 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft movements 35,905
Sources: Canada Flight Supplement Environment Canada Our Airports Movements from Statistics Canada CFB Gander Diagram

Canadian Forces Base Gander (also CFB Gander, IATA: YQX, ICAO: CYQX), is a Canadian Forces Base located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is home to air/marine search and rescue operations that cover a vast swath of the western North Atlantic and southern Arctic. Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 9 Wing, commonly referred to as 9 Wing Gander.

CFB Gander is co-located at Gander International Airport.

The Newfoundland Airport was established by the Dominion of Newfoundland in 1936 and it became a strategically important airfield for piston-engined aircraft in the late 1930s.

Shortly after World War II was declared, the Government of Newfoundland turned the operation of the airfield over to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1940, which had been tasked by the United Kingdom the responsibility to provide aerial defence for the dominion. The No. 10 Bomber and Reconnaissance (BR) Squadron began operating from the airfield, flying Douglas Digbys and later, Liberators with responsibility to protect supply convoys in the North Atlantic from enemy U-boats.

The airfield was renamed RCAF Station Gander in 1941 and it became heavily used by Ferry Command for transporting military aircraft from Canada and the United States to the European theatre. By 1943, Gander was the largest RCAF station in the world (in terms of physical size) and the Canadian Army maintained a strong presence at the airfield, providing anti-aircraft and airfield defense.