Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport. The airport is sometimes referred to as the "Crossroads of the World", and is classified as an international airport by Transport Canada. History Early years and prominence Construction of the airport began in 1936 and it was opened in 1938, with its first landing on January 11 of that year, by Captain Douglas Fraser flying a Fox Moth of Imperial Airways. Within a few years it had four runways and was the largest airport in the world. Its official name until 1949 was "Newfoundland Airport". In 1940, the operation of the Newfoundland Airport was assigned by the Dominion of Newfoundland to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and it was renamed "RCAF Station Gander" in 1941. The airfield was heavily used by RAF Ferry Command and Air Transport Command for transporting newly built aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to the European Theatre, as well as for staging operational anti-submarine patrols dedicated to hunting U-boats in the northwest Atlantic. Thousands of aircraft flown by the United States Army Air Corps through the changeover to the United States Army Air Forces and by the RCAF destined for the European Theatre travelled through Gander. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) also established Naval Radio Station Gander at the airfield, using the station as a listening post to detect the transmissions and location of enemy submarines and warships. Following the war, the RCAF handed operation of the airfield back to the dominion government in March 1946, although the RCN's radio station remained and the military role for the entire facility was upgraded through the Cold War. The Canadian federal government changed the name to "Gander Airport" after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. It opened the current passenger terminal in 1959. Transatlantic refueling stop On 16 September 1945, the first transatlantic proving flight, a Pan Am DC-4, departed Gander for Shannon in western Ireland. On 24 October 1945, the first scheduled commercial flight, an American Overseas Airlines DC-4, passed through Gander. Following Newfoundland's entry into Confederation, the government renamed the airport "Gander International Airport", and it came under the administration of Canada's federal Department of Transport. Numerous improvements were made to the runways and terminals. Gander is near the great circle