Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (FEL), Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,531 miles (or 12,121 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Wake Island Airfield and Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Wake Island Airfield and Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• Between 5 and 29 May 1935, Pan American's air base construction vessel, North Haven, landed supplies and equipment on Wilkes Island for eventual rehandling to Peale Island which, because of its more suitable soil and geology, had been selected as site for the PAA seaplane base.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• The furthest airport from Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is located 11,652 miles (18,752 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
• From 1935 until 1940, when two typhoons swept Wake with resultant extensive damage to the now elaborately developed Pan American facilities, development and use of the base were steady but uneventful.
• Another airline that operated into Wake Island was Philippine Airlines with Douglas DC-8 jetliners on a daily westbound service from San Francisco and Honolulu to Manila during the early 1970s.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Japan Airlines used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6s in the mid-1950s.
• The first intention to build an air base surfaced in 1935, when Pan American World Airways selected Wake Island as an intermediate support base for their routes to the Far East, especially the Philippines.
• Because of Wake Island Airfield's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Wake Island Airfield at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.

Facts about Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (FEL):

• On 13 August 1948 the 36th Fighter Wing was assigned to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base as an operational unit.
• The RAF and USAAF understood that Fürstenfeldbruck was being used extensively as a training base, and believed it to be of little strategic importance.
• The closest airport to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (FEL) is Augsburg Airport (AGB), which is located 22 miles (35 kilometers) NW of FEL.
• Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (FEL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (FEL) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base is a German Air Force airfield near the town of Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, near Munich, Germany.
• The 36th FBW remained at Fürstenfeldbruck until 1952 when it was reassigned to Bitburg Air Base, west of the Rhine.
• In addition to being known as "Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base", another name for FEL is "Flugplatz FürstenfeldbruckAdvanced Landing Ground R-72".
• In May 1949, HQ USAFE authorized the 36th Fighter Group to form the "Skyblazers" aerial demo team to perform at European and Mediterranean area air shows.