Nonstop flight route between Marysville, California, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Beale Air Force Base (BAB), Marysville, California, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,188 miles (or 8,350 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 Beale Air Force Base and RAF Fairford, 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 Beale Air Force Base and RAF Fairford. 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 Beale Air Force Base (BAB):

• The base is named for Edward Fitzgerald Beale, an American Navy Lieutenant and a Brigadier General in the California Militia who was an explorer and frontiersman in California.
• The closest airport to Beale Air Force Base (BAB) is Yuba County Airport (MYV), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) WSW of BAB.
• In addition to being known as "Beale Air Force Base", another name for BAB is "Beale AFB".
• On 16 May 1964, Defense Secretary McNamara directed the accelerated phaseout of the Atlas and Titan I ICBMs.
• Eventually excess land from the former Army Camp was sold off to the public.
• The furthest airport from Beale Air Force Base (BAB) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,251 miles (18,107 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Beale AFB is the home of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing and located outside of Linda, about 10 miles east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City and about 40 miles north of Sacramento.
• In July 1965 the wing was redesignated the 456th Bombardment Wing, Heavy with the inactivation of the Titan I Missile squadron but continued to fly the B-52 and KC-135.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.