Nonstop flight route between Marysville, California, United States and Valenciennes, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Beale Air Force Base (BAB), Marysville, California, United States and Valenciennes-Denain Airport (XVS), Valenciennes, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,411 miles (or 8,708 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 Valenciennes-Denain Airport, 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 Valenciennes-Denain Airport. 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.
• 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.
• Eventually excess land from the former Army Camp was sold off to the public.
• As a complete training environment, Camp Beale had tank maneuvers, mortar and rifle ranges, a bombardier-navigator training, and chemical warfare classes.
• In addition to being known as "Beale Air Force Base", another name for BAB is "Beale AFB".
• In 1959 Air Defense Command established a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Beale AFB.
• The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is composed of four groups at Beale and various overseas operating locations.
• Camp Beale also housed a German POW camp, and served as the main camp for a series of satellite POW camps around northern California.
• In 1962, in order to retain the lineage of its MAJCOM 4-digit combat units and to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its MAJCOM strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate AFCON units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.
• The 4126th SW was redesignated as the 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesigation and was assigned to SAC's Fifteenth Air Force, 14th Strategic Aerospace Division.

Facts about Valenciennes-Denain Airport (XVS):

• The closest airport to Valenciennes-Denain Airport (XVS) is Lille Airport (LIL), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) NW of XVS.
• Because of Valenciennes-Denain Airport's relatively low elevation of 177 feet, planes can take off or land at Valenciennes-Denain Airport 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.
• It is known that Denain was used by the Royal Air Force, as it was assigned ALG "B-74".
• The furthest airport from Valenciennes-Denain Airport (XVS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,987 miles (19,291 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Valenciennes-Denain Airport (XVS) currently has only 1 runway.
• The wartime air base is still evident with the 5500' concrete NE/SW runway remaining, complete with patched bomb craters and expansion joints allowing grass to grow between the concrete pads.
• After the construction of a military airfield at Denain, the airfield was reactivated by the Luftwaffe, stationing Jagdgeschwader 3, a day fighter-interceptor unit assigned to the "Defense of the Reich" campaign against the American Eighth Air Force heavy bombers attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany.
• In addition to being known as "Valenciennes-Denain Airport", another name for XVS is "(Advanced Landing Ground A-83/B-74)".
• It appears that the Luftwaffe moved out of Denain in 1941 and the airfield was left unused.