Nonstop flight route between Bossier City, Louisiana, United States and Berlin, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD), Bossier City, Louisiana, United States and Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,105 miles (or 8,215 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 Barksdale Air Force Base and Royal Air Force Station Gatow, 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 Barksdale Air Force Base and Royal Air Force Station Gatow. 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 Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD):

• The 335th Bombardment Group took over training duties as a permanent Operational Training Unit on 17 July 1942 with Martin B-26 Marauders.
• In addition to being known as "Barksdale Air Force Base", another name for BAD is "Barksdale AFB".
• The commander of the 2d Bomb Wing is Colonel Andrew Gebara.
• Barksdale is one of two remaining bases with assigned B-52 aircraft, all H models.
• The furthest airport from Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 10,884 miles (17,516 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Due to budget reductions in the B-45 program, the air force planned to inactivate the 47th Bomb Wing and transfer its B-45s and personnel to Yokota AB, Japan so Far East Air Forces could benefit from the know-how gained by the 47th at Barksdale.
• Barksdale Field was named in honor of 2nd Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale on 2 February 1933.
• The closest airport to Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Shreveport Downtown Airport (DTN), which is located only 5 miles (9 kilometers) WNW of BAD.
• Barksdale AFB was established in 1932 as Barksdale Field and is named for World War I aviator and test pilot Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale.

Facts about Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW):

• The closest airport to Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NE of GWW.
• Because of Royal Air Force Station Gatow's relatively low elevation of 161 feet, planes can take off or land at Royal Air Force Station Gatow 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.
• After the Berlin Blockade, RAF Gatow served as an airfield for the British Army's Berlin Infantry Brigade, and was prepared to revert to its role as a supply base, if another Berlin Airlift to West Berlin ever became necessary.
• In November 1948, the latest RAF transport aircraft, the Handley Page Hastings, was added to the squadrons flying into RAF Gatow and some aircrews and aircraft were redeployed to train replacement aircrews.
• The RAF Gatow Station Flight used two De Havilland Chipmunk T10s, one of which is now in the Alliiertenmuseum, to maintain and exercise the British legal right under the Potsdam Agreement to use the airspace over both West and East Berlin, as well as the air corridors to and from West Germany to the city.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.
• To commemorate Australian participation in the Airlift, the Royal Australian Air Force presented RAF Gatow with a retired Douglas Dakota in the 1980s, to use as a gate guardian.
• The furthest airport from Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,694 miles (18,819 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Clues to the airfield's original use survive in the barrack block accommodation, each block of which was named after a famous German airman of the First World War, with the airman's bust above the entrance door.
• Also on the site of the former RAF station, but not part of General-Steinhoff Kaserne, is a school, the Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium, and houses for government employees of the Federal Republic of Germany.