Nonstop flight route between Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and Sumter, South Carolina, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bitburg Airport (BBJ), Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,347 miles (or 6,996 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 Bitburg Airport and Shaw Air Force 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 Bitburg Airport and Shaw Air Force 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 Bitburg Airport (BBJ):

• Bitburg Airport (BBJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Bitburg Airport (BBJ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,990 miles (19,295 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Bitburg Airport is a commercial airport serving Bitburg, a city in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany.
• Between June and September 1997 it was necessary to repair the Spangdahlem Air Base runway, called for a temporary location to accommodate the 52d Fighter Wing's three squadrons of F-15s and F-16s.
• The USAF departed for the second time in September 1997, and Bitburg Airport was returned to the civil aircraft which now call it home.
• In addition to being known as "Bitburg Airport", another name for BBJ is "Flugplatz Bitburg".
• There are no scheduled services to and from Bitburg Airport.
• The closest airport to Bitburg Airport (BBJ) is Spangdahlem Air Base (SPM), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) ENE of BBJ.

Facts about Shaw Air Force Base (SSC):

• Shaw Air Force Base is a United States Military facility located approximately 8.4 miles west-northwest of Sumter, South Carolina.
• Shaw Air Force Base is named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lieutenant Ervin David Shaw.
• The 20th FG was reassigned to Langley AFB, Virginia on 1 December 1951 in preparation for a permanent overseas deployment to RAF Wethersfield, England to support NATO.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.
• The squadrons flew the P-61 Black Widow in Europe with Ninth Air Force during World War II, and were reassigned back to the United States after the end of hostilities.
• Shaw Army Airfield was designated a permanent Army Air Forces instantiation after the war, being transferred to Continental Air Forces on 16 April 1945.
• The 363rd Fighter Wing was inactivated at Shaw AFB on 31 December 1993, and the next day, 1 January 1994, the 20th Fighter Wing inactivated at RAF Upper Heyford and reactivated without personnel or equipment at Shaw AFB, returning to the base it had left for duty with NATO forty-one years earlier.
• The furthest airport from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,545 miles (18,580 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The 66th TRW was formed at Shaw from the RB-26 assets of the 18th TRS and RF-80s transferred from South Korea.