Nonstop flight route between Yateley, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Blackbushe Airport (BBS), Yateley, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,997 miles (or 6,433 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 Blackbushe Airport and Grand Forks 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 Blackbushe Airport and Grand Forks 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 Blackbushe Airport (BBS):

• Overseas-based charter airlines often used Blackbushe for their flight to the UK, normally finding that the airfield was open for operations, even when other airports in the London area were closed by fog.
• Because of Blackbushe Airport's relatively low elevation of 325 feet, planes can take off or land at Blackbushe 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.
• On 15 July 1978, the airfield was the location for an open-air concert, the Picnic at Blackbushe, which was attended by some 200,000 people.
• Unless looking at aerial views or maps, it is hard to visualise that this was once a significant airport for passenger and cargo charter flights for the London area.
• Blackbushe Airport (BBS) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Blackbushe Airport (BBS) is Farnborough Airport (FAB), which is located only 5 miles (7 kilometers) SE of BBS.
• From the early 1950s, the United States Navy had a facility on the north-east edge of the airport which frequently handled visiting naval aircraft.
• The furthest airport from Blackbushe Airport (BBS) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,884 miles (19,126 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• On 26 May 1972, President Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty, which limited each nation to one site to protect strategic forces and one site to protect the "National Command Authority." With work about 85 percent complete at Grand Forks, the United States chose to finish construction at the North Dakota site.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• The 319th transitioned from B-52H to re-engined B-52G aircraft in 1983, and added the AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile in 1984.
• The closest airport to Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Grand Forks International Airport (GFK), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of RDR.
• SAGE operations were extremely expansive and GFADS was inactivated on 1 December 1963, when it was merged with the Minot Air Defense Sector at Minot AFB to the west.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• The furthest airport from Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,504 miles (16,904 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".